Out Of Control Characters!
July 25th 2008 05:18
Meet Nimara. She's the psychopathic mother of one of my RP characters, a vampire, who is getting way out of control. She plans on conquering a world.
And is demanding that I write a story about her. Well I am flat out refusing-I'm mad at her and besides, I have other stories to write. But this isn't the first time a character got out of control.
Take, for instance, Tara. Tara was a mage. She was supposed to be keeping a low profile about the fact. So she got hit by a car, flew fifteen feet into the air, landed on her friend's driveway, and got up, healed herself, and walked away.
I wasn't very happy with her, but there was nothing I could do, nor could I change the scene after it had been written. I liked it too much. And ever since then, my characters have been becoming more and more out of my control, so much that even my stories go off in different directions than I was expecting.
But I let it happen, and if I like the direction, than I let them have free reign and do what they will; if I don't, I edit it out. Three guesses why I let it happen.
I let it happen because to me, that's the definition of organic writing, of good writing. If a character comes to life so much that they defy you and become completely out of control, that means you're doing your job, and writing good characters. No, writing isn't ALL about the characters, but they're a big part of it, and characters who come to life are necessary for a successful piece of work.
Personally I am a large fan of this sort of work. Of the work where the character comes to life, the story tells itself, the character gives you the details, and all that wonderful stuff. The stories that practically write themselves. And I end up discovering that those are my best works.
Have you ever had an out of control character? What did you do about it?
And is demanding that I write a story about her. Well I am flat out refusing-I'm mad at her and besides, I have other stories to write. But this isn't the first time a character got out of control.
Take, for instance, Tara. Tara was a mage. She was supposed to be keeping a low profile about the fact. So she got hit by a car, flew fifteen feet into the air, landed on her friend's driveway, and got up, healed herself, and walked away.
I wasn't very happy with her, but there was nothing I could do, nor could I change the scene after it had been written. I liked it too much. And ever since then, my characters have been becoming more and more out of my control, so much that even my stories go off in different directions than I was expecting.
But I let it happen, and if I like the direction, than I let them have free reign and do what they will; if I don't, I edit it out. Three guesses why I let it happen.
I let it happen because to me, that's the definition of organic writing, of good writing. If a character comes to life so much that they defy you and become completely out of control, that means you're doing your job, and writing good characters. No, writing isn't ALL about the characters, but they're a big part of it, and characters who come to life are necessary for a successful piece of work.
Personally I am a large fan of this sort of work. Of the work where the character comes to life, the story tells itself, the character gives you the details, and all that wonderful stuff. The stories that practically write themselves. And I end up discovering that those are my best works.
Have you ever had an out of control character? What did you do about it?
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