Last summer I sat down with my characters and we had some good conversations. They told me a little bit about themselves, and I observed quite a few interesting things (like Stacey’s ever-present ponytail). It was a good time, and it has really helped me shape my novel.
I’m now about halfway through my novel and some things have changed.
First of all, I found out Stacey has an older half-brother (who knew!). And now that Callie has met her conflict head on, she’s responding differently than I had expected. And Ryan! Don’t get me started…
Now I’m someplace I never expected to be – I’m re-interviewing my characters. Now that things have changed I need to figure out how they feel. The first time they could only answer questions out of their own experiences, but now they’ve had different experiences, and I think some of their answers would be different. Actually, I know it – they’re already surprising me!
So, I’m going to take a few minutes (hours) to find out who my characters are NOW – after the confusion, after the heartache, and before the ‘ah-ha!’ moment.
How about you? Have you ever had to revisit your characters? Or has your plot ever led you someplace you weren’t expecting?
Totally! Revisited them TODAY!
Great post!
Patti
http://www.pattilacy.com/blog
I think they have medication for this. 😉
Oh, Camille…you silly non-writer 🙂
My stories usually don't go exactly as planned. for each novel, I have a document called 'notes' or 'deleted scenes'
There are times (they are rare) when I write a scene from some future point in the story. But then as the actually writing progresses I realise that perfect scene isn't going to work with the way my characters have grown or the way the story went.
I think this interview with characters might be helpful with a couple of books I'm about to embark on. Plotting is getting so tough on those. Yep, that's what I'll do–ask then what exactly they want. And if they don't answer, I'll have to threaten them with a writers' block vacation or something
Empi
http://empire76.wordpress.com/