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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Characters not cooperating....

Have you ever read about an author stating something about their characters not cooperating and thought, what??  I mean, I read that once, pre-writer days, and couldn't understand the meaning.  Hello. You're the author, you control the characters. Right?
Not really.
I've learned even though we set out with great intentions of getting characters from point A to point B and have a defined, outlined, path, things happen.  A comment is made.  A move it made.  An ax murdered jumps out of nowhere derailing the MC from their journey.  And even though the author has the control, they really don't.  Our characters can take on a life of their own.  The author becomes the character, lives in their head, wears their clothes, and sleeps in their bed.  And once this happens, the character is alive.  They have different thoughts and emotions.  They cause chaos with our story lines because even though you want them to go to the left, they feel going to the right would be a better story.
And they may be right.  Or left.  *shrugs*
I'm running into this same scenerio.  I've been working on my latest YA and even though I now what I want to happen, my characters are not cooperating and letting me get there with an appropriate amount of words. They want to snuggle and make out while I just want the ax murderer to reveal themselves.
What do I do when this happens?
I step back, maybe start on something new and then when I get a nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me I need to finish and this is how, I let my fingers do the walking.  Creative juices take some time to ferment, unfortunately.  But I'm a writer.  I've got all the time I need.
Thanks.  Share below some thoughts you have about your characters or even what you've done in a similar situation.

1 comment:

  1. In my very first book, GOLD RUSH GIRL, my heroine has a friend who basically stepped in and took over the story. All my CPs said, "We love Arnold, can we hear more from him?" I never intended it to happen. He just came to life on the page and took off running.

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