Changing Protagonist

[lil_elvis]

I started a new work over the weekend. Orginally, the guy was to be the main character, but after about a WORD page or two, the woman became the focus of the story. It wasn't a conscious decision where I suddenly realized 'no this should focus on the woman,' but rather the direction the story took on its own and I just followed the lead.

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Anyone else have this happen?

Not exactly. I don't usually let my characters run with the story.

But a funny thing happened on my Plastic Love story, born out of a desire to include some symbolism that popped up and wouldn't go away. The stories protagonist started out by being a man named Henry, in honour of Dr. Faust - and if you read the story you will probably see the connection. As I was writing, though, a new symbology emerged, stronger than Faust: Lewis Carroll's universe. I was by word page #15 by then, and decided to change the protagonist from a man named Henry to a woman named Alice. Of course that I soon realised that this would alter the structure and complexity of the story radically, and it would lose something fundamental. So, after having re-written to story up to page #11, I scraped it again and went back to a male protagonist named Alex.

 

[rgraham666]

Not yet.

But I'm sure it will happen one day.

 

[oggbashan]

...Anyone else have this happen?

Yes. Frequently.

Once a story gets into its stride the characters take on a life of their own and anything goes.

Makes editing hell.

Og

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Yes. Frequently.

Once a story gets into its stride the characters take on a life of their own and anything goes.

Makes editing hell.

Og

What Og said.

I rarely know what a story's really about when I start writing it. I mean, I have some idea of what's going to happen, but I can't see the deeper meaning until I'm well into it. Then I might find out, "Oh, it's not about him, it's about her!"

I really like what Stephen King said about stories: that he doesn't create them as much as he unearths them. You see a little idea sticking out of the dirt, and you start digging it out, marvelling as more and more of it appears, and finally you're looking at something you weren't expecting at all. That's just the way it works with me.

 

[impressive]

You see a little idea sticking out of the dirt, and you start digging it out, marvelling as more and more of it appears, and finally you're looking at something you weren't expecting at all. That's just the way it works with me.

Yes indeedy!

 

[English Lady]

In a couple of my works this has happened and in a few it swops and changes back and forth -as long as the story flows well I don't see it as a bad thing at all

 

[lil_elvis]

What Og said.

I rarely know what a story's really about when I start writing it. I mean, I have some idea of what's going to happen, but I can't see the deeper meaning until I'm well into it. Then I might find out, "Oh, it's not about him, it's about her!"

I really like what Stephen King said about stories: that he doesn't create them as much as he unearths them. You see a little idea sticking out of the dirt, and you start digging it out, marvelling as more and more of it appears, and finally you're looking at something you weren't expecting at all. That's just the way it works with me.

So we're Porn Archeologists so to speak. Interesting.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[impressive]

So we're Porn Archeologists so to speak.

I think I'll put that on my income tax return next year.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

In the best creative writing course I ever took, that was one week’s assignment: Take the story from the preceding week’s assignment and rewrite it from some other character’s point of view.

She did a lot of that kind of reassigning and as a result I rewrote the same story four different times to achieve four different effects, learning more during that course than any other one that I took.

 

[BlackSnake]

I started a new work over the weekend. Orginally, the guy was to be the main character, but after about a WORD page or two, the woman became the focus of the story. It wasn't a conscious decision where I suddenly realized 'no this should focus on the woman,' but rather the direction the story took on its own and I just followed the lead.

Anyone else have this happen?

Damn, I did the same thing. The woman (the foil) just seemed more interesting. Your vision of the woman just might have been more interesting.

 

[lil_elvis]

In the best creative writing course I ever took, that was one week’s assignment: Take the story from the preceding week’s assignment and rewrite it from some other character’s point of view.

She did a lot of that kind of reassigning and as a result I rewrote the same story four different times to achieve four different effects, learning more during that course than any other one that I took.

My wife did that with one of my stories. It was a vast improvement.

Damn, I did the same thing. The woman (the foil) just seemed more interesting. Your vision of the woman just might have been more interesting.

As I wrote, there was just a lot more to say about her. If I had not changed the emphasis, the male character would be reporting more as an observer. The way it is now, it's more of a first hand account (although still written in 3rd person POV).

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Hmm, I haven't done that where I've changed the main protagonist. I've done stories where a minor one-shot character becomes a fundamental secondary character simply, stories where I explore a secondary main character a lot more than I was planning to, and one story where I completely rewrote the sex of a secondary character.

But I haven't yet gotten to a story where I utterly change the central chracter to another person.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I've had problems with minor characters upstaging my leads. I think I feel freer with my minor characters, and so I toss them into more interesting situations.

I take my hero and heroine too seriously, and so they often come across as dull.

 

[Penelope Street]

I've finished stories only to change my mind and re-write the entire tale from a different perspective. Also, like most it appears, I've gotten partway through a story and discovered a plot direction I found more appealing than the one I originally had in mind. The biggest trouble I experience, and it is a recurring problem, is that when I reach the point where I clearly see how the story will unfold, I lose my interest in actually writing it.