Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Character Love is Such a Fickle Thing...

I'm just over the halfway mark in my novel, and I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I was completely wrong when I was doing my planning. I was under the mistaken belief that I would know who I liked and who I didn't when I was writing this thing.

Boy was I wrong. First and foremost, on of my characters, who I knew I would like, somewhat, but would also think was a jackass, is completely opening up to one of my other characters, and I love him so much! In fact, I think that his fiancee, who I originally thought I'd like and maybe even feel sorry for, even if she is a bit stupid, is a complete idiot. I find her annoying, and more than once I've had the urge to give her a nice smack across the face (even if I have to get one of my other characters to do it for me.

And if that's not bad enough, my main story line is making me cringe, and I'm finding myself leaning more toward the subplot. Why? Please, someone tell me why!

I've come to a very important conclusion this nano. I've decided that the reason this is happening (and I've suspected this for a long time to come) is that no matter what I do to get to know my characters before I put that figurative pen to paper, it's absolutely impossible to get to know your characters until you've actually put them in situations and written about them.

Take, for example, the prince that's sole purpose in my novel is to illicit jealousy from another character. He was supposed to be loveable so that a character fell for him to invoke said jealousy. Instead he comes off more like a playboy, or a used car salesman.. And, I was worried because I thought that she would so not fall for that kind of person. I was wrong. I would have never guessed that from the way they came across in my character bibiles, but there you have it.

Remember, nano is all about getting the words on the page, and not worrying about making it perfect. But don't underestimate your characters. No matter how much thought you put into them, they never quite listen to what you tell them, and you always end up with more than enough surprises.

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