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Deborah Coonts | Serially Crazy
February 15, 2011
There is a fine line between creativity and clinical pathology. I can say this
with some conviction because the love of my life is a psychologist and he knows
about these things. The whole topic came up one day as I was readying myself to
sally forth to find a nice coffee pub that would keep me supplied with caffeine
and sugar while I casually wrote a best-selling novel before lunch (one can
dream, can’t they?). As I said my good-byes, I flippantly remarked, “I’m off to play with my
imaginary friends.” The look on my love’s face was a Kodak moment, I can tell
you that. And it stopped me in my tracks. “What?” I asked, not seeing anything
alarming or unusual in the repartee up to that point. “You do know,” he answered sounding rather serious, “that to many of my
colleagues you would be an annuity.”  “Hey, look on the
bright side,” I parried. “With me you don’t have to choose between business and
pleasure.” Then I turned serious myself. “Fix whatever you can. God knows, I
need it, but don’t mess with this.” I handed him a copy of my novel, WANNA GET LUCKY? He read
the book. Loved it. And now my imaginary friends are his friends too, so
crisis averted. Crazy in love, I guess.
However, he had a point. Where does imaginary stop and reality reinsert itself? I spend my days (and
sometimes my nights, and time in the gym and in the shower…) in a world I
created, interacting with people who don’t exist, being someone I am not. And,
because I’m writing a series, I do it day after day, week after week, ad
nauseum. My books are set in Vegas, my home, at the Babylon, a fictional mega-resort on
the Strip. Currently at work on the fourth installment, I can tell you exactly
what the Babylon looks like, all its nooks and crannies, the smells, the
sounds…all of it. But it isn’t real. Except to me. When I close my eyes. I
can see the marble and the mosaics of the lobby, the indoor ski hill, the brass
sconces and the tented fabric in bright colors, the entrance to the shops, the
dark maw of the casino, beckoning… And the characters! I can remember one day, a particularly lonely one at the
height of the angst over the dissolution of my marriage, when the words flowed,
the story sang and I spent all day with Lucky and Teddie and the rest of my
fictional friends. As the workday at the Babylon wound down and it was time to
sleep, some forgotten bit of real-world unpleasantness jarred me back to
reality. To this day I can remember that feeling of such sadness, such
loneliness that my imagined world wasn’t my reality and I would never know
Lucky, Teddie, and the rest of the gang as individuals separate and apart from me. I know this sounds nuts. But it’s a craziness I share with some pretty high-fallutin’ writers. Someone
once asked P.D. James how she comes up with her stories and she responded with
something to the effect that she simply steps into the room with her characters
and writes down what they say. I am so there. Perhaps that’s why I write. And why we all read. For those moments in time
spent steeped in the magic between the covers of a book, we all let go of our
own lives and experience another. We meet new people, become invested in their
stories much as we do with our real friends. Perhaps we learn something. Or we
have an adventure we couldn’t really have because life is so much more
constrained than imagination. So I will read. And I will write. And if I fall into the abyss where the line
between what is real and what is not begins to blur, don’t pull me back. I like
it there. Care to join me? Deborah Coonts
DeborahCoonts.com
Comments
19 comments posted.
Re: Deborah Coonts | Serially Crazy
I'm no writer but I can't imagine doing w/out the escapism afforded by reading. I HAVE to read daily just to be fit for public consumption, even this it's often iffy...*G*
(Ivy Truitt 9:15am February 15, 2011)
I don't think that anything you wrote sounded nuts to me. Anyone who decides to be an author just has the gift of having a story that they need to get out, and that story runs deep in their bones, be it real or imaginary. To be able to take others along for the ride and have them let you know how much fun it was, you know you've succeeded. I'm sure that I'll love your new book. From the sounds of it, it's as if I'm already at the Babylon, looking for Lucky.
(Peggy Roberson 10:34am February 15, 2011)
I love escaping to another world - even if it is still ours, just NOT ours. Those characters become my friends and I'm often upset when a series comes to an end. Besides, our first friends WERE our imaginary ones. ;)
(Kelli Jo Calvert 10:49am February 15, 2011)
I spend a lot of time reading and writing. You'll never see what I write because it truly is the voices in my head. Sometimes the start to tell me stories and then they go away while other times I invite your stories which tend to have an ending. I live in a small house in a small town with a small group of animals and sometimes the animals decide what's happening in my life, but even when they do it's a look they give me that I have somehow learned to understand. Who needs reality? There's plenty of ways to escape it.
(Christina Harrison 11:07am February 15, 2011)
Since we all have our own ways of dealing with reality, I have no problem with spending my time with my imaginary friends, whether between the covers of a book, or them telling me their stories and making me write them down. I'm with Christina on this: Really, who DOES need reality?!?
Later,
Lynn
(Lynn Rettig 11:17am February 15, 2011)
Deborah--I love escaping into the covers of a book, whether it be historical, paranormal, or just a contemporary just down the street. You have such a gift, to be able to take others into the worlds you write.
(Ann Garland 1:18pm February 15, 2011)
The key is keeping control of my imaginary friends:) I'm finding that to be
more difficult now that others know them as well. It's a bit surrealistic to
hold entire conversations with folks I've just met about mutual friends that
don't exist.
(Deborah Coonts 4:22pm February 15, 2011)
Reading is supposed to be a way to escape to other worlds other realities other other subjects and others. I read primarily romance and it is pure escapism.
(Diane Sadler 5:17pm February 15, 2011)
The older I get, the more I need my own imaginings or those of others.
Quite often the real world is too real.
(Deborah Coonts 5:25pm February 15, 2011)
If you didn't join your imaginary friends, we wouldn't have your great stories. So keep imagining because my imagination is not as good as yours!
(Linda Pillow 5:33pm February 15, 2011)
Oh, darling, we join you each and every time we add the most
recent book in our series love affair to our "preorder" at
Amazon. You really didn't think you were in it alone, did ya?
At least you have the keys to the car, the rest of us "crazies"
are just along for the ride.
(Lisa Richards 6:38pm February 15, 2011)
I am so thankful for 'Serially Crazy' writers! Being able to escape my reality and live with new people and places for awhile is why I read. Thanks for creating a place where I can go, even for just a short time ....
(Karen Cherubino 11:54pm February 15, 2011)
Yea! for those who like you take us non-writers along into your worlds. The closest I come to inventing a world is continuing an adventure I've read about just before I went to sleep. No sleep for me unless I read first.
(Sigrun Schulz 1:42am February 16, 2011)
I love your books! Really good books let us "drop our shields" and move into an
alternate reality where we can "let down our hair" and go along for the ride. BTY
what is the title (working or final) of book #4? I want to be first in line.
(Sandra Spilecki 8:49am February 16, 2011)
With your hubby I'm sure it helps that you are beautiful and your books are great.
(Vickie Hightower 9:13am February 16, 2011)
I think we all need escapism to survive in today's world.
(Sue Farrell 11:08am February 16, 2011)
Working title of book four is LUCKY LAY-DOWN (a poker term that,
whilecit has nice innuendo, it may be a bit forced). Not a great title, but
something will come to me.
(Deborah Coonts 6:41pm February 16, 2011)
So glad you enjoy Lucky. The stories are hers--but we do have the same
personality. I'm just the note taker, or perhaps I really do have a split
personality:). If that's the case, I want Lucky's wardrobe...and her car.
(Deborah Coonts 6:47pm February 16, 2011)
When a long term relationship disintegrates, the need to have someone listen to your anguish is great. So, why not create the ears you need and attach them to a dream or imaginery person. It gives such relief to kids that I'm sure for older kids or adults, it's a similiar feeling.
(Alyson Widen 10:40pm February 27, 2011)
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