How often do your characters derail the plot you were going to tell?

[Dearelliot]

The men in my stories wouldn't dare! I have mean hard nosed sadistic ladies in my stories that support me 100%. They keep the men in line!

 

[Writer61]

What was the movie (maybe TV show) where the characters were afraid of the artist's pencil?

Roger Rabbit?

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

^^^ Maybe. Or Cool World.

But I remember something else. Maybe a Disney or Warner Brothers short where the character was interacting with the animator, doing things and getting erased and redrawn.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I don’t know, but for some reason it reminded me that there was a really cool issue of The Fantastic Four where they got to meet God and it was Jack Kirby sitting at his drawing board. That pretty much sums up my attitude concerning the author/character relationship.

That reminds me of being a kid. Coming home on Sunday, going down stairs and playing with miniature people in a toy village.

 

[NuclearFairy]

^^^ Maybe. Or Cool World.

But I remember something else. Maybe a Disney or Warner Brothers short where the character was interacting with the animator, doing things and getting erased and redrawn.

I think I remember watching such a short as well... But ya know it's so easy for the brain to fabricate memories that it's hard to be sure.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

^^^ Maybe. Or Cool World.

But I remember something else. Maybe a Disney or Warner Brothers short where the character was interacting with the animator, doing things and getting erased and redrawn.

Wasn't there a Bugs Bunny like that?

Edited:

 

[SkyBubble]

Yes, that happens.

 

[TheStefanSinadinovicLore]

Deppends I mostly stick to writing real life experiences I had in my stories. Unless I write scfi or non human things, so I usually stick to relatable things to keep it original.

 

[THBGato]

You're going in to write a story and include a throwaway character to give someone some depth, but the throwaway becomes MUCH more interesting than the original plan?

I don't get this so much as side characters spinning off into their own stories.

Though I did just write a story where a single sentence made me go, "shit, now I need to write and publish the story behind that before I can publish this one."

 

[StillStunned]

I'm a pantser, and I usually start writing from a single image or action. The whole process of plotting and character creation is in constant flux, right up until I finish my first draft.

I try to avoid having strong thoughts about my plot, because as soon as I do that I lose interest in telling the story. So I let the characters take the story where they want, with perhaps some key moments along the way to steer them.

 

[iwatchus]

I'm a pantser, and I usually start writing from a single image or action. The whole process of plotting and character creation is in constant flux, right up until I finish my first draft.

I try to avoid having strong thoughts about my plot, because as soon as I do that I lose interest in telling the story. So I let the characters take the story where they want, with perhaps some key moments along the way to steer them.

The first fourteen stories of my original series were written like that, but I had no idea where the series was going or if it would ever end.

My SO gave me enough grief about that that I felt obligated to plan out a glade path down for the series. It was originally supposed to be 4 more stories, but they got split into seven as I wrote them. But I think the writing and the story telling was much worse for the planning. And there is a marked drop in ratings for this last seven stories. I now have rough plot points I am aiming for, but I also view them as optional. I let new subplots evolve naturally, some plot points become irrelevant or implausible.

This seems like a middle ground between the panther I started as and a complete plotter that I would have guessed I would be.

 

[Writer61]

The first fourteen stories of my original series were written like that, but I had no idea where the series was going or if it would ever end.

My SO gave me enough grief about that that I felt obligated to plan out a glade path down for the series. It was originally supposed to be 4 more stories, but they got split into seven as I wrote them. But I think the writing and the story telling was much worse for the planning. And there is a marked drop in ratings for this last seven stories. I now have rough plot points I am aiming for, but I also view them as optional. I let new subplots evolve naturally, some plot points become irrelevant or implausible.

This seems like a middle ground between the panther I started as and a complete plotter that I would have guessed I would be.

Loving the idea of a panther on a glade path.

 

[Rob_Royale]

So far, just once. I started what was to be a very debaucherous tale of an aunt using her nephew to fill her bed with young men, to a story that ended up being rather loving with just the two of them. Not sure when it went sideways, but I've no regrets.

 

[StillStunned]

This seems like a middle ground between the panther I started as and a complete plotter that I would have guessed I would be.

Most of us are probably somewhere in between. Like I mentioned, I do have certain key moments that I want to incorporate. But getting there is the adventure.

I also thought I'd be a total plotter. But when I tried plotting I never managed more than a few hundred words. With pantsing, I'm at more than a million.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I'm a plantser, so I never have my plots derailed. That's because I try to approach everything the same way I approach my TTRPG sessions: I only plan enough. I make the situations, and let my characters resolve it however they want, or don't because refusing the call is a thing too. Sometimes it is as I expect it, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

Whatever they do keeps the story moving forward, and if they go stray, I just correct course. The sandbox was a railroad the whole time. They never knew their free choice was an illusion.

 

[lovecraft68]

More often than not

 

[taytay4eva]

What was the movie (maybe TV show) where the characters were afraid of the artist's pencil?

There's a couple Loony Tunes cartoons with that premise, I think

 

[taytay4eva]

Wasn't there a Bugs Bunny like that?

Edited:

There's also a Daffy Duck one!

 

[stickygirl]

That sort of thing can lead to needing an exorcism.

EB speaks in tongues. He’s quite good at it

My MCs often come up with jokes in conversation and I don’t know how

 

[sinfantasy]

When I started writing, someone advised me to think of Character's, given them some nuances and put them in a situation, and then let them drive the story.

As I learned later, it's the best advise for having plot bunnies but worst to complete them. I have 40+ half written stories in the "Parked Aside" folder.

So yes, I start with a robust plot but let my characters drive the stories. They decide the length and how it would end. More often that not, my stories have steered on completely unexpected tangent than my planned plot.

 

[yowser]

This doesn't exactly address your question, but does demonstrate the sheer oddness of the process of creative fiction that comes into play sometimes. I am sure I am not the only one for which this sort of thing has happened.

A couple seasons ago there was @Omenainen's Pink Orchid challenge. I had a perfect notion for a story, which involved characters from a loosely organised (non chaptered) series I had going. The problem was that the story would only work if there was another set-up tale, written from an earlier chronological point for the participants. Which set up the opportunity of shifting a minor character into a major one. I needed two stories, not just one to make it all work. It was tortuous (and meant far more writing under deadline than I find optimal) but I was happy for the challenge, and the chance of making that secondary character come to life and sing...