the characters made me!

[contrariwise.livejournal.com]

So I was browsing at the library and picked up Janet Evanovich's^* How I Write. Right there, on page 14, an interesting passage jumped out at me:

Q: Some people say they start writing and the character tells them what's next. In other words, the characters take over for the author. Do your characters ever surprise you like that?

Janet: NO! What does surprise me is that people say this happens. This is fiction! Your character doesn't do anything you don't want him to!

You do have to be very careful never to force a character to do something simply because you think he needs to do it for the sake of the plot or because you think it's funny or because you think it's hot or it's cute or whatever. Characters have to do what they are supposed to do according to your creation of them and your plot line. The bottom line is: Writers control the story and the characters. And don't let anyone tell you different--particularly your main character.

For some reason, I thought immediately of a certain author...


^*She writes the Stephanie Plum series, featuring a spunky (but not very good at her job) bounty hunter, her wacky family, and her two on-again/off-again hot dudes. It's a fluff series, but it knows it. *g*

Comments

[longtail.livejournal.com]

I sometimes "ask" my characters questions. I usually do this if I'm stuck and I need to kind of disengage a bit and pretend I'm talking to somebody else. It usually helps.

I get the "Character takes over" moments a lot and it usually means that I've tapped into the part of my brain that figured things out before the rest of it did. Usually my characters "win" because those moments are good scenes. But I always come back to them later and sometimes they do get the ax anyway.

And I have no problems torturing my characters. I enjoy it. :P