Becoming real.

I've been working on my latest manuscript despite not having written a detailed character backstory for Sean.  This has been a Problem because Sean is tied with Jason as the second most important character in the story!  As a result, Sean scenes are tough for me.  He's been this shadowy figure whose motivations I do not understand.   I don't know what he wants.  I don't know what he's doing there.  I don't know how he feels about much of ANYTHING.  I finally decided enough was enough.  What's the point in barreling forward with more pages when I don't even know what I'm doing with one of the major players?

So, I've been at it for about seven hours today.  Just typing, typing, typing away (and reading and rereading what I've written, of course) about who he is and what has happened in his life to get him to the place he is when the story starts.  I still have a ways to go, but I'm getting there. 

It's weird.  Just now on my latest read-through, I got tears in my eyes.  Not because I'm writing anything sad.  Just because it's so satisfying to see him finally becoming real.  This is going to be SO HELPFUL.  Even though this story is first person through Kae's POV and readers will never know a good portion of the stuff I'm writing today, Sean being real to me is going to make him real to everyone else, too.