Characters and Plots

[mcfbridge]

This is just sort of an exercise in curiousity.

For myself, I find that when I write a story, I know basically who my characters are and pretty well what the end of the story will be.

However, usually when I'm well into a story, my characters almost seem to take on a life of their own. Frequently, I will end up with a chapter going off in a direction I had never planned.

Every now and then I even end up adding in a character that I absolutely had not planned on when I started writing the story.

Now I have to admit that I write rather long tales, so perhaps this is just me, but as I said I'm curious.

Do some of you also end up with your stories going sort of off on their own as you write, or do you follow your original plot and characters exactly as you had planned until the end?

 

[SadieRose]

That invariably happens to me. I have a number of stories that I write with a particular set of characters in mind, but the non-erotic ficiton that I write has taken a life of it's own and that developed completely because new characters came along and virtually hijacked the set. The principle character in the novel I'm just completing didn't even enter the equation until the second draft.

Rayne, who features in my erotic fiction here, came about becuse I was asked to write a story using characters devised by a friend as an exercise. I didn't want to hijack her story lines so I needed to come up with a character of my own and he was the result. Now I'm writing a novel based on his experiences.

Never be afraid to let a tale run to more than one draft. You might surprise yourself.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

No, my characters do as they're told. I'm God. If they refuse to comply, out they go.

 

[Guest]

My characters tend to have a life of their own.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Hell if I know, they appear like ghosts and whisper their stories to me, the one I'm working on now just popped out of nowhere and the images started coming, like a movie and I was handed the script.

 

[SadieRose]

Research needn't kill your story. Write out the first draft as you feel it then go back and apply what you've learned on the second. You may find that it alters the tale but that's not always for the worst.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[SadieRose]

That's what I mean... just write when the thoughts cum and tinker with it afterwards.

 

[cloudy]

I always know the ending, but what happens in the middle is a mystery to me until I actually write it.

The novel I'm working on started as a short story, but has grown and grown like Baby Huey.

I still know the ending, but I guess I'll find out the middle as I go along.

 

[SadieRose]

I love your AV, Cloudy. She's beautiful.

 

[raphy]

Do some of you also end up with your stories going sort of off on their own as you write, or do you follow your original plot and characters exactly as you had planned until the end?

I don't have an original plot. I start my characters off, wind 'em up, and see where they take me. It's a fun ride

 

[cloudy]

I love your AV, Cloudy. She's beautiful.

Thanks, sweetie, I thought so.

 

[SadieRose]

Re: Re: Characters and Plots

I don't have an original plot. I start my characters off, wind 'em up, and see where they take me. It's a fun ride

Exactly, some of my characters have taken me on wild rides! Not all of it is mainstream publishable... but , hell, it's fun! *grin*

 

[MLyons]

I'm very character oriented. They sort of ... create the plot and the action for me. If where they tell me to go doesn't seem to jive with me on an erotic level, then we have a little pow-wow and come to some sort of understanding.

That said, I have major events in mind when I write a story, but the specifics of how I get to those points are a mystery until the characters actually tread the path. What I feel are the most erotic moments in my stories almost ALWAYS come about by just stepping aside and letting the characters play with each other.

It is for this reason that beginning a story is a real chore for me, because that's where all my work is done. Once I've got characters and a basic scenario in mind, the rest is easy.