Channeling characters

Since my last post, I've had some back and forth on an Amazon historical fiction thread and have decided to share this bit which I wrote for the thread because many found it interesting. We were discussing how authors seem to 'channel' their characters; one novice author wrote that she was having trouble doing this with her latest novel and since she couldn't 'feel' her characters, the work was going slowly.  I wrote:


"I guess I came at novel writing from the opposite end of the spectrum--that is, I didn't start writing fiction (this novel or the others) until it became inevitable. I mean until the characters were talking and moving and alive and wouldn't shut up until I told their story. Sounds spooky, but the characters, scenes, subject--the whole novel(s)--chose me, I didn't choose them. Don't be hesitant to own up to this weird process. I think all fiction writers experience it--at least that is what I get from the many biographies and interviews of fiction writers that I have read and listened to. The channeling is part of the creative process of writing fiction. I can also share with you the fact that such biographies and interviews of fiction writers have helped me enormously bc they made me feel less alone as a (unpublished, novice) writer, and in excellent company. I wasn't exactly 'talking shop' with these authors, but it was reassuring to me to read their experiences and feelings. If you read biographies of the greats, you feel even more reassured because they are professionally and critically fulfilled, so your spooky novice feelings can't be pooh-poohed as some demented thread of the beginner's unwieldly imagination. 

The 'channeling' of characters is a natural, wholesome, and even necessary aspect of the fiction writer's imagination. It figures largely in biographers' psyches also. Another expression of this identification with our characters is the author/critic cliché that to create a successful (that is, well-delineated and believable) fictional character, the author must love the character, even the most demented, psychotic,insane or murderous character. Personally I believe that the most successful fiction is character-driven; reading about other people, fictional or real, is what makes fiction compelling and worthwhile. We identify, and somehow we are consoled about the human condition and can carry on with our lives just a little bit better knowing someone out there, fictional or real or author, understands what's going on.

Sorry to have carried on at such length, but I was provoked. I'd love to know what you think.  you think.