When Your Characters Refuse To Behave

[itismeinnz]

In general, rather than your specific example, my characters can definitely redefine them selves as I write. It is not uncommon for me to even realise that some quite fundamental profile characteristics of a character, as I originally envisaged them, were wrong. Or that there is something far more interesting that they should do earlier in the story that would never have occurred to me as I originally pictured that character.

In other words, as a character develops they may redefine plot or even redefine themselves, or conversely as plot develops it may redefine the character. If tht makes sense. But I would think that is extremely common, in fact usual, for most writers?

 

[NikkiBastion]

Awesome feedback. Thanks so much.

The one solidly helpful suggestion to the specific scene comes from Ironiclaconic who offered the "put that away" line should probably be tweaked. That's exactly what I was stumbling over without quite seeing where it was.

In this tale, the whole scene was built up over several interactions between these two, they'd only recently met and she has an agenda that gets superseded by her growing realization she's turned onto this guy and through her various attempts at handling her conflict (that isn't about him, he's an obstacle to it) she finds herself in a situation of voyeurism and then we get to this scene. He's in the hot tub, alone, actually reflecting on an ex and indulges it. She's standing on the side of the building/wall and sees it unfold and gets caught up in it.

Since their interaction has a distinct comedic undertone, just from her being thwarted repeatedly trying to accomplish her goal and reacting adversely to it, their specific interaction isn't comedic at all. Which is to say, from the 3P omniscient perspective, it's funny watching her handle things this way, but from her point of view, she's frustrated, scared and determined and it's not a laughing matter since if she fails, it would ruin peoples lives.

In my head, that scene is something that I'd laugh my ass off on if I saw it in a movie or something, but it didn't fit with this story. I think I was having a bout of smartass but then I couldn't get it out of my head after I wrote it - a delivery of a line like that was a definite show stopper and that's exactly where it was rooted: put that away.

Since I just read these latest replies, I've not yet had the opportunity to see how I can do a rewrite where maybe I can have the best of both worlds. What I am leaning toward is to go back over some of their dialogue and develop her sense of humor a little more with a similar smartass flair, or compromise (they're willing, I can feel it) and have a similar scene with a different character that she has a much more casual and relaxed relationship with, where it wouldn't be a show stopper.

In fact, as this is coming to me, I think that would enhance their relationship even more because I did have a display between them without a foundation - they're close, good friends (male/female) and horse around with one another that way...so it could work after all that in a scene that has been written already that was nonsexual (she walks in when he's getting dressed is all it amounted to), he could be engaged in that and she'd roll that off and he'd grin, shake his head and wince - and almost certainly tell her to come give him a hand.

Between those two characters, it would work, be funny and natural, and there's a history of banter between them that is borderline sexual, but not so much flirtation...and I see that I sailed over providing much background on why they have the tie they do since their relationship is mostly irrelevant to this story. I could honestly see this character popping off something equally smartass like "well, you should put it in your mouth then so I don't go blind" or something to that effect, without missing a beat or necessarily stopping. I could see this one continuing without breaking his stride both because it's hot and because he'd be amused watching her get all squirmy standing there in this awkward predicament, mostly fucking with her because he can, and knows her well enough he'd be that comfortable - and they'd laugh or she'd punch him...but it would definitely work as she perhaps found herself standing at the line between casual, comfortable sexual banter and a real opportunity to have that experience and whether or not it's anything she needed to do...just to give their tie more meat (pun intended) without it necessarily impacting the main point.

Maybe what they call one of them there sub plots Who knew?!


Then, too, it could lead to a potential gateway to a more specific story between them in another book entirely...which gives me another body of work for my resume

So definitely, I appreciate the feedback for sure.

Also, @LaRascasse who asked when I'd be posting it, this one wasn't intended to be posted here, I'm leaning heavily in favor of keeping it a book unto itself, but if it's not against the rules, I would love to post a couple sample chapters here for feedback if that's okay to do.

Which leads me to one more question I think I should make a specific topic for...I've missed visiting the forum here though. The last month or so has been focused on real life divorce so haven't been in the best frame of mind to hang out and interact and get to know some of you better

Not that you missed me of course.

I read this article awhile ago with the headline: Does Porn Lead To Divorce?

As of Jan 11 and my first day of legal freedom once again I have to say no. Divorce leads to Porn! Woo!


Thanks again to all of you who took the time to reply. I really got a lot of insight and it helped me tremendously.

 

[eatznfux2]

Character who don't obey

Listen to them. They are the voices in your head and they won't be kept silent. Even with xanax.

 

[Man_in_Chester]

They only exist because of you

Listen to them. They are the voices in your head and they won't be kept silent. Even with xanax.

If these characters in your head have done something you didn't expect and would divert your story from Your intended path, don't try to whip them back into line.
The story does not yet exist in real time so you can wind back the plot till you find where the opportunity for them to go wrong occurs.
That is where you must put up a small barrier to make them shy away from a possible wrong turn, else something attractive to turn them ever so gently onto Your story line.
It is something similar to hand-knitting.

 

[Jake_Knight]

In my case...

Hell, Ch. 03 is ready and, this early, they're trying to be rebellious. My villain is not who I had in mind, a new, temporary character became important... I'll let them have it their way as long as they don't ness with the story's main idea. If they do, the whole world will conspire against them.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

It pisses me off when my characters head in the wrong direction - but I always see it as a clear sign that I've screwed up their motivations and I need to back it up and try again. Oh, sometimes I'll chase down that merry trail to see where it goes, but usually - I get pissed off because I have a destination in mind and I (usually) know how I'm planning on getting there and damn-it, bitch, you are to going to suck that big fat cock! (Oops)

It's okay when characters surprise me. In a pre-group sex setting, when one of my male characters got undressed, I was as surprised as the other characters in the room to find out he was wearing panties. But it worked and helped set the stage for what was going to happen next.

 

[Mrtouf]

I tend to be in control of my characters, but when I'm not writing I will daydream about them, which is another way of saying I will consider anything, no matter how crazy it seems at first.

It's good to have a plan, but plans should be flexible and allow new ideas to take root.

Spontaneous humour will make your characters seem more genuine. That's not to say that everyone in real life has a witty comeback lined up and ready to go every hour of the day, but we're all capable of it, so there's no reason why your characters should be any different.

 

[KlaytonFrost]

Generally I think that if you feel a character pulling you in a certain direction you should go with it. Follow your instinct. Your brain knows how to write, so just let it run and you'll end up with something fresh and authentic and original... most of the time anyway

 

[Noira]

Let your characters run wild. You're writing characters, not straw men and dress up dolls. The difference between a great character or five makes the difference between a dull or a great story.

I have a snarky essay on how to make your characters behave in my story list, though.

 

[RomanSteel]

I write and my stories/characters often go in the direction intended.

Just yesterday, however, I felt blocked and that nothing was going right. So I started in on this tangent about an average guy working a boring job with a nasty boss that kept trying to get in his pants.. He comes home to his filthy house, his kid is at someone else's house, the maid's nowhere to be found.. And then, it worked into perfection. He finds the maid in his living room boffing his neighbors wife and ends up having the best orgasm of his life.

Didn't see that coming, but it worked. Sometimes you just have to let it flow. TBH, I expected to delete the mess as soon as I started but realized it had magically turned into something beautiful.

**I recommend finding a TRUE role playing game (non erotic/true to life - which can go erotic) to flesh out characters or invent new ones. I play a few characters that have very much come into their own and I am merely the fingers behind their words. Sometimes they surprise the hell out of me. I'm just in it for the ride and tell them when to come home.**

 

[sr71plt]

I write and my stories/characters often go in the direction intended.

Just yesterday, however, I felt blocked and that nothing was going right. So I started in on this tangent about an average guy working a boring job with a nasty boss that kept trying to get in his pants.. He comes home to his filthy house, his kid is at someone else's house, the maid's nowhere to be found.. And then, it worked into perfection. He finds the maid in his living room boffing his neighbors wife and ends up having the best orgasm of his life.

Didn't see that coming, but it worked. Sometimes you just have to let it flow. TBH, I expected to delete the mess as soon as I started but realized it had magically turned into something beautiful.

Yes, that sounds like it worked just fine. It also sounds like it was exactly what your protagonist needed to keep plugging away in the story.

 

[MSTarot]

In my head, in the actual story, she takes a breath and simply walks in on him and joins in...and it gets steamy and sultry.

On paper, this shit happened: She walks in and out of her mouth comes a playful, mock chastizing: "What the hell are you doing? Put that away! You'll shoot your eye out!"


Sex is meant to be fun.

Have her lake a look for a second, grin, walk over and offer to help before he goes blind.