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

[darkese.livejournal.com]

The idea that writing is a craft has been lost by many so-called authors I think. I find authors who just let things grow organically without a tight plot to be mediocre usually. Unless the author is absolutely brilliant, a one in a million type, you'll get the sort of stories that meander around and are less true to the characters than these who began with a plan, imo.

I'm sorry if this offends some budding authors here but writing, like anything artistic, is a craft. You have to plan and work at it - you have to practice, plot, and hone your stories - not just stream of consciousness spew out some cool ideas.

I look at it this way - Da Vinci did sketches, in depth studies, false starts, and reconfiguring of his art and he WAS brilliant. So unless you're better than the masters, you probably need to write by numbers or it's not a craft.

There are probably only 10 authors alive today who could write something great organically. I think the rest is just mediocre filler that may climb up the Best Selling lists. LKH believes she's one of those 10.

[easol.livejournal.com]

Except that not all organic writing-by-numbers is stream-of-consciousness spew. For some writers, an outline is useless because the plot takes on a life of its own, and to stick with the outline would be creative suicide.

Especially since completely plotting it out and sticking to it, no matter how it twists in your mind, can completely destroy the creative process for those involved. It just doesn't work for some people, and that hardly makes them bad writers.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry but I disagree. If you don't know whodunnit before you begin writing a mystery then it's going to be a mediocre read. If you don't know how your characters are going to develop and why then again, mediocre. That is unless you're a brilliant writer who can just spew out well-crafted stories. They are few and far between.

I'm not saying you can't write an interesting story doing it organically. I'm saying you'll never write anything great unless you learn all your craft. Which includes coming up with a plot, outlines, and characters before you begin. If a writer can't seem to do this than they need to work on their skills.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

You don't think it's possible to produce something organically, and then polish the plot and the characters and the themes--in other words, to make something great of it by doing some of the work *after* you begin, rather than before?