We are very pleased to introduce this guest post from Thomas Haynes, who is a frequent attendee of the monthly WordWatchers social at the Lock Stock and Barrel and also a member of : Newbury Writers. He is first and foremost an ecologist, botanist and nature conservationist, loves music, model-making, writing and photography.Thomas on Twitter
I have a confession: Last night I killed someone. I knew I was going to do it. Today, the moment has played over and over in my mind and I thought I would share it.Writing my story 'Memories of Arma' has been difficult over the past few weeks, trying to rekindle the rapid flow from last summer. This year has felt less fluid, more mechanical, until last night.My deceased character was developed to support my plot line. He was first introduced in a flashback chapter as a background character. For some reason, when it came to develop my ‘plot-explaining’ character I called upon this background person to serve the purpose. I fleshed out his history. He went from 'random background scientist' to a leading neurologist, responsible for significant breakthroughs in his field. His research interests led him to make some very, very bad decisions. He has a difficult relationship with a young girl. He has spent the later part of his life trying to redeem himself from past mistakes. I even wrote a flashback of his time studying for his PhD, and there are at least two more flashbacks where he will play an important role in the future.But now he is gone.I was unsure how I was going to write the death scene, but I think that the characters were writing my story last night. I didn't really play a part in its creation; I was just some kind of medium. His final scene concluded with not one, but two deaths and I sat typing with tears in my eyes. Spotify played-out a song called 'Last Night' by Foals and the moment was fixed forever.This memorable experience has made me wonder about these characters we create and how they suffer the slow progress of their writer, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, they will live and die their way and sometimes it hits you hard.I will look forward to revisiting him in the two flashback chapters I am yet to write. R.I.P.
