Today Nathan Bransford blogged about something I’ve often wondered about. You know your writerly friends (some of them are you guys) who say of their characters, “I can’t write; Jimmy’s rebelling. He won’t go to Angela’s.”
Usually I have to give the online equivalent of the smile and nod. Because I’ve never had that happen (knock on wood!). I honestly can’t remember a time when I’ve had a character not “participate” or keep me from writing entirely, nor when a 
character has “taken over” and dictated an entirely new plot.
I think Nathan says it well:
And this [characters coming alive and taking the story in another direction] can really help out a story – while obviously the characters are only alive insasmuch as they’re in the author’s (living) head, this may be a way of expressing that the author is being true to the logic of a situation. The author has a sense of the character, and it’s important that the character’s actions are logically consistent.At the same time, I always find it curious to hear authors so completely in thrall to their worlds and characters, and I start wondering, “Wait a second, who’s in charge here?”
I try not to over outline, but I usually know (or figure out during the course of a scene or sequence) what my characters need to do next, either for themselves or for the external plot. This isn’t to say it’s always easy to “make” them do that, or to make the jump—I do sometimes stop and say, “Now, why would s/he do that? What would motivate him to do that?” (Or “how can I make him do that, or want to do that?”)
This is an awesome part of having a co-author/alpha reader—sometimes they can do all this heavy lifting for you, and sometimes they point out the place where you might need to think it through a little more.
I have had characters “tell” me things—back stories, histories, twists that can affect and enrich the plot. I’ve had their inner conflicts develop into major interpersonal conflicts over the course of the story.
But sometimes I worry when I hear other writers complain about their characters not cooperating—if I’ve not had that happen, are my characters not “alive” enough? Are they just puppets to me? Am I forcing them to do things they wouldn’t if I were more in tune with who they really were?
What do you think? Is it possible to have well-rounded, “living” characters who don’t attempt to hijack the story or derail a writer?
Photo credit: Robert V
I’ve had characters surprise me, and it’s kind of fun. If, however, the character absolutely refuses to do what I need them to, I realize it’s because I’m trying to get them to act in a way that’s inconsistent with their motivations. Rather than let them have their free reign, I go back and tweak their motivation so that the action I want is now consistent.
Such a sense of omnipotence! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Not in the first draft.
Then during revision, you really need to get into their heads and figure out what’s going on.
That’s when you and the character have to come to some kind of understanding, because if you change one thing, you need to figure out where else this might show up.
I had a character who *I* had planned to be the minor-villain in a subplot – he flatly refused. He eventually turned into the hero’s unwilling sidekick and helper, and I think he worked out much better in that roll.
Sometimes you just need to listen to what the character tries to tell you. Your subconscious has its own plan for your story.
@Don—great example! (*cough*megalomaniac*cough*)
@Andrew—That’s a good point. I have characters surprise me in drafting, too—the biggest one that springs to mind was the hero in my second romance MS that told me around chapter five that he was divorced. That ended up becoming the major conflict for him—but then that was back in my seat-of-the-pants days, too, and I had no other conflict for him. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
@Deb—See, I’ve had characters tell me things, but not dictate to me.