Rebellious chartacters?

[mikey2much]

The author creates a world where his characters will act out the play that he has in his mind. But there is no set director or prop man. There are only words, so we take these words and use them to color and shape this stage or world. We give it texture with details, shading it in with facts and observations.

While we are pointing these details out to the reader we become aware of them through their eyes. This different perspective, the point of view of the reader, reveals aspects of the situation we as the writer had overlooked. This new data forces changes in either the character or his actions.

The author is forced to change, go places he or she never thought about going, doing things they never wanted to do. Who did this? If the writer is not in control, who is?
Look around the room, there’s nobody there but the writer and his characters.

Suddenly we have characters rebelling.

 

[HankDolworth]

I had the ... omg, my characters just went off the rails! happen to me twice the last two sections I wrote.

I had taken the time to sketch out profiles for both of them, so they had some substance in my grey matter. Then as I was writing, they acted out pretty much how they would in the situation. I had know idea really as I worked through the scenes that the arc would take that direction. In fact, my outline pretty much was going in the other direction.

But once the words were written, it seemed like the characters acted genuinely.

So now, the outline needs to change. I guess.

I'm kinda scared to start a new section.

 

[SydneyBlake]

warmAmber's thread titled "If a character challenges..." reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask.

I see it all the time here, authors who talk about how their characters took the story in an unexpected direction, how their characters don't want to do what the author wants them to do, letting the character follow their own heart, or as someone said in that thread - "let the character fly" ... and so on.

How does that work? How can a character react differently than the author intend for him to do? How can a character make choices that surprise the author? I've been writing short stories and plays for over a decade, and I've yet to have that happen to me. I sometimes read what I just wrote and see that what I made my character do was implausible. Then I trace back and change it to something plausible. But it's still my choice and my choice alone.

Can someone explain? What happens when they run amok? And how does it feel? Because frankly, it sounds kinda spooky to me.

They have another name for it: schizophrenia. Except I don't talk to my characters. I sit back and listen to them talk to each other.

So how does this phenomenon occur? Easy. I'll start out a story with two characters in mind. It's my plan that these characters end up in bed together. So I start developing these characters, and I start to like how they're developing, so I keep writing and keep writing, and somehow, I just can't seem to get them into bed. So I'll stop and think about why, and then I'll realize that I've created the kind of girl who would never, ever, in a million years, go for the kind of guy I've written. Making it happen feels forced, and if it feels that way to me, the author, then you can bet the reader will feel that way too, and she won't let you get away with it. She'll call foul and throw your book in the trash.

I was having this very issue with my current story. I was writing the dialogue, and getting the feeling that this isn't going anywhere, that there is no way this woman is going to be interested in this man. Then the man did something unexpected that caught her off guard and *aha!* She was hooked, and I had my story. Or at least I hope I do. It feels right so far....