Tonight I wrote a chapter that actually scared me. Now, I'm a skeredy cat to begin with, but the suspense and fear in this chapter for Leigh had me jumping at every noise in the house.
I don't particularly like weak female characters in writing (for the record, I haven't really met a "weak" female in my real life, however, many fiction female characters are), or at least I don't like writing them. So the character of Leigh is more difficult for me than I thought it would be. I don't like saying Leigh is weak. She's not. She is fairly helpless right now.
Imagine being a little, sarcastic, moody teen who is fiercely independent. Then you gain into these kick-ass new skills and talents, but your wobbly about learning to use them. Not to mention that you are seriously out-matched by a whole host of baddies that want you dead before you can't well - be dead - or at least more dead. Then enter your older sisters that have already cast long shadows on you for your entire life, and suddenly you have to allow them to fight your battles.
I thought it would be fun to write about this tough teen girl, who says the things I thought about saying back in the day. What I'm finding is that I'm crying with her instead of roaring with her. She needs some support because for once she can't fix this in her own head. What is scarier for her - being stalked by people who want her dead, or admitting she's scared and having to reach out.
At 8,500 words in, I don't have that answer, but I'm getting excited to find out.
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