Writing a novel is basically making up problems for imaginary people and then losing sleep trying to solve them.

Sep 4, 2026 · 10:51 AM UTC

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Replying to @KateHalena
Huh. 🤔 We bring this agony upon ourselves? 🫣
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Indeed, we do 😅
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Replying to @KateHalena
Yup. But I make it a rule not to put my characters into situations if I don't know how I'm going to get them out. I get more sleep that way.
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That's the best way to do it... But sometimes we stroll into the unknown!
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Replying to @KateHalena
and crying and feeling responsible when one of them dies.
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Replying to @KateHalena
I worked nights on black coffee for twenty years, inventing troubles for the 91 finished works of my Comédie humaine, the Human Comedy. On my deathbed I asked them to send for Bianchon, the doctor from my own novels. They do become real. Honoré de Balzac, member since 1850
Honoré de Balzac (Late Greats Club).

ALT Honoré de Balzac (Late Greats Club).

Made with AI
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Replying to @KateHalena
That's not how I write novels....
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Replying to @KateHalena
I spent two hours last night trying to NOT break a character’s neck and it’s still a work in progress…
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Replying to @KateHalena
Same goes for board games! "We're going to pretend we're defending the crumbling Roman Empire and we can't fix it unless these cards cooperate." (They did not, this week.)
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Replying to @KateHalena
That is well said!
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Replying to @KateHalena
Isn't this... life? "Living life is basically making up problems and then losing sleep trying to solve them."
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Replying to @KateHalena
It is a bit more complicated sometimes the words come out whether you want them to or not.
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Replying to @KateHalena
I have a theory that if Stephen King weren’t a writer, he’d be a serial killer. After all, he has a lot of really demented imaginary people in his head.
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Replying to @KateHalena
As if we don’t have our own real life problems! Why do we do this to ourselves? 😂
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Replying to @KateHalena
Yes, so true🐣. There are time when I get a heartache and have to get out my table just so I could breathe after I wrote a tragic scene
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Replying to @KateHalena
Well said and thought!
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Replying to @KateHalena
At least in a western, problem solving will mean your protagonist is reaching straight for the revolver, which makes it a lot more straightforward.
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Replying to @KateHalena
And loving every minute of it. (Except editing….)
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Replying to @KateHalena
So fuccing real, lmfao.
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Replying to @KateHalena
pretty much
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Replying to @KateHalena
Some of these problems are real, we add a little spice to them.
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Replying to @KateHalena
Mostly true.
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Replying to @KateHalena
I view writing as talking to yourself and writing down what is said.
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Replying to @KateHalena
And having loads of fun doing it.
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Replying to @KateHalena
Sometimes they made the problems themselves, and now we're left trying to help them solve it and wondering how they did that
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Replying to @KateHalena
でも、その空想が楽しい。
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Replying to @KateHalena
Well put!
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Replying to @KateHalena
This is too true😭
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Replying to @KateHalena
And doing horrible things to those imaginary people. Don't forget that. (Sometimes, I feel guilty. But not much.)
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Replying to @KateHalena
I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.” — Stephen King
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Replying to @KateHalena
You said it 😆
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Replying to @KateHalena

ALT Scared Monster House GIF
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Replying to @KateHalena
Spot on!
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Replying to @KateHalena
I lose sleep making the problems.
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Replying to @KateHalena
Now that’s the truth!
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Replying to @KateHalena
Yeah, cuz we can choose to fix it and it'll work lol
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