Monday, January 24, 2011

Who's Writing This Story Anyways?

Original image here.
A week or so ago, I was diving into The PJ pretty hard. I had just come back to it after a break, and I was writing the scenes that involve the MC's best friend, Jackson. The scenes were just flowing from me, and I quickly fell in love with one of those scenes in particular.

As I wrote those scenes, I fell in love with Jackson more and more. And, then he decided to take the story into his own hands. Now, thanks to Jackson, the book is going to have a completely different ending, one that I love and feel really excited about.

The original ending was okay, but it was very obvious. I just never thought outside the box to realize that there was this other ending there until Jackson forced me to see it.

Last week, I had one bad night. In my post rant about that night, I mentioned that sometimes we need to sit back and let the words write themselves. And, sometimes, we need to let the characters take control for a moment (like we have a choice, right?) and let them show us their ending.

Do you have characters that like to change things up on you? Do you let them, or do you fight them over it?
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9 comment(s):

  1. I've come to love those moments and hate them. There's something almost magical about the characters taking control, but times when it frustrates me to no end. I usually let them have their way, unless it is something drastic like a secondary character trying to take the lead mid story. Then I fight like the dickens and try to pacify them with promises of their own tale. Cool entry!

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  2. Oh, I definetely fight them, but usually with other characters. That way I have lots of conflict. ;)

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  3. I love characters like that! Though I do tell them no sometimes (with a side of chocolate).

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  4. Lol I get these moments all the time.

    My recent situation goes as follows:

    I always wanted the one girl to end up with this one guy.

    But now the guy's best friend started fighting with me to have a shot at winning the girl's heart.

    I ended up saying yes with the idea with the girl ending up with the original guy.

    Except the best friend came into his own in the rewrite. And now I've fallen a little bit more in love with him too.

    Now I don't know who will get the girl any more.

    And I fought with that guy. I reasoned with him. I begged him to stick with the program.

    Nothing worked.

    Sigh. Still, makes for lots of interesting writing.

    :-)

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  5. This happened to me about halfway through writing my novel and I had to turn around and start all over again because that's how drastic the change was!

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  6. Amy - Yeah, sometimes you have to say no. At least you break it to them with chocolate ;)

    Melissa - Oh no! Luckily, the change to my ending doesn't change anything I've already written. Good luck to you!

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  7. I LOVE it when characters hi-jack the plot. A story doesn't really come alive until a character takes me by surprise. Of course, then there are times when I have to respond, "Yeah guys, I don't think so. Thanks for playing." BUT I always save the "alteration" in a "potential" draft, in case I really do decide the character knew best.

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  8. Being way more pantser than plotter, I've definitely had this happen. I love the feeling of the story unfolding in ways you never expected, almost as if it's coming from some place outside yourself.

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  9. Happily - It does make the writing a lot more fun and interesting. That's a great idea to save all of the alternative ideas in a separate file.

    Kelly - I know what you mean! It is really exciting, and I love how it feels as though the story is taking on a life of its own. :)

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