Okay, two days ago a character announced to me that he was a Geologist. Not only that, a "Coastal Geologist." Not only had I never heard of a Coastal Geologist, I had no idea what they did, what kind of schooling it required, and so on. This was not something I could fake until later. So I was forced (agsint NaNo rules, as far as I was concerned) to do about an hour of research before I could continue writing. And this is not even my main character. He's about third in importance in the book.
And today he insisted that I write a chapter from his point of view, in the first person, like a diary. The whole book so far has been in the third person -- the narrator has "sympathized" with or been omnicient about only one character in each chapter (which differed according to the main character of the chapter), but it has always been in the third person until now.
What was I going to do? I wrote it in the first person as he demanded.
Are your characters behaving like this?
This is my first piece of long fiction, ever.
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37,848 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 20 10
My characters haven't been too demanding, although they spring things on me. I'll be writing a scene and I think I know where it's going, then one of them does something or says something that takes it in another direction entirely, and the other characters run with it. I feel like I'm just along for the ride, taking notes!
If a character starts demanding things, as yours has done, that's GOOD. It probably means that you, as author, have done a good job of making that character realistic and multi-layered.
A coastal geologist, huh. Probably has some oceanography in his background! (Just a guess, because I do, too. Biological, just a bit of the geological stuff.)
----------“It only has to be written. It doesn’t have to be perfect.” - Elizabeth Bear
38,692 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 21 18
The same thing happened to me. I had the idea that one of my main characters was going to have a masters' degree in history. No, he said, he was an architect. Of course, now he's working as a truck driver just the same, but it certainly makes a difference in how he looks at his surroundings. I had to put a couple of "architecture for dummies" books on hold at the library.
I was flattened by vertigo since Wednesday and am only just getting un-spun, so now I have to make up for lost time. At least I was able to figure out the general outline of a couple more chapters while I waited for the world to stop whirling.
13,084 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 00 19
I was writing a section that involved a family gathering. It would have been very convenient for the plot for the main character's brother to be a film buff. So I tried to write him as a professor in the field of Film and Media Studies. But he insisted on being a poet instead. It has ended up working out fine; in fact, I can't even recall why I wanted him in media studies to begin with.
----------http://gideonsockpuppet.blogspot.com/
35,099 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 01 26
I don't drink coffee. Never grew up drinking the stuff. So two of my characters have decided that they own a coffee bar. Now I have to read up on coffee, coffee businesses, coffee drinks.... Why couldn't they just be technical writers? And the new character is an artist's model. I know so much of nothing about being an artist's novel, so I had to research that, too.
A character that walked into book 2 as a tarot reader is becoming filled out, though. He's young, early 20s, more the age to be into skateboarding and video games, but he's a husband and father, and a good one. He's also a psychic, magician, apprentice wizard, and martial artist. Yeah, I'd better reign him in before he takes over. :-)
----------2005 In Back of the North Wind WINNER!
2006 Leopard's Paw WINNER!
2007 The Old Straight Track (finished) WINNER!
2008 The Other Side of the Wall (finished) WINNER!
2009 Dark Inheritance
44,040 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 06 24
Yup, my main character is "Me" even and I had to research James Fenimore Cooper since she's writing a college paper on him and I actually only knew his name. And, unfortunately, she works at a bookstore and some of the customers have asked for specific books I'm equally unfamiliar with and I've had to research publishing info.
----------16,663 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 10 54
ah, you know you are writing well when the charcters do that.
my first book, a minor but key character said, no, i'm a amor character, and wrote herself into the thick of the novel.
and once, and character got up from his chair, walked across the room, and examined a painting, each word coming out of my fingertips before i thought it.
treasure those moments...
44,901 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 11 35
I've just had a character I was only thinking of adding in to the book (2007 NaNo, still not edited) this novel is a sequel to, suddenly barge into this one and reveal some sort of history between her and the main character. Couldn't she wait for me to get round to editing the first one and work out what she's like then? - on second thoughts, she was maybe getting desperate to make her entrance!
----------Sheila
2009: was 'Watching the Neighbourhood' - now 'Reunited!'
2008: (Winner!) A Place of Conflict
2007: (Winner!) Community
2006: (Winner!): Independence
49,036 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 23 05
Evgeny, my supposedly shy, diffident and fiscally broke Russian tenor was quite verbose for the first fifty pages of my book. Maybe he's not so shy, since he unabashedly took control of the novel on November 1. Now I'm concentrating on Lucia, who is NOT shy, but I can barely squeeze the words out of her. the last two thousand words have been rather like pulling teeth. I guess this means Evgeny really wants to be the star, around here.
All my characters seem to insist on acting out their parts in 'real time" that is, my book is more about scenes than it is about summary. I hope Lucia will warm up and start TALKING once she and Claude the baritone hook up.
Melissa
----------You can have a sound mind in a healthy body.... Or you can be a Nanonovelist!
Nanowrimo--Eavesdrop on the Voices In Your Head
48,159 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 02 52
A whole new character has barged into the book, and lo and behold! He is the murderer! I had written myself into a corner when the character who was going to be the murderer turned out to be flawed but salvageable (and in the end, quite noble) and for the two-day break I took to go to the ocean with Mr Siouxxie for our 39th anniversary, I could not figure a way out of this dilemma without a totally contrived denouement.
I believe it was Maya Angelou who said, "When somone shows you (tells you?) who they are, believe them." (tho I'm betting she didn't mix her pronouns)
So this pushy character Robert came along and started acting like the big shot, and I realized, he is telling me he literally is THE BIG SHOT!
Um...okay!
35,099 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 21 42
Beth wants blues music played as background in the coffee bar. Fine. Great. What I know about blues could fill a coffee spoon. Why can't she be normal and like Irish music or classical?
----------2005 In Back of the North Wind WINNER!
2006 Leopard's Paw WINNER!
2007 The Old Straight Track (finished) WINNER!
2008 The Other Side of the Wall (finished) WINNER!
2009 Dark Inheritance
48,159 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2009 - 01 58
Zookeeper, I happen to love love love the Blues, anyone from Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. But I also love Irish music (been to Ireland 3x) and I read that you play the bodran (ok I know I misspelled that, altho I can pronounce it correctly) Perhaps your character needs to invent the Irish Blues? God knows if any nationality had historical reasons for the blues, it's the Irish!
60,067 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2009 - 08 33
My MC just changed things in a big way. Originally, I had her being terrified of someone after he commited an act of violence against her. But that was before I had written out their previous relationship, which I think is probably what changed her attitude. So now, she understands that what seemed an act of violence at the time, mostly because of the circumstances, wasn't intended to be violent, and she's not afraid of him.
It changed the whole tone of the scene, and some of what takes place after that. Without too much editing, thank goodness.
----------Whatever the words say, there's always more beneath.
My writing blog: Words on Top
http://wordsontop.blogspot.com
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NaNo '09 - Gift of Blood: Beginnings and Endings
NaNo '10 - Gift of Blood: Michel (tentative)