Things You Don't Know About Your Own Stories

[EmilyMiller]

I created them, I think, but at some point it's almost as if they are as real as I am.

I found that in particular with my little cast in Jacob’s Progress. This was even down to the children of the main protagonists.

I had a special affinity and fondness for Lucia, and she wasn’t even an author injection.

I still cry reading that one. Which is a bit odd really.

Em

 

[djrip]

I had Chekhov's watermelon slices appear in the first act of New RA at the Girls' Dorm ch. 3. They came back around in the last few paragraphs after strip Twister devolved into two or three concurrent mini-orgies and some of the ladies started using them as sex toys and eating the disintegrated remnants off each other. Didn't even plan it out!

 

[Constories]

I do this as well. In Sophie's Fall, I introduced the knife in Act I because it would be ridiculous for her character to not have one. In Act II, I surprised myself when the MC said he left the knife where he found her and that he "err, doesn't like weapons." I had no idea where this was even going until Act III, when it all came together. I also did this in my latest story, Boot Camp Blues, with the wad of cash. I had no idea that was coming until the words spilled onto the page.

I imagine that there's a great many things that I don't know about my characters, because I let them tell me what to type. I created them, I think, but at some point it's almost as if they are as real as I am.

If we're counting things we didn't know while writing, one of my favorite parts of Range Cold, (Faye smashing her thumb with the Garand) was in no way originally planned.

I picked Jason's gun (the M1) entirely at random. I was just looking for a old gun that lots of people would recognize and wasn't trademarked or whatever. When I realized I could add in the double entendre:

I guess she shouldn't have been handling Jason's weapon afterall

I was just as surprised as Faye was.

---

But more in line with the OP's question, I don't know exactly how Elizabeth discovered Jason's infidelity. I mention that she found an app on his phone that lets you send videos and then automatically deletes them. I named it the Priva-See app, (which I thought was clever) but otherwise I have no idea how Jason and Faye got caught.

I don't care either. It's irrelevant to the story, although some commenters were curious.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

While not really in the spirit of the original question, I am going to answer it realistically for everyone regardless...

The single thing that most writers don't know about their story is, "Why doesn't everyone else like it as much as me?"