Do You Ever Get Obsessed Over Characters

[gordo12]

I wrote a story; so far, not big news.

That it won't win a Pulitzer, also not big news.

An unplanned character wandered in and did a cameo. For some reason, he then got expanded on. The story continued without him, but now I absolutely find myself obsessed with him having sex with the woman character.

It doesn't fit in with the story. That continues in another direction. Changing the story would probably get a "bullshit" response from readers. But I keep coming back to this weird desire. Because it didn't fit into the story, I wrote a separate section as a dream sequel.

I almost feel like drawing a line through the rest of the story and rewriting it in favour of the sex. It's ridiculous, but it keeps rattling around in my head. It turns me on even, although there are other sex scenes in the story.

This has been going on for at least the last 3-4 WEEKS.

I can't seem to shake it!

 

[AvroAnson]

my $0.02

Stanley Martin Lieber

Stan Lee

Marvel

Finish story one as planned.

Then write a second story with the same characters and go off the beaten path.

 

[gordo12]

Stanley Martin Lieber

Stan Lee

Marvel

Finish story one as planned.

Then write a second story with the same characters and go off the beaten path.

I considered that. Unfortunately, this occurs around 80% of the way through the story. The plot is well established. A different story might not feel the same to me.

 

[HappySpouse]

Could it be written as an alternate version?

I remember when I was a kid I read Hatchet and he (spoiler alert) gets off the Island in the end. Then there was a sequel that wasn't as good.

BUT THEN (big news to a 10 year-old) the author was like "fuck it. Let's see what would have happened if he didn't escape and had to survive the winter." I don't know if it was an idea stuck in his head (like you), or if other people kept asking what-if's. Regardless if I read a story I liked on here and then saw and alternate reality version of that, I'd be all over it.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

IAn character wandered in and did a cameo. For some reason, he then got expanded on. The story continued without him, but now I absolutely find myself obsessed with him having sex with the woman character.

It doesn't fit in with the story. That continues in another direction. Changing the story would probably get a "bullshit" response from readers. But I keep coming back to this weird desire. Because it didn't fit into the story, I wrote a separate section as a dream sequel.

I almost feel like drawing a line through the rest of the story and rewriting it in favour of the sex. It's ridiculous, but it keeps rattling around in my head. It turns me on even, although there are other sex scenes in the story.

This has been going on for at least the last 3-4 WEEKS.

I can't seem to shake it!

Can you change the POV to that character and figure out a way the character knew what was going on for the prior 80% wasn’t on stage?

 

[gordo12]

The story is completely written, edited and could be posted right now. I could have posted it a month ago. But to add this character in, beyond what he's been there for, would spoil the entire time-line and the ending. And those parts are solid in the existing story.

She's discovered this enormous kink she didn't know she had. He's perfect for fulfilling it. But if I let them do it, the readers would call bullshit to the story because it just isn't appropriate. It would need to head in a different direction if I did. Complete rewrite! But I've been holding a finished story back because of that compulsion. Geesh!

Does anyone else have moments like this with their stories?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Does anyone else have moments like this with their stories?

Yes, but I've disciplined myself to finish the one I'm in first, and to save the new idea for later. My current series of Ruby stories are doing this. They're not "chaptered" as such, but are "loosely connected."

 

[TxRad]

Keep the part with him and her as a reference. Post the story you have. Change the names, change the setting even, and then write them as a new story. I've done it a couple of times.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Patience really can be a virtue

Good luck

 

[MColton84]

It doesn't fit in with the story. That continues in another direction. Changing the story would probably get a "bullshit" response from readers. But I keep coming back to this weird desire. Because it didn't fit into the story, I wrote a separate section as a dream sequel.

I almost feel like drawing a line through the rest of the story and rewriting it in favour of the sex. It's ridiculous, but it keeps rattling around in my head. It turns me on even, although there are other sex scenes in the story.

This has been going on for at least the last 3-4 WEEKS.

I can't seem to shake it!

I tend to get really invested in my characters. Most of them are fictionalized versions of people I know. I have one that exists solely on paper but is a lot of fun to write. What I would do is write the story as originally intended and then the desired scenario. Read them both in their completed forms, and then see if it's possible for you to put them together in a way that makes sense. I have done that successfully once, but more often than not I have a scene that can be adapted for a future story.

 

[gordo12]

What I would do is write the story as originally intended and then the desired scenario. Read them both in their completed forms, and then see if it's possible for you to put them together in a way that makes sense.

That's exactly where I'm at. And it doesn't.

I had a look at the stats this morning, and it's worse than I thought. The story was started in July, finished and edited by Nov 15. I remember telling my wife about the weird reaction I was having to the characters. That had surfaced while I was writing the story.

On Dec 1, I started writing the dream session. I stopped on Jan 4. I keep opening it and reading it but clicking it off because I can't imagine how it's going to fit in. Yet, I can't shake the desire to want it to fit in.

I think I need a psychiatrist.

 

[MColton84]

That's exactly where I'm at. And it doesn't.

I had a look at the stats this morning, and it's worse than I thought. The story was started in July, finished and edited by Nov 15. I remember telling my wife about the weird reaction I was having to the characters. That had surfaced while I was writing the story.

On Dec 1, I started writing the dream session. I stopped on Jan 4. I keep opening it and reading it but clicking it off because I can't imagine how it's going to fit in. Yet, I can't shake the desire to want it to fit in.

I think I need a psychiatrist.

I had that happen with previous story. The mechanics behind making it work almost made me scrap the entire thing. I ended up just making it the opening of the next chapter. I still wish I could have made it work but the tone was far too different from the rest of the story. It can definitely be nerve racking. Good luck with the rest of your story and let me know if you are able to make it work.

 

[gordo12]

Woohoo.

I was still stuck on this. I wrote most of the dream sequence, but it didn't feel right. It's been mouldering.

Today I was doing a read-through to see if I couldn't revamp the dream sequence somehow. I hit a line and realized I could add a day into the timeline and send the husband off to do something with his friends. They were supposed to visit someone in the hospital, but I came up with a great excuse and made it tomorrow instead.

And then...my psyche is going to get pricked! Along with the woman

July - almost May. Geesh!

But...Now I'm wondering how many places I can have them fucking and a finished story now has a ch2 that landed on my back!

Keeping up with these people is too much like a job

 

[TadOverdon]

I don't know if it's obsession, but I had a character appear in a brief cutaway scene in a novella and I enjoyed them enough that they became the protagonist of a book that I hadn't yet thought of, and a supporting character in two chapters of the book following that.

What I found surprising is that when they weren't the main character, they were different. The main characters of the other stories saw them differently than they saw the world.

 

[gordo12]

I don't know if it's obsession, but I had a character appear in a brief cutaway scene in a novella and I enjoyed them enough that they became the protagonist of a book that I hadn't yet thought of, and a supporting character in two chapters of the book following that.

What I found surprising is that when they weren't the main character, they were different. The main characters of the other stories saw them differently than they saw the world.

I know what you mean. "Mamma," who appeared in Following Laura's Footsteps, was an (unexpected) hit with the readers. She appeared over and over in the comments. I wrote a second story intending it to be about her, but it morphed into something so different I don't dare use it here. It's still a good story, but it isn't THAT "Mamma!"

In the case of this thread, Jarrett popped into my story, and I became obsessed with him having sex with (married) Becca. Why I don't know. It just seemed right. I felt they belonged together, but it didn't fit in the story. I'm happy to say that as of last night, the writing flowed, and they reached the "nekky" stage.

 

[KeithD]

In the mainstream, I have a six-novel series where an American woman archeologist on a Mediterranean island falls into a mystery. She is meant to be the sole protagonist of the series, but the local detective who shows up to a murder she's stumbled on in book one decides he wants to be a protagonist too and they marry in the second of the series and go on through having children, divorcing, and getting together again over five books and twenty years--remaining coprotagonists in the series.

 

[LAHomedog]

In my world this happens all of the time. In "Happy Days," Fonzie was a cameo and he became the series and made it #1 for years. Joe Pesci was a cameo in "Lethal Weapon" became a mainstay of the series. My understanding -- I could be wrong -- is Moriarty was going to be a minor player in "Holmes."

Characters breakout all of the time. That's a great moment to be celebrated.

I change stories in mid-stream all of the time. I do it because the characters tell me where to go with the story. It happens. It's okay.

If you are writing a procedural, or a finely plotted out journey that might be a different kettle of fish, but even there twists happen and plots change.

Every writer has a different perspective on this. Just like every artist or designer or musician will have a different take. That is what makes art. Me? The characters dictate and rule 100%.

Good luck.

 

[KeithD]

I'm writing a story now of an international set of gay men banding together in Antibes, France, in 1940 under Vichy pseudo rule in wait of being overwhelmed by Nazi occupation. The story written, I realized that each of the men had a background and "what now" story of his own to tell as a protagonist. So the story is becoming a pen name standalone novella, moving from man to man as protagonist and putting them all into context in a "what then happened" longer work, "Clouds over Antibes."

 

[Thefireflies]

I wouldn’t say I get obsessed with characters, but characters I’ve come up with occasionally do come alive in my head, so to speak. Or at least they become meaningful ‘people’ who I want to give the opportunity to live in their own little story.

For example, for the Australian themed In a Sunburned Country event, I began a story about two eighteen year old friends, Duncan and Sophie. For a bunch of reasons I won't go into here I never felt I could do my characters justice, and thus, I abandoned their story and wrote another story instead. However, Duncan and Sophie remained in my mind for over a year, smouldering and ready to spark back to life, and so I took the beginning of their story and turned it into a First Time story titled Under the Milky Way. I was pleased how their tale turned out, because in the end it was a love story and I liked the characters immensely.

The story I ended up writing for that Sunburned Country event, Heather’s Exquisite Map of Tassie, left me and several readers wanting the main characters Tim and Heather’s story to continue. I attempted a start on a follow on story, but nothing took to life. I then began writing about Heather’s father, Max, who had a brief cameo in Map of Tassie as a damaged man who was estranged from Heather’s mother. However, what I wrote wasn’t working and I put the story aside. Every now and then I’d look at the story, thinking it might be worth restarting because I did love the characters, but I found it hard to get them to work. Then earlier this year I picked it up again, using an idea I’d toyed with last year, but this time the spark took, and bam, suddenly I had a whole story which I recently published, A Pair of Lost Socks.

And then there is Erin, my main character from my A Song from my Story event, When We Were Young. I think she’s my favourite character I’ve written and after I finished her story I found I lost my inclination to write for several months because Erin’s story still resonated in my head. Yet, I can’t imagine giving her another story, not for now, anyhow. Not unless something worthwhile pops into my head...

 

[gunhilltrain]

Couldn't you work in a sequel? Interesting characters tend to generate them, even if a series wasn't planned.

I think you are allowed to have an alternative version posted. I've done that and no one noticed. In those cases, a number of months passed, or even an entire year before I did a reboot. I left the old versions in place with the original title.

What I'm trying to say is that can have alternative timelines on the same events. I guess you could have the old version deleted if you really want to do that.

 

[Javahead]

I’ve had had several different characters lurk in the back of my mind until I had to write another story. Both my older, shorter stories and the newer ones.

Probably the worst is Susan/“Plum” from “Plum Blossoms” - it was meant as a one-shot story. Then came the eight part “Plum Blossoms: Full Bloom”. And “Plum Wild”. And she was the main secondary character of “Cindy Liu”. I’m working on individual scenes from another multi parter with as a background activity, but for now I’ve mostly got the little tart out of my head. For now, anyway.

I liked the characters from last year’s Valentine’s Day story enough I did a Nude Day story with them.

And the main characters from another long one I’m just finishing up have already spawned the beginnings of another story where they’re major background characters. Still deciding if it’ll link up with the Plum saga.

Worst of all? I hadn’t realized how many repeat characters there actually were until I started to list them all. My mind is an odd place.

 

[Djmac1031]

The story is completely written, edited and could be posted right now. I could have posted it a month ago. But to add this character in, beyond what he's been there for, would spoil the entire time-line and the ending. And those parts are solid in the existing story.

She's discovered this enormous kink she didn't know she had. He's perfect for fulfilling it. But if I let them do it, the readers would call bullshit to the story because it just isn't appropriate. It would need to head in a different direction if I did. Complete rewrite! But I've been holding a finished story back because of that compulsion. Geesh!

Does anyone else have moments like this with their stories?

I wrote a story called A Karen Gets Her Comeuppance. A bit of a farcical tale. Totally a left handed read, if you get my meaning.

I was just about to submit it when I came up with a totally different ending. Problem was, the new ending changed the entire spin of the story.

I would up submitting the story with the Alternate Ending tagged on after an Authors Warning giving the reader the option to skip it if they liked the original ending.

It's not one of my better stories I suppose, but I was still surprised a bit by some of the negative backlash lol.

Still, it's an option I suppose. Give your readers the choice of reading the alternative version or not.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've started re-using characters - my Hallowe'en story stars the same housemates as my Gas Station Guy story, only with a very different character as protagonist. I've been working on a long summery story which explains how Laura (from Smoking Hot) got into polyamory and BDSM and then the main male character from that (40k words and counting) barged his way I to my recent story 'I say Ass, You say Arse: Again' - quite literally - the tagline calls it an 'unexpected threesome'. Another main character in the long work in progress is a younger Ali from 'Wheelchair Bound?'. I have various repeated minor characters who keep turning up - why invent another workplace for most of them - and two of them (Sandy and Verity) have definitely got it together at some point, despite now living on opposite sites of the Atlantic. Their junior staff would all be shocked if they knew.

At some point there may be another novel following from Smoking Hot (as opposed to the sequel story Turkish Delight which was high on filth, low on plot), with more of Adrian and Dan and their poor mate Gareth who was mostly left on the cutting-room floor. Given most readers want heterosexual sex or gay sex but not both, and even if they like a bit of BDSM they don't like switches (especially male ones), that affects how I split stories up, now.

John and Karen from three of my early BDSM stories probably know Ali and Becca (Wheelchair Bound?) and Rachel (Gas Station Guy and various cameos) - I'm trying a story with at least 8 women and was wondering how many I could re-use. There may be minor time travel involved (Smoking Hot had to be shoved 10 years back in time when legislation changes became important. No-one's yet noticed the huge anachronism I didn't want to change in chapter 1...) but what's a decade or two between friends?

 

[jaykaythree]

Obsessed ... hmm. Does drawing up dates of birth, wedding dates, etc., for your characters count?

 

[KeithD]

Obsessed enough that stories keep developing to give select characters another outing.