 Mystery: May 21, 2014 Issue [#6326] |
  Mystery
This week: When Characters Take Over Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week:
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. ”
― Joss Whedon |
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Have you ever read a story with characters who were so realistic that you forgot they were fiction? Every writer tries to develop lifelike characters, but occasionally, when you succeed, something unexpected happens. They try to take over the story. The sidekick may become the main character, or the hero's love interest may become the villain. Or minor character who was supposed to be the first to die might say. "I'm way too tough to die from a little old bullet wound. I want to survive to help the detectives catch the killer."
When characters develop minds of their own, you have a few choices:
Try to force the character to do things your way: Be careful if you try to do this.You wouldn't try to force a family member or friend to be a different person, so don't do it to a character. Re-evaluate your plot and characterization. If the character does not fit into your plot plan, you may be trying to make the character do something unrealistic. For example, your plot may depend on a smart character doing something stupid without a good reason or explanation.
Rewrite the story changing or expanding the character's role: Do this only if it improves the story. This may require extensive rewriting, but if the changes improve the story, it will be worth it.
Save this character for another story Even a great character will not be appropriate for every story. Maybe the character no longer fits in to the current story, but might be perfect for another one.
Be careful about killing off characters unless you are sure you will not need them later. If your story is a murder mystery, of course there will need to be deaths, but don't kill off anyone who is worth more to the story alive. An author friend decided to spare a character she had planned to kill off, and most of her readers say that character is their favorite!
Something to try: Choose a minor character from one of your stories, and write another story with him/her as the main character.
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Question for next time: Who is the best character you have ever created and why?
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