Characters gone wild!
I’ve been told that my writing style is odd, and maybe it is! In previous posts, I’ve outlined some questions you can answer about your characters that will allow you to flesh them out onto paper. However, I have to confess that while I do refer to many of those questions, keeping them in the back of my mind as I write, I don’t follow any kind of format for my own character development.
When I begin to write a story, I typically have a name and an occupation in mind. That’s it. There are no detailed lists of character traits, or a document outlining what that character’s motivations, dreams, and desires are. There’s only the character, rattling around in my head.
I like to imagine the opening scenes as meeting my characters for the first time. Like people, but imaginary… That very first conversation I mentioned before? That’s an integral part of my process. That tells me how the character responds to other people, often people they don’t know, or wouldn’t necessarily spend time with.
As the story progresses, I begin to peel back the layers. Through hours of writing, I get to know the people I’m writing about. They let me into their stories. Just the same as you wouldn’t ask a stranger what their deepest fear is, I often don’t find out my character’s deepest hopes and desires until a little ways into the story. As I get to watch them interact with their surroundings (both people and events), I learn more of what makes them tick, and I begin to flesh them out. I think this allows for realistic and meaningful growth, without giving away too much of the character in the first few pages of the book. However, my close family and friends remain flabbergasted by this strategy. How can you write like that, they ask.
This style of writing does lead to another type of dilemma that some writers may not face: the problem of unruly characters. As the story progresses, I become less and less in control of the story. Sure, I’ve started the plot, and I have a general idea of where it’s going. But often times, I set out to write a scene, and it ends up wildly different, because a character does something I didn’t expect, or revealed something about themselves that I didn’t know yet. I realize this sounds strange, and you may shake your head. “Just make them do what you want.” Sounds easy in principle… but my characters have an uncanny ability to escape my plans and run wild throughout my plot.
I have long since given up despairing over this! Instead, I’ve embraced it. I write, and I plan (sparingly!), but I hold things loosely. If the plot takes a different turn than I was expecting, that’s ok! Clearly the character knows things I don’t, and in time, I’ll learn them.
I do feel slightly obliged to add a disclaimer to this….. that yes, I know these characters are not real. But when you spend hours with a person (real or imagined), you begin to know them better and better, and in this case, imagined people can have minds of their own too. I often say that they’re telling the story, and I’m just writing it down.
