How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:44:03 +0000

So most of us (if not all) go into a novel pretty much knowing what we expect from our characters. Now...how many of us have had things pop up over the course of the novel that we didn't expect? Did your characters take on a life of their own? Did you suddenly learn something about them that you didn't know before? Did you discover an odd quirk that they have half-way through the book? Did they go and do something completely unexpected at some point? Mine did. Especially one character in particular. Apparently she hates the concept of owing favors, or anything else for that matter. She thinks that expecting something in return completely undermines the purpose of doing a good deed, and revenge does not repair the damage that's already been done. I learned this about a third of the way through the book, when my MMC told her "When this is over, you owe us an explanation," and she turned around and told him what's what, like "Look here, mister. I owe you nothing! If I explain anything to anyone, it will be because I choose to, and not because I owe anything to anyone!" She also apparently has rather frightening interrogation techniques. She's naturally creepy, being a necromancer and all, and she used that to her advantage. She got all up in the poor guy's face, put her hand on his forehead and kept it there through the entire interrogation, telling him she could magically sense if he lied, and if he did, she would suck out his life force. At the end, before they let him go, she started chanting some weird words, and tracing what everyone assumed to be magic sigils on his forehead, and then on a glass vial that happened to be nearby. When the guy asked what she'd done, she told him she'd just cast a spell that would suck out his soul and trap it in that vial, no matter where he was, if he ever betrayed them. Of course, when he was gone, the other characters were kinda freaked out too, and she was like "What? I thought you guys knew I was just bluffing!"

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

egyptianprincess12 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:49:50 +0000

That sounds awesome! As for me, one of my main characters surprised me greatly throughout the novel. In the first chapter I found out that she has a bit of an icy personality, and that changed the way the other characters acted around her. So the plot didn't end up where I wanted it to go at all.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

AnnieDayNow — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:58:27 +0000

I have a character that announced he would have rather had his species die out, than what they did to save it. I actually felt my jaw drop after his impassioned speech tumbled onto the screen. I hadn't thought of what had been done as a fate worse than death.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

epic mcgowan — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:29:39 +0000

I had one character, a totally stoic kind of guy, be terrified of moths. Moths! He's like 6'2 and works out, so he isn't a wimp. But he's still scared of moths. I nearly died of laughing after that happened. And then, he turned out at the end to be a romantic. On national television, after winning a revolution, he turns to his girlfriend and ends the book with "Marry me." I tell you, this was not how he was supposed to end everything :P

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Angryman — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:51:10 +0000

Let's start at the beginning: When I first started writing, my characters decided to form a union. I wasn't sure why they did, but they did and they did. I started writing my demon story and worked on an ifrit character that was supposed to be huge and intimidating. I introduced him into the story by putting him on guard duty with some random guy. But with every introduction I came up with, he became sillier and sillier. He even shrunk a couple of feet. The random guy started working with him and joking around, and became his best friend. These two became the MMC's best friends. In this same story, I decided my fierce warrior FMC needed a rival. This rival was developed to be all beauty and no practicality. But since I wanted the MMC to hook up with the FMC, I decided this beautiful rival needed to try and seduce the MMC. So she became a romantic rival as well. Then I realized that the tribe that they are all a part of is just one giant family (not by blood, of course. More of a home for those without a home), so I explored this beauty some more, and she became more of a person, just not one who got along with the FMC. But then I wondered, "If this is a giant family, then how come these two don't get along?" Turns out, they're foster sisters that had a wedge driven between them. And as I watched the beauty become one of the MCs, I noticed something: Despite her flirtatious nature, she only flirts when someone she knows is around. The beauty will flirt with the new guy, but if it's just her and him, she is extremely shy. My characters unionized in order to get some of the minor characters bigger parts. MUCH BIGGER.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

aliaswriter — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:22:32 +0000

My characters pretty much stuck to their given personalities. But one (MMC) was being passive aggressive about something, when he's usually a pretty easy-going guy.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

maggiep — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:40:45 +0000

My characters are always surprising me. They tend to only give me just a tiny bit of who they are and what is happening, then they close up and I have to coax it out of them. One character, a very old lady who I KNOW has lots of secrets and stories to tell, barely says anything. Even when someone asks her something, she will give the barest detail, causing other person to ask every question imaginable to get info from her. Sneaky old lady. And she knows it too. And loves it. She is my character. I made her up. So, why isnt she talking to me?? Geez! I love the woman! :) There was a time when I was writing her doing something and the next thing I knew I had no idea what the heck she was doing, but did I have control over her? Not a bit. Stubborn.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Jabberwocky629 — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:47:56 +0000

I was driving back from work (about a 2-hour drive) about half way through the month when I realized that my bad guy was actually a good guy and that one of my good guys was actually a sneaky double crossing bad guy. I got really excited and confused for awhile, and still haven't figured out how all of that works. That's what editing is for I suppose!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

fuzz — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:02:10 +0000

My cast changed completely. People who don't write think it's bizarre but I really didn't have much control over it. Sure, I could change it if I was really determined to but it's just so much more *right* the way the characters want it to go. The character of mine who changed the most was originally meant to be a sweet 13 year old boy. He's now in his early twenties and pretty clueless/cowardly. He was going to hang around for the whole novel but he now makes a run for it fairly early on in the piece.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

ZeroDraftingGenius — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:31:47 +0000

I was constantly surprised. Characters I never saw coming just tromped into the room and started talking to each other. Awesome. And characters I thought I had a sense of kept coming up with new personality twists and traits. Like my tough Chicago cop MMC, who's a good guy but also very hard, very self-controlled, rather menacing and absolutely capable of bloody violence. He was taking down a description from my FMC of a girl on a train who was wearing a flowered dress, and drew a perfectly detailed violet blossom in his notebook. Again ... who knew? Have I mentioned how much I love my characters?

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Faeiri — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:22:04 +0000

My favorite is the character who didn't even exist in the original outline. Back when my main villain wasn't part of this universe, she had a co-leader/helper, so I suppose in retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised when he wormed his way in. I don't think my plot would have really worked without him. Especially because he just turned against the villain. Kiran, you are quite the interesting character. Oh, there's also the fact that MC2 is a ghost. Oops. I didn't mean for that to happen...

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

ddog125 — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:18:37 +0000

Now before I start I would like to point out I often wake up at odd hours of the night and begin to write. Sometimes a completely new story, or keeping going on one I have started. I also don't remember these writing hours when I wake up for real. Almost sleep writing. So when I woke up at 6 am the in the middle of nanowrimo with this written in my word document, lets just say I was a little surprised. *setting: middle of an epic fight between my good guy Matt (known as I) and Jarvis (known as He)* “What is yours this time?” He said, smirking. “That girl of yours. She dumped you years ago. Why would she want you now? Katina has left you to suffer by your self and you've only just met Lesily. Why would she care if you live or die? She doesn't that’s what.” He laughed maniacally. "Maniacal laughter is inappropriate and unbecoming." I said, standing up slightly. “No, not in this case actually. See I just tried to completely ruin your thoughts on life so that you can't carry on and defeat me, so really the laughter is called for. Don't even try to argue it. Plus it fits the character does it not?” “Point taken. It's just used way to much.” I said shrugging. “I guess you're right but honestly how else is an evil person supposed to laugh? Am I supposed to have a girly giggle? No it's maniacal laughter all the way. Girly giggles just...there not evil at all.” He sighed at me and shook his head. “Honestly how am I supposed to build a reputation of being evil if I laughed like that?” “Touche.” I said. “Shall we stop this discussion and go back to being enemies?” “I think so.” He said nodding. Needles to say I kept this part in my story.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Piper the Perfect — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:51:01 +0000

Fighting with each other more than planned. Which is actually completely perfect. My villain gained a new obsession. That may be a bit edited. :/ 0.o We'll see, SO FAR it seems to be working. Oh the villain killed a child. Wasn't expecting that. But, he had to make a mistake. And his mistake was killing the child(it's complicated). :'( Poor Tommy.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

pammersw — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:46:21 +0000

I had an answer to this, then I read the responses above and mine sounds *so* lame! But mid-scene in about chapter five, I suddenly realized why my FMC could start a fire with a fire bow, and my MMC could not: she used to play the cello! Now I need to go back and add some musical references earlier on in the story, so it doesn't surprise my readers as much as it surprised me. ;) I had a surprise character join the cast a few days later - a mutt named Scruffy. Scruffy became an important character, as she was someone my FMC or MMC could talk to when they weren't talking to each other. Instead of just thinking something, which was boring, they could tell the dog. So, she served a useful purpose! She also warned them of danger a few times, and showed another side of my characters as they interacted with her. I also had a surprise object suddenly appear. My FMC started having these odd dreams about a Mutant Ninja Zombie-Fighting Chihuahua named Buffy, who kept doing weird things like going on a hike with her little backpack and hiking boots, or fishing with this cute little pink fishing pole, overalls, and a hat with fishing flies in it. I thought these dreams are getting WEIRD! Then, my MMC showed her something he'd found...that she'd seen and forgotten and even *I* didn't know about...a calendar featuring a Chihuahua dressed up like all the images from the dream! I was *so* relieved to find out that the strange images were just from a calendar. I had no idea that was the case when I started writing the dreams. ;)

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

rachum_05 — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:58:54 +0000

I just couldn't get a clear picture of whether one of the couples in my book ended up staying together or not. In the outline, they were supposed to get married. Then when I started writing them, I thought, there's no way they're going to end up together. I continued writing and thought, "Well, they're going to have a really big fight, but then make up after not talking for a few months." That's where I was with it, and as I had my MMC walking towards a room he knew my FMC was in to make up with her, there was a male voice in there as well -- and I suddenly realized that they WEREN'T going to end up together, because she had already moved on. I was shocked!!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Unforgivable — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:11:49 +0000

When I started my novel I said: There is not going to be ANY love and romance in my first novel. That's just silly...... But then Aaron came along. I didn't even plan on putting him in my story, but all of a sudden, he came to my Main character's home - hired by her father - and started helping out with the dragontraining and all. And even though he wasn't supposed to have any big part in my novel, all of a sudden he was in love with my main character and she didn't see, even though he was doing so adorable things and trying to get her attention and all. Such a sweetheart really. He just grew into a huge part in the first 40K I wrote xD Then I decided: 'NO! No love, no love, no love!'... So I had my Main character leave her home in order to convince the king not to slay the dragons - as planned, without having fallen completely in love with Aaron. It worked well for about 10K, and then she was thinking of him and realized that she loves him, but can't go home to him until she has met the king... But because of Aaron's appearance in my novel, I now have the perfect ending for book one and the perfect plot for book two. I'm terrified and grateful about this.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

PlasticSmoothie — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:24:17 +0000

So, Toby was supposed to be this cute, cowardly, passionate kinda guy. Blond and small with a baby face. But, as I wrote on... Not only did he began to gain a very vivid imagination, he started cynically using his cute looks to manipulate people. He lied and stole from them without a care in the world... Except for my MC, whom he views as a sister to him... But DAMN, he was supposed to be lovable, smart and provide the comical relief when I needed it before I finally kill him off in the end... Well, he never was honest at all, even on the earliest notes I have on him it says that he has a tendency to lie instead of telling the truth, but I didn't know it would be THAT pronounced and completely remake his role... =D He even became an MC! Instead, I threw an adorable five-year old girl in. That worked much better! Sad to see her die, though. :/

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Prudence Fang — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:53:34 +0000

When I started, I thought my character was going to be a tough, bored, angry, bitter, sarcastic teenager with serious family and personal issues. But then she changed. She went from being an antisocial loner to hanging out with at least ten people at a time. She went from scowling all the time to laughing so hard it makes other people laugh. She started crying when her cousin came in and started verbally tearing her apart, when I really intended for her to punch him a few times and throw him out the window and get into major trouble. She adopted a puppy! I wanted her to hate animals! I'm not sure if I like the way she turned out. (I adore her mean cousin, though. He's so awesome!)

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Princess Binky Lemontwist — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:36:16 +0000

I was planning on my FMC falling in love with this guy who she rescued from the dark side of the moon. Turns out, that guy is her older brother who was given up for adoption. Also, I found out that this guy who was not supposed to be a MC became my MMC. Also, he was supposed to be very hard, commanding, general-like. He actually showed a lot of emotion. I was like *Jaw drops*! And to top it all off, he fell in love with my FMC and PROPOSES to her at the end of my book! o_O Sooooooo weird!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

cherylmahoney — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:40:03 +0000

My MMC proposes to my FMC and I wanted to make her reluctant to say yes, just to give it an extra wrinkle. But then she came up with a really good reason for not getting married; namely, she's been surrounded by her sisters her whole life--she knows she'll be able to get away at a certain point in the future, but that's the same point when the MMC thinks they should get married, and she wants some time to just be on her own. So I spent a long time trying to think how I could get her to come around on the idea, and instead she convinced me of her point of view. She's still going to marry him eventually, but not until later on.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

thomlina — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:55:39 +0000

In my NaNo novel this year, I had a start point and an end point. How I got to the end point...Is a strange history that's for sure! My characters started out on this epic journey then my MFC got in this huge fight with her brother. The story changed quite a bit from there and I learned some interesting things about my characters... So it turns out nothing like I thought it would

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

missamanda12 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:13:52 +0000

i have found that some of my characters maybe way to powerful... they are trying to control MY book. Even though my main character actually has no power, he keeps everyone not killing each other by either words, traps, or threats. Not really sure how the threats work considering that he could be easily beaten by anyone. However i hate my MMC, in fact all of my main characters are guys. hm.. i should get some girls in there. I have yet to finish, but most of the characters know what is going on in the second book. A few are mad that someone dies. and that the MMC broke a pot. I have to sneak up on my story and characters and write a floury of words, so that they are too busy doing the story that they can't complain.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

tovath — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:19:46 +0000

I had a minor character who was just suppose to be in a couple of to explain how my MC magic works. Next thing I know there is an arranged marriage between her and my MC. I had the hardest time dragging the plot back to what was suppose to be happening. She ended up being helpful later on in the story and helped make the ending much better.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Luna Moonstone — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:02:21 +0000

To be honest, I never really plan out my charecters. Half the time, I don't know they will be in the story until they pop up and say, "Boo! I'm here now!" My main charecter surprises me daily but the most surprising of my charecters is Artimis. In my latest chapter, I had intended for her to start being friends with another charecter but, next thing I know, she's beating him over the head with a stick. It defiately surprised me.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

mycatduncan — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:32:44 +0000

You mean the character who wasn't supposed to be mentioned more than a few times? Yeah. Now she's gone off to live with a group of pickpockets, but later is arrested because she was (accidentally) framed by the MCs for a kidnapping that never even happened (the person who was supposedly kidnapped was really just running away). And now she's going to be a major factor in the plot - as in, if I don't include her, things will be very difficult, if they work at all. AND she's going to die and make an even bigger impact on the MCs. AND I can't imagine this plot without her. And when I began this novel she wasn't even supposed to exist. Surprise, surprise.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

amberlashell — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:12:26 +0000

One of my bigger minor characters was always shrouded in a bit of mystery and looked sad. Then suddenly she opens up to my FMC and tells her that she's gay and in love with an Elvin princess that left to go to Mount Olympus.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Writerwithasword17 — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:41:06 +0000

I had two characters that marched into my plot and refused to leave, so now their traversing the land with my original group, but I'm glad they walked in when they did otherwise my story wouldn't have gone where it went at all!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:05:11 +0000

I love when the characters who we aren't expecting at all or who are only supposed to be in it for a scene or two come in and steal the show, and then we're like "I don't know how the plot could have worked without that person..." That's so fun!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

miniwriter — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:24:05 +0000

Well, my main character decided that she would fall in love with what was supposed to be her enemy. She also decided she wouldn't show up at her brother's funeral, and that she would hold grudges against people that I'd only mentioned once, and never did again. In the course of the book she went from being a pleasant young lady to the exact opposite.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Horselover150 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:05:08 +0000

Yeah, one of my characters was supposed to be a hero. Her name was Clara and she was a warrior.. She was always ready for the fight and she was untiring in battle. But suddenly, out of the blue, she became eaten up with envy for a new recruit who had all the natural instincts of a great warrior and natural leader. Clara started to try to kill Silver, as he was called, and Marzipan, the leader and the MC had to arrest her. I'm so sorry Clara, this wasn't what I had in mind for you when I inserted you into my story. But, you have no one but yourself to blame.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

larelmian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:53:33 +0000

I've been working on this story for years, but I've come across a few surprises. The sadistic pirate sorceress queen is my main character's first cousin. Didn't see that one coming, but it works out well because now it's personal. My main character becomes a bounty hunter. That was a surprise. My other main character becomes a horse thief, or at least allied with some. What's up with that? I thought the prince's spy was utterly loyal to him. It turns out she's spying on him as much as for him. I had not intended to make her a double agent, but it makes sense. Another character was spying on the assassins -- well, I knew his father was involved with the assassins, but originally, they were estranged. Finally, the major antagonist refuses to keel over and manages to survive. His survival is key to the plot now. That wasn't at all how I thought it would turn out.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Nianne — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:13:41 +0000

Ooh, I think I'm the first person to post with a character who unexpectedly came out of the closet during an intense interview session with their author.... He was just too much of a monolith and I was trying to get him to tell me what had the power to make him sit right down on the ground and cry, and it turns out he had an affair about 20 years ago with Mr.-Stranger-Blows-Into-Town-to-Shake-Things-Up, who left him to go raise a family. Now they're together again but only one of them has any interest in the relationship. Now he's Mr.-Unrequited-Love-is-my-Sympathetic-Side. Poor guy. Not that he's any nicer of a person, though.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Smartiez101 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:51:05 +0000

Arguments, angst, the nice FMC gets an attitude, gentle Raevin becomes violent and has the perfect poker face. Heck, Trinity wasn't even supposed to be in the novel! She just showed up. Oh yeah, and the MMC kissed the FMC. :/

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Earthsick — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:52:23 +0000

My second MC suddenly decides that he's not really a guy with a happy-go-lucky attitude but instead a person who is such a good actor that he fools everyone - except for the main MC, who actually becomes able to "read" the second MC and knows when he's just acting as the story goes on. That's actually quite useful since the second MC has so much angst that it's an interesting addition to his character that he doesn't want to show all his angst openly but instead clings to his awesome acting skills. Since none of the other characters befriend him like the main MC does, the others don't even notice that he's just faking it. Other than that, nothing much. Apart from the main characters bromancing so much ... I didn't plan that, they just happen to be so awesome together.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

AdorkablyMe — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:57:58 +0000

Quite simply, he lived... he wasn't supposed to, the odds were against him especially seeing as I had his death planned from the beginning of the book, but he lives!!!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

emberwing — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:50:44 +0000

Well Firstly, I must commend my characters for putting up with the fact that I had NOTHING in terms of plot for this sequel. NO. THING. Tremendous work. Fletcher, you turned out to be such a badass for a gay dude. Keep on fixing things with duct tape and having your T-Rex eat people, man. Mira: Congradulations, you managed to up the anty on the 'absolutely unstable and insane' factor of your personality. Great job! Flint, as per usual, was a JOY to write, with all his great lines, sarcasm, and angry attitude Zach gained some character development! Yeah! Heather suddenly grew a spine and I still feel like a mother watching her first born go off into the world for the first time And finally: the villain didn't turn out to be the crazy govrnment guy, i was actually the CRAZY CAT LADY. I wasn't expecting that AT ALL, but it made for some amazing plot twists

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

KatnissGinnyMaxTally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:23:02 +0000

I still haven't finished my NaNo. (SHAME!!) But just last night, two of my MC's got into a major fight, and started throwing punches. Didn't expect it at all.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Steampunk avi8or — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:04:08 +0000

MMC was German, then American, then German, then British, and he is now German and he will stop changing his nationality this instant! He also went insane, which I was really not expecting, and he fell in love with the wrong person. I might have to do some author written fanfiction with him and his original love interest just to feel like I have him under control.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

MsShel330 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:15:02 +0000

This usually happens with at least one character in anything I write. This first happened years ago and it freaked me out so much that I stopped writing that novel. It was a big, multi-generational saga and the 2nd generation's marriages were planned except that my MMC and his planned wife wouldn't talk to each other, at all. They would have dialog but not answering each, they would have monologs that weren't related to what the other person was saying. To make it worse, my MMC met and fell in love with some brand new person who had NOTHING in common with him. I got mad and stopped writing all together. This next happened with my 1st winning NaNo; a minor character who was originally an afterthought became a main character who fell in love with my FMC. They are both married and he's threatening to leave his wife for my FMC and be a recurring MC. Argghh! Thankfully I like him, even though he's a bit of an arrogant jerk. My 2nd winning NaNo had *another* afterthought character who also gave herself a bigger role than I intended and to add insult to injury, she tries to have sex with EVERYBODY that she meets. Again, it turns out that I like her but I have to try to keep her clothes on. She's a vampire so she's not worried about AIDS or getting pregnant so she's hard to convince to keep her self to her self.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

CalicoRain — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:36:56 +0000

The dragon, who was supposed to be a minor character, turned into a limelight-hogging drama queen. He died. *Must send antagonist a fruit basket.* I wrote myself into my novel and my FMC decided she hated me. No love loss - I hate her, too. My MMC had no personality at first, and then he decided he was bipolar and wanted to hang out in the emo corner. My main antagonist - he takes offense to words like "bad guy" and "villain" - turned from the aggressive, angry creature I thought he would be into an angsty little brat. The demon bartender revealed he was overly-sarcastic and moody because he was harboring an unrequited love. It made him more entertaining so I granted him a reprieve.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

DarkOwl — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:06:12 +0000

Well... Jeanne, who was supposed to have had no experience with the supernatural, starts out the story by interacting with a ghost named Steve. Evidently, she'd known Steve her whole life, and her parents knew him well enough to get him to babysit. Where on Earth did you come from, Steve? I love ya, but what's going on here? And then Rose waltzes in, and though she's supposed to be a throw-away serial killer in a book full of random evil people, it turns out that she hates the MMC so much because they were friends and he thought she was dead and abandoned her to rot in prison... oh, and they have a kid. And then about this kid they had. I named her after a friend of mine, was going to make her sensible, quiet, a friend for the FMC, and then she opens up her mouth and she's a total AIRHEAD. She starts a rivalry with my FMC, and then when I try to kick her out for a while, she decides that it's not acceptable, and then shows up outside me MMC's door insisting she be heard. And the main villain, who was supposed to be an old friend of the MMC, turns out to be his brother and very, very creepy. Yes, Daniel, congrats, you made me afraid to sleep at night. I have no control over my characters at all...

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

OlenaRinaeBBB — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:04:36 +0000

My characters really threw me for a loop. And they're not even my main characters. The evil lords minions were what suprised me the most. So Faust, who always competes with Grapple, wants to impress Qu, the leader of the opposition. And Grapple suddenly realizes he has feelings for Faust. Faust has feelings for Grapple. So things happen, Faust is captured by the rebellion and almost dies Grapple thinks she's dead so he agrees to be Qu's general and go off to war and die to be with Faust. Faust thinks that Grapple wanted to mess with her head with the kiss, so she vows to get back to Qu and kill Grapple. Yeah, these two kind of stole the show from the main characters....

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

kittymammas — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:47:31 +0000

Ch Ch Ch Changes.... Serenity, my FMC, somehow became this "child of eden" which meant she can turn ordinary people into "primes" otherwise known as elementals. She also fell in love with the rival jerk of prince that hunts her people down and slays them out of sport. However she also turned out to be a brave and honorable lady and I love that. She makes hard choices for the right reasons and has gained a lot of respect from me and of course Allister along the way. Allister, my MMC, is leader of the unit (a group of men who capture and kill primes) and has a very short temper. He of course also falls for Serenity after he see's how different she is from the women he is used to. There is a twist though, he was taken at birth from his rivals land and raised as one his country's men. Only his mother and the king's finest knight know. He also told a HUGE lie to Serenity. The moment he finds out she is the princess of his rival's country he takes a blade to her hand and he says its a pact meaning that she will be honest with him from then forth. However then I found out what it really is, its called a blood vow and yep he married her to be an heir to her land. Oh and the best part is she doesn't find out that she is his wife until she is on the gallows ready to be hung by her own father. The knight, Cecil, happens to be in love with Allister's mother and watched in horror as she poisoned herself in order to never bear a child for the king, who married her while she was tied to the alter, dagger into her back. After watching her nearly die the third time he came up with a plan to produce her a child that would not be of his majesty's blood line, stealing one. And Cecil is not a man at all, he is an original prime and other then his love for the queen all he wants is revenge on the goddess who took everything from him, his children and wife, cause she was jealous. So this god pops up into my book, Eden, and she is just wicked. She was jealous of Cecil, who was known as Victor in his day, and turned his heart to sand and anyone he touched or loved would also be an original prime. She also took his five year old twin sons and placed them on opposite ends of the world and killed his wife, took her body and bricked her into a wall that divides the two main countries. talk about a woman scorned Now I have Victor/Cecil hunting for Serenity who is the "child of eden" so he can pour his sand heart into hers and kill off the primes/elementals race. And a beautiful love story unfolding that sadly has to end in heartbreak. Well I think that's most of it...wow, they sure did change a lot through out the story.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Carpe Verba — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:30:08 +0000

Well. My FMC Olivia falls in love with the MMC Hugo. Go figure. I tried to stop it, but it happened anyway, and it helps explain why she's so beat up at the thought of his shadow going after him. There are all these random words of wisdom hidden in their names and a child's story Hugo's grandmother used to tell him, but Olivia just doesn't understand. But the really surprising thing happens when Hugo and his shadow are fighting each other towards the end of the story. She's watching them, and suddenly it hits her. Everything makes sense, and she knows how the fight has to end. But that doesn't stop her from trying to get some preemptive revenge. Basically, she kicks a dagger to within the shadow's reach so it can kill Hugo. The one guy she really doesn't want to see dead. (Me: Seriously????) But the dagger is an artifact that kills the shadow at the same time. (Pre-established: not a Mary Sue add in, promise!) Hadn't thought of that the first time around. Which basically means the characters are better at revising than me, too. But I'll take it.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Stratadrake — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:26:30 +0000

The female antagonist in my 2011 Novel. I did plan that she'd silently develop crush on my MMC, but I didn't expect her to get "strangled by the red string" -- she attempted to outright rape my MC near the final chapters. That's . . . definitely going to need some reworking.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

DerangedPickle — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:33:22 +0000

No, damn you MC making me write romance into my story, she wasn't even the one I wrote you out to like, and even that wasn't meant to happen, you were meant to be a steely victorian James Bond. But MC I forgive the hell out of you, I had a lot of fun writing the characters getting pissed while in the relationship, and the time skips that I used rather than writing sexy time filled my word count out a hell load.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Webgoji — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:19:21 +0000

As it turns out, my Impact Character has a "three strikes and you're out" policy. I didn't even realize it until one of the other characters was talking about her reaction to being hugged. But yeah, you can touch her once with a warning. Touch her twice and get decked. By the third time touching her without her permission, you start losing limbs.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

coffeestain — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:43:16 +0000

I found out that I was going to kill my MC's mother. heh, heh. I felt a strange, evil joy putting my MC in a depression!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

allwritemel — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:16:44 +0000

Not had time to read through this thread yet but I will when I can sit for long enough (just had surgery on my hip and sitting still is killing me) My characters in most of my books I've written this year have surprised me but I guess the one that did the most was in one of my children's books where the fox developed a habit of speaking like Bugs Bunny!; the mouse decided to turn into an intelligent smart alec (far more intelligent and warm than I could have imagined); a famous British soap actor made an appearnace as an important character (I still don't know how he ended up in there); and one character, who was meant to have a "normal" voice, no accent or anything, decided to speak with what i can only describe as a deep south American accent! :-) He refused point blank to speak any other way. I also discovered an incredibly rude youth in a shop who was certainly not in the origianl story (I think he ended up there to remind the shop assistant that my main character had indeed visited her shop) but he took on a life of his own. I could go on but I can't so there's just a few.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

ZeroDraftingGenius — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:40:08 +0000

Coolest interrogation technique, ever. :D

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:37:56 +0000

Awww!!!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

ZeroDraftingGenius — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:39:18 +0000

I love that ending! (And that character.)

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

ZeroDraftingGenius — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:38:34 +0000

Unionizing characters, lol! They did that to me, too. A really minor character tromped into the room, bringing in several other unexpected characters with her, insisted on being my FMC's best friend since childhood, and then went and got herself kidnapped when that was supposed to happen to my FMC! I'm still working it all out.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

LEwolfwriter — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:10:17 +0000

I'm glad my characters haven't tried to unionize yet. They did go on strike once. Luckily it only lasted for about ten minutes.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:59:43 +0000

[quote=Jabberwocky629] That's what editing is for I suppose! [/quote] Hear! Hear!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:46:20 +0000

lol yeah. She can't actually do any of the thinks she said. She can't sense lies. She can't drain people's life force. She can't Suck out people's souls, let alone from a distance. She CAN see/hear the souls of the restless dead, and maybe animate a corpse for a minute or two, and occassionally enter people's dreams, But that's about it. BUT...if you were that guy, and you didn't know what she could and couldn't do...would YOU wanna risk it? lol

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Ariana Knight — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:37:41 +0000

That is so weird. I have a character named Kiran in my book, too...

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

maggiep — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:22:22 +0000

I like it. And I agree, it should stay.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Piper the Perfect — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:47:28 +0000

I freaking love the cello idea. xD

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:29:56 +0000

Heh...Surprise romances make for more plot points down the line, it's true. :)

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Unforgivable — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:31:24 +0000

Yeah, I guess xD I love Aaron, but hate my own determination.. I was SO sure I wouldn't do any romance because that is what all other books have in them x'D But hey, now I don't have to worry about next year's NaNoWriMo. I already have the characters and a lose plot figured out.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:34:35 +0000

Lol! A bit of a Luke/Leia complex there, eh?

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Princess Binky Lemontwist — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:00:26 +0000

Oh I didn't even realize the connection. LOL!!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:20:06 +0000

Lol...Gotta love when the characters win arguments with the author. Happens to me all the time.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:22:31 +0000

Haha! Beat stick!

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Krykit — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:54:36 +0000

I love when that happens lol.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Angryman — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:45:22 +0000

I'm waiting for them to demand better pay and better hours. I pretty much let them do whatever, what more do they want? Besides, it's not like I go killing off characters willy-nilly. As of thus far, only one character has died, and he kind of had to in order for there to be a story (sorry, Shahryar). If it makes any of my characters feel any better, I am going to write some short stories on some of you, just give the readers a better insight of what your are like on a day-to-day basis.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Horselover150 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:40:26 +0000

Eeeek!! *runs and hides behind the couch* Is he a zombie? O.O xD

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

CalicoRain — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:54:07 +0000

I have to say this just because I got a kick out of your post: Congratulations - you win a plate of cookies for the trauma your characters put you through.

Re: How did your characters surprise you?

Nianne — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:24:54 +0000

That sounds exciting.