Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Do you argue with your characters


I got into a fight with my protag the other day and after it was all said and done she won the battle...but I won the war!!

I realized the big tug-o-war match we were having was because I wanted her to react the way I would react.

I've been learning through a tedious process, that when we as writers really come out of our shell, one thing we will do, is let our characters go off into this big ole' world on their own and be who they were meant to be.

So yeah, I shed a few tears, but in the end, I think I grew a little more as a writer.

What about you, do you ever get into fist fights with your characters because you want them to do something they wouldn't really do?


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Just a little update: I haven't forgotten about my agent spotlights. I will be starting them soon, so stay tuned!

18 comments:

Jessica R. Patch said...

Yes! I do this often and then I call my BFF and vent about them to her. She's not a writer, but she's patient and sometimes her advice is hilarious. :)

Spanj said...

I always fight with my characters, and I pretty much always lose! I've come to realise that they generally know better than I do.

Matthew MacNish said...

Hah! I've never had that exact thing happen, but I've definitely noticed myself trying to write a character into doing something they really wouldn't.

Cortney Pearson said...

I wrote an entire book (my first one ever) and it just wasn't working, and I couldn't figure out why! Then I looked at it and realized the love interest was not "himself," he was who I wanted him to be, ha ha. It worked out so much better once I stepped out and did a LOT of rewriting and let him be himself. Ever heard of the phrase "Kill the author?" Yeah I had to do that. :)

Loree Huebner said...

Yes I do!

One time, my main character just seemed to have a mind of her own...haha. She did something that made me mad!!

Brinda said...

Actually yes. In my last manuscript, I found language that came from me rather than my characters. I had to do some rewrites!

Nancy Thompson said...

Most all of my characters do exactly what I wouldn't. Perhaps that's why I write them, so I can experience something I'm too much of a weenie to do myself.

Carrie-Anne said...

Since I've been with most of my characters for many, many years (I write series and family sagas instead of standalones), I know the majority of them pretty well. The few times I've thought about or tried to make someone do something out of character, I've come to realize, before it's too late, that that just doesn't make any sense and insults all the growth that character has gone through.

Angela Cothran said...

YES! My characters never listen--they are like kids.

Martin Willoughby said...

My characters know better then to start an argument with me. I have the cursor and a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

I'll listen to any reasoned petition, but not an argument.

Emily R. King said...

So long as you and your character get along in the end, that's all that matters. : )

Meredith said...

Ha, all the time! I tend to want my character to be like me, but that never works out.

S. L. Hennessy said...

I fight with my characters ALL the time. Sometimes I think all writers are really schizophrenic.

Peggy Eddleman said...

Ha! I love this! And yes, I do. And yes, I think I win too often. I'm working on it. :)

Martin Willoughby said...

Hi.

You have an award waiting for you. Come on over to grab it.

Anonymous said...

I'm a very EMO writer . . . so I cry . . . a lot, LOL

A.J. Locke said...

I definitely do sometimes, in my latest WIP I had a little struggle with making my MC do something she really didn't want to do but saving her from it wouldn't have given the plot the depth it needed...so I made her go through with it but felt bad for her after lol

Leslie S. Rose said...

I've run the gamut from duking it out with a character to standing in front of them with my eyes downcast in embarrassment as they give me the "Really? Are you kidding me?" look. Ah, those pesky inventions of our minds.