has this ever happened to you?

[hotti]

I'm working on a story, and usually I do it all in long hand first, then type it in.
This one, I'd gotten started, but then decided to skip the longhand bit. I had definate ideas about this one, and had it all planned out on paper.
Then I started typing it in...
I simply leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and typed the story as it unfolded behind my eyes.
Well, it went from a reunion story to something totally different! One of the peripheral characters began evolving on his own, and became the focus of the story... no reunion in sight!
And yet, it's not really the story I want to write... but it's shaping up nicely so far. A little wordy in the beginning, as I'm describing the day I'd just had.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I am going to finish it, out of simple curiousity *G*... I'm dying to know what's going to happen next, what this outrageous character is going to do, since I obviously have no control over him!

 

[Natalie Nessus]

 

[LadyTabitha]

Sometimes that's the most fun - letting the characters write their lives for you! (and it certainly saves on spending hours on a plot!)

 

[Lili]

I have often heard authors saying that this is how they write - that the characters take on lives of their own. I never understood it and it had never happened to me.

Then a few weeks ago I started a story that seemed to go just that way. It's still following my general outline, but I find that the characters are evolving on their own, with no conscious input from me.

If I ever finish this story, it will be novel length, and I think it's one of the best plots I've ever dreamed up.

Unfortunately my muse vanished with my good humor when the hijackings happened. I hope I can get back into the groove soon and continue the story.

Lili

 

[Natalie Nessus]

.

 

[hotti]

excellent!

then I have hope!

*G* This character has changed the WHOLE premise of my story, and I have no idea what he's going to do next. Kind of exciting, but also pretty exasperating!

Glad I'm in such good company though!

 

[mrwizard67]

Before I ever tried to write anything my brother, who is a gifted writer, use to tell me that most of the stories that he wrote took on a life of their own. I had always thought that was a rather silly notion. After all, you are the writer, you are in control.

Right?

Wrong.

The first time that I sat dowm to write a story, I had the whole thing planned out before I started. By the time I finished it, about the only resemblence it had to my orginal plan were the names of the characters. Most of the things I've writen since then have done much the same. Only now I don't fight it, I just go with the flow. Good Luck with yours.

 

[hotti]

thanks everybody!

i have no idea if i'm close to done, or not even halfway yet *G* i just keep my fingers on the keyboard, and my characters take me through the story. it's very exciting, really

 

[kidfella13]

you rule!

Hey Hotti,

How are you doing? Your pending story sounds very intereresting...There can always be new developments to any story ya know!

Take care

 

[The_old_man]

I'm doing final clean up on a story that "Wrote itself".

I had submited a story to Weird Harold for critique, he ripped it apart. I started a re-write. It re-wrote itself.

As soon as my wife corrects all the miss-spelling, bad grammer, and fixing the punctuation, I'll re submit to WH for review befor posting. It runs almost 17000 words at the moment.

 

[Natalie Nessus]

I'm doing final clean up on a story that "Wrote itself".

I had submited a story to Weird Harold for critique, he ripped it apart. I started a re-write. It re-wrote itself.

As soon as my wife corrects all the miss-spelling, bad grammer, and fixing the punctuation, I'll re submit to WH for review befor posting. It runs almost 17000 words at the moment.

I'll look forward to it. Do you have a title yet?

 

[LadyTabitha]

Yeah, keep us posted on titles so we can read these Character written wonders

 

[PolarJuice]

hello hottie ;

the stories that write themselves are always the best ones I find.. maybe its because you are not trying to force life into something. I write best first thing in the morning with a blank slate and I really hate having to stop writing to go to work... when the story is flowing its hard to pick it back up when life forces you to stop. ... here's hoping you get it all down before that happens to you

Polar.

 

[hotti]

thanks polar, you're a sweetie


lady t, i don't really have a title for this newest one yet, so i'm tentatively calling it "monday night football with toby"...
now this *will* change *G* but i'll post the final title, with a link, here...

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Congratulations, Hotti! You're a writer now...

 

[Whispersecret]

I've discovered over the past four or five years that flying blind is the only way I write. I've tried to plot everyting meticulously ahead of time, but have never finished any of those stories. When I write from beginning to end, discovering what happens as it comes out of my head, I end up finishing. Go figure. I think there are a lot of us out there like that. Welcome to the club!

 

[hotti]

*smiles*

thanks!

i actually got blocked for a couple of days... i guess i wrote myself into a corner when i tried to make this darn character do what *i* wanted him to do for once ...

i couldn't write anything! then an email friend of mine (thanks sugar) rather inspired 2 stories, quite short ones, but at least i was writing again!

so now i'm letting 'toby' do whatever the hell he wants, i just want to finish! lol.

 

[hotti]

oh, and i just uploaded them today


along with my first attempts at poetry: 3 haiku verses and a freeform. hopefully no one will throw tomatoes at me, since i'm allergic *G*

 

[Rrrosyn]

I start out...

...with characters. I use a limited group of names, or more accurately, meanings and orgins. Then I ask where this person would be in their life, lost on the moors or running a nightclub, anything. I make a list of 5 positions. I usually use 2-3 of them.

The rest writes itself.

I cannot write erotica or poetry long-hand. It just doesn't work for me. I can sketch the story, but not write it.

Pretty sad when you write a story with a semblence of a plot and you fill 2-3 notebook pages only to find you wrote "suck him off here" and "frenzied sex here". At least it is sad when you are writing erotica. LOL

I sketched my next piece like that at the ER last night. (Broken foot, not mine.) The doc asked what I was writing and seeing how he was my old GP I told him, "nothing you'll ever see." I added a silent "I hope" at the end.

 

[hotti]

lmao!

i like the description you gave of your longhand results, rrrosyn
i agree (now) that longhand isn't the way to write erotica *smile*

i normally base characters on ppl i know (loosely base, of course), and write about situations i'm comfortably familiar with... like i'd never write about someone on say an archeological dig or something, since i'd have no frame of reference...

ah well, writing is a wonderful new challenge, and i'm loving it!

 

[Rrrosyn]

I don't think I know enough people to base erotic stuff on, even loosely.

I will admit, my erotic work has gotten a lot better since I started experimenting with sex instead of just trying to write about it. Let's just say I essentially went out on an archeological dig for research.

I write fantasy. I don't need to ride unicorns to write it.

 

[lexium]

This always happens when I write. I sit down at the computer when everyone is alseep and begin to type. If I was a good typist, I believe that my stories would be longer. I began with a simple situation and know where I want to go with it, but the story seem to take off on its own.

 

[Celtic_Heart]

Personally, I've never planned a story yet. I just write it down as it pops into my head. Then once I've got it all down, I go back to the start and tidy it up.

not saying that's how it should be done, but that's what works best for me.

 

[Guest]

I must be really odd.

I need an outline, and a biog of all the (main) characters, before I can start.

Then (for a full length 70k worder) I work up a synopsis on a chapter by chapter basis.

Then I write the chapters in more or less random order as the mood takes me.

I suppose it's because I write non-fiction for a living.

 

[hotti]

I tried to write random chapters once, but it didn't work out. I kept trying to turn several of those chapters into stories of their own *G*.

Ah, well. At least we are all writing, and posting

Thanks all, for the great responses!