Baby Bear: When Characters Talk to Writers

Often Silbrith and I describe our characters as talking to us, demanding that their stories be told. My favorite example of a character talking to me was Baby Bear.

(Warning: mild spoilers for Woman in Blue and Caffrey Aloha.)

The Baby Bear joke originated in late 2014, when Silbrith sent me the final chapters of her Woman in Blue for edits. There’s a scene where Peter and Neal are stargazing, and Peter points out constellations that he identifies with himself and Elizabeth. Hers is Ursa Major (Mama Bear), and Neal tells Peter he refuses to be Ursa Minor. But alas, poor Neal, once that idea was in my mind it wouldn’t let go. I’d just started writing Caffrey Disclosure, and in the second chapter I decided to reveal that when Neal was a baby, his grandmother called him Baby Bear because of the way he growled when he was unhappy.


But that wasn’t all. I also had in mind that when the Caffreys and Burkes gathered in Hawaii in Caffrey Aloha, Neal would have a sore throat and would growl his displeasure, prompting his grandmother to call him Baby Bear again. However, that scene had to wait in the back of my mind for a year while I wrote Disclosure. Finally at the start of 2016 I was ready to write it, and by then Baby Bear had become this childlike, furry entity in my mind who was anxious for his time on stage. My outline included that Neal would crave banana smoothies when he was sick, and the power of suggestion had me craving a smoothie. That craving “spoke” to me in the voice of a sweet but cranky Baby Bear.

Knowing Silbrith would get it, I sent her this account of what it was like having Baby Bear’s voice in my head:

Here's how today has gone. Very early in the morning:
- Well, it's way past your bedtime. You need to get some sleep before we get into the rest of the chapter.
- Banana smoothie.
- Yes, Baby Bear. We've been foreshadowing that. You'll get a banana smoothie.
- Throat's scratchy.

- Yes, I know. After we wake up we'll get a smoothie. The place across the street makes them. You'd like that, right?
Several hours later:
- (bouncing on the bed): Banana Smoothie.
- Yeah. Tell you what, order it online. Then it will be ready and waiting when we get there.
- (phone rings): We got your order, but our mixer is broken. You wanna substitute something for that smoothie?
- No, had my heart set on a smoothie.... Sorry, Baby Bear, no smoothies today.
- YOU PROMISED!
- You heard him. The machine's broken.
- Grump, grump, grump. My throat hurts and I need a smoothie.
- Well I don't know anyplace else that makes smoothies and isn't packed...
- What? You thought of something.
- Dairy Queen.
- Banana shake!
- I don't even know if they make banana shakes. Let me check their menu.
- They have banana shakes! Drive through. Get me a shake!
- Have you looked outside? See the weather app? It's in the mid-30s, drizzly, and there's a winter weather advisory. Dairy Queen isn't exactly around the corner.
- Banana shake!
- You aren't going to let me write until you get your shake, are you? Fine. Let's go.
- (later) sluuuurp.
- Ok, you have your shake. Time to write.
- Gonna hurt.
- I know, Baby Bear, but the sooner we get started the sooner the sore throat will be over. Just scoot over and let me open my tablet.
- Wanna say Hi to Silbrith.
- I sent her a note before we went to DQ.
- I didn't get to say Hi.
- Ok, I'm opening email. Here's my note, I'm telling her all about your day. Wave now. I'm almost ready to send it.
- HI SILBRITH! Ow.
- Yeah, shouldn't yell with a sore throat. Now snuggle up and let me get back to chapter 3.
- (wide yawn) 'k.
- (whispers) Hi, Silbrith. Getting back to chapter 3 now, and looking forward to another chapter of Dreamer.

Because Silbrith did indeed get it, she responded back to Baby Bear:

Hi, Baby Bear! You must go night-night now so Penna Nomen can type. If you're a very good bear, Silbrith will tell you the tale of Bigfoot and the Bear tomorrow.

And now Baby Bear is snuggled next to you, fast asleep, making little growls as you type.

For whatever reason, several of our characters have animals we associate with them. Angela has been a bunny for a while now. Sara has a fondness for giraffes. Henry is a tiger and a honey bear, and he and Neal are lone wolves. Peter is a polar bear, and both Peter and Neal are collecting additional animal associations coming up in Silbrith’s story The Mirror. And Zach, the lead character in the novel I’m just starting, is going to be associated with a duck; that story has been lending itself to bird associations. Now when we see photos of adorable baby animals, inspiration sometimes strikes for our characters.

The minds of writers can be weird and wonderful places. Mine’s predictable, however. I now need a banana shake.