You’re not the person I thought you were

[pjthompson]

Being a character-based writer means that generally plots tend to accumulate around who my protagonists are rather than the other way around. So I usually have the illusion of knowing a great deal about my people before I officially commit them to the page—officially being when I actually type “Chapter 1″ at the top of the file. Every once in awhile I get a surprise.

That seems to have happened with chapter one of the new novel, Time in a Bottle. (Really dislike that name, really need to think of another.) As soon as the protagonist, Molly, spilled onto the page, she came across much perkier than I’d originally envisioned her. Younger. More a creature of sunshine than I would have made her out to be. I resisted this pull, even typing a note to myself at the top of chapter one: “Age her up, serious her down.” But she refused my admonition. She persisted in being who she was.

I’ve long since learned that when a character pulls that hard in a certain direction, I really need to shut up and follow. I’m just along for the ride, after all, and most times they really do know best. If I analyze this in that light, I see that the story which is going to unfold might actually work better with this personality. She’s going to be dealing with the shadow world of the subconscious, helping to dispel some of those shadows, so it really doesn’t make sense that she’s as serious as I tried to make her. She’s going to need that sunshine to get through this, to even buy into this mess in the first place. She’s something of a rescuer, after all.

Of course, sometimes I’ve been fooled in this regard, too. Sometimes a character pulls me off in an unexpected direction and it turns out to be a dead end. Generally, this means I haven’t gotten to know them as well as I thought I had before starting out on the journey and they turned out to be tricksters, having their teasing way with me. This can be painful and require much rewriting.

But hey, writing is rewriting, right? There’s always going to be a lot of that in my future.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

Really dislike that name, really need to think of another.

Yeah you do, 'cause every time I read it, I get that song stuck in my head. Perhaps something from the Beatles.

Got it!

Your new working title: Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

[pjthompson]

Beatles, yeah! I could call it A Hard Day's Knight...except for the fact there are no knights in this story...

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

yeah . . . when characters pull, best to follow.

[pjthompson]

They're rowing the boat.

[darkspires.livejournal.com]

I gave up trying to force protags into my vision a long way back. It just didn't work. I was, however, astonished when I got a huge problem with a really foul antag.

I began to feel sorry for him and to see things from his POV, which was valid to a certain extent, from his perspective. At that point I had to do a rewrite to show him in a sympathetic light. He was just the same hateful and viscious antag, but now it became possible to relate to him. The results were that he became even more scary because of the human qualities. To say I was startled would be the understatement of the millenium.

[pjthompson]

Yeah, but it's cool to get startled like that, isn't it? To me, anyway, it shows that the back part of my brain is working on these things at a much deeper level than the forebrain. And rounded antags are always so much more interesting, I think.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

As long as they are alive and kicking I tend to be content. There's nothing worse than having to work CPR on a character just to get him to go from point A to B. ;)

[pjthompson]

Exactly. Rather have them uppity than comatose.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I know this feeling well. i'm still wrestling witrh a few characters I've been writing for years.

I'm glad Molly won... maybe she talked to Ramona?

[pjthompson]

Maybe she did! Ramona taught me many lessons about listening to the character. Too bad I still sometimes try to ignore that.