Do your characters surprise you?

[stickygirl]

My writing has always been a process of transcribing my character/actors performing a script I wrote. The script is what I intended to happen, but occasionally a character will Ad-lib a line that is just so TRUE, I have to include it, even if it shreds the intended script. I have had background characters step forward and unexpectedly become headlining stars. I find that these unexpected flashes are usually some of my best ideas.

Ha! I've had that happen - including a great line but... on the seventh review I've had to be big enough to realise that the line didn't fit and might need to removed.

 

[Mal_Bey]

Ha! I've had that happen - including a great line but... on the seventh review I've had to be big enough to realise that the line didn't fit and might need to removed.

<Chuckles> Yeah, those scenes that are only 95% Right are just killers. You know they are great, but... just not Right. I guess that is why God created notebooks. B-)

As a fan of the "Just One Line" thread, what was the line?

 

[TadOverdon]

Yes.

 

[Voboy]

Routinely.

Getting to know my own characters is one of the most enjoyable things about writing, and when they surprise me? That's when they feel most alive.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Yes. My mind will wander and I realize I'm writing something that I never planned to write. Luckily, it often works out okay.

 

[Djmac1031]

All the time.

The character most "alive" for me is one I created very early on in my writing.

The Jenna Arrangement was only my third story, and was meant to be a simple tale of a horny and lonely older man paying a young college girl in need of cash to masturbate in front of her.

Jenna started out shy but with a hint of adventure to her.

She's taken on a life of her own since then and several times it's been her deciding what she will or won't do, what she is or isn't ready to explore, not me.

I remember distinctly rewriting the second chapter after realizing Jenna simply wouldn't just drop to her knees and give a guy she still only just met a blowjob. It just wasn't her.

Later, she took a scenario I'd been planning in an entirely different direction. And frankly made it far more fun and natural to her progression.

And when I wrote her backstory, talked about her past, I felt it come from her because it was certainly nothing from my own experience.

25 chapters in and she's still mostly in charge lol.

So...yeah. It definitely happens for me.

 

[Britva415]

My characters are surprised by me.

j/k

 

[emperor0379]

No. I totally exploit my characters.