The "You don't control your characters, your characters control you" shoutout

I din't bother planning any real plot this year, I just made the characters. I knew they would move the story on their own, and so they have. My FMC actually surprised me today, I really didn't see it coming.

Main Characters killed:6
Times 4th wall broken:9
Fight scenes: 12
When life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and let the world wonder how you did it.

*groans* She was supposed to COMPLAIN and get SMACKED ACROSS HER HEAD, not burst into tears and have a mental breakdown like that! Dear Sophie, it's not that real. *grumbles*

Where all the spastic panicking about plot monsters is done.

I had this really nice plan. With really nice characters.

Then I started writing. Plans still there, but the characters have been replaced with their twins. The moody one has gone nice. The heartless one is apologizing.

And don't get me started on Sage bringing in this whole new subplot like a little lost kitten. YOU CAN'T KEEP IT, SAGE >.>

Oh, and theres Daniel who is trying to fall in love with a guy, but insists he's straight -_-

*grins* This is the third time it's happened since I started writing and I still love it, though it creates quite a few complications. The rational one has decided to fake suicide and jump into a dark hole filled with light (and no, I have no idea how that works) in the middle of an island that is actually a dimension on a grain of sand within an hourglass. Mmhm. (I was at school when I wrote that.) I have another character who is supposed to be a pushover and really nice, and now she's this insane and tyrannical being of pure power that controls everything in the universe.

NaNoWriMo '09: The Path to Eden (51 009/50 000)

Icon by a_minor_third at LiveJournal

I am gleefully surprised that my pirate first mate, who has always been the least-developed of the bunch, is starting to come forward and show some personality.

Also, that one of the Navy guys is turning out to be a little sympathetic. Who knew?

Good thing, though. I went in with a threadbare plot too, and it's slowly being fleshed out because my characters are pretty solid.

"When the hero develops this sort of arrogance, it always ends dreadfully. Look at Icarus. Fellow with the wings, have you read that one?"
"I think so."
"That is precisely where we find ourselves now."

I learned my lesson last year - the characters WILL rearrange the story for you if you plan too tightly. So this year, I just have characters. They'll tell me what's going on, and I'll just take dictation.

I had a vague idea. This is just writing itself, which I'm fine with, because I'm not editing and I'm barely even thinking at this stage. I need words, not self censoring or judgement.

"I’m not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about what they’re gonna do. I’m just going to do it. Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it"

Gosh~ I dunno where my characters were going, although I ended up deleting like 600 words because my MC decided to be a wimp. Nuuu, shes not allowed to do that. So I had to kick her back into place and now one of the other characters decided to change COMPLETELY on the first day, and one of them decided he was southern. And then Mist decided she wan't to be Gunner Rain who hadn't showed up yet and Claymore just wanted to skip along and be a jerk inside when really shes supposed to be a sweety. >.> My Characters are really drive me crazy but their making the story funner (I know, not a word) then I was gunna make it! LOL.

'09- The Dungeon-Pending

I have always heard writers say that their characters come to life and surprise them. I was always amazed by this because it had never happened to me.

This is my first NaNo, but not my first story by far, and my characters took on a life of their own almost immediately. It's awesome and I love it! And they've given me more than 14,000 words already! I wish I'd done NaNo *years* ago!

Grace

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Always do what you're afraid to do.
http://gracemcconachie.blogspot.com/

i've learned, through my years of writing, that the best strategy is to just sit back, relax, and let your characters write the story for you. =] they basically allow me to give them an order of events that they may or may not decide to follow, and then just do whatever the hell their little hearts desire from there on out. this - at least for my mc, who narrates the story - leads to much breakage of the fourth wall, which is now a pile of dust at the feet of my characters.

Nano 2008: Shattered Thorns; WINNER.
Nano 2009: Golden Lights

click here for kyliekleptomania's blog *

The icecream shop cashier decided to become a main character.
I give up; my characters control the story.
I have no idea how he's going to fit with into the outline XD

I love it when my characters do this! One of my characters is actually a bit perkier than I'd imagined him, and one is more laid back. One, well, he's just a jerk, but that was planned. :P

"You're a jackass. Just saying."
— Cass Gallagher, The Sharpest Lives