In response to an article by JK Rowling about feeling bereft at the end of the Harry Potter series, a reader dissed her emotions with the comment that she'd made so much money, why would she be sad. Obviously not a fellow writer. You can be rich and still feel sad and lost without the people closest to you, and Rowling spent almost two decades with her characters, both writing them and then being involved in the film production.
Last Christmas, while doing a housesit in Switzerland, we drove to Brunnen, the setting for my first novel, Daughters of the Lake. On our way there, I found myself longing to see my characters: Portia, Vienne, Lawrence, Annie and Madalena. Not necessarily to meet them, simply to observe them as they ate dinner in the hotel's private dining room, or walked by the lake.
It's not surprising. Your characters have occupied headspace while you relayed their stories. They've been your puppets, sometimes surprising you by freeing themselves from the strings to do their own thing, perhaps looking back to check with you that this is okay.
Of course you'll never meet them. At the same time, no one can harm them and they'll never die. They are preserved in time and years, part of you, a part to access whenever you wish.
When we arrived in Brunnen, the snowy landscape contrasted with the hot summery days when the story took place. It didn't remind me of my book. In the future, however, similar scenery will bring my characters closer to me. I am thinking of this on the eve of departing to do another housesit in a different part of Switzerland, where, no doubt, the lake and mountains will bring me closer.
Perhaps this is one of the best parts of being a writer: the creation of something which remains permanent in your heart.
Jane
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