Image from: http://bit.ly/HRhLfW
As I browse the NaNoWriMo forums, I’m struck by the number of posts that ask for help because the poster’s characters won’t do something the author expected them to do (e.g., hook up, become friends, kill one another, run away, continue the plot in the fashion the author wanted). There’s one person who’s responded in roughly the same way to a couple of these posts. In short, the responder has said: they are your characters; they are not real; make them do whatever you need them to do.
On one hand, I completely agree with this concept. Isn’t it a little bit silly, if you step back and look at it, to think of figments of our imaginations behaving badly (assuming, that is, that we didn’t intend for them to behave badly)? It’s a bit like monkey mind run amok.
On the other hand, I have experienced this situation for myself. The chemistry wasn’t there in the scene in which I saw my characters moving in for a kiss. I visualized this scene in my story, and when I came up to it, the characters just didn’t… <shove> want.. <push>… to move <smack> in the direction I wanted them to.
It’s a strange situation. If I were to make them do what I wanted them to do, it’s not so much their lack of chemistry, but my perception of their lack of chemistry that would wreck that scene. Yes, it’s all up to me, but the problem is that it’s all up to me.
It’s too comfortable to think of this as a problem, though, when in fact, it could open up into something much more interesting. This problem situation has become the springboard for a much richer and whole storyline in my own work. As I’ve been writing this month, I had a vague idea of where it was going – it was something of a post-apocalyptic fantasy involving a girl transported from our here and now – but I found myself with too many questions. I tried to put my characters in a certain story arc, and it just wasn’t as big a problem for them as I’d thought it would be. Seeing as how this is NaNoWriMo, during which questions, editing, navel-gazing, or other nonsense is not allowed (in my rulebook, anyway), I pressed onward. The story got to this point and sort of fell on its face with nowhere to go.
I took a little time this evening and discussed my story holes with my husband. He gave me a set of “what if”s that have the power to transform the entire shape, tone, and possibly even genre of my story (but luckily, not the basic concept – see related content below!). I’m a little awestruck, a little scared, and little overwhelmed, but I’m choosing to see those as preferable to feeling done.
Do any of you have a similar situation? The my-characters-won’t-do-what-I-envisioned “problem”? Has it led to something bigger? Do you think it has made you look at your characters or storyline(s) in a different light?
Related articles
- NaNoWriMo Day 14: Discovering New Characters Along the Way (thesisterseternal.wordpress.com)
- NaNoWriMo Update! (beforeduringandafterblog.com)
- Encouragement to not change your NaNoWriMo story concept mid-month (todaysauthor.wordpress.com)
- NaNoWriMo: Half-Way Through (krgreen.co.uk)
- #NaNoWriMo: Outlining (firstnightdesign.wordpress.com)
CZWrighting 
I had this exact problem this week, I just thought of it differently. For me, the characters were doing what I told them to and it didn’t make any sense. I jumbled their priorities, did things that would scar them up inside, and then just kept on chugging along until I felt dirty for abusing my power. I closed the laptop in disgust and brooded on it until I realized exactly what I was doing wrong. Then, I went back and fixed it.
Luckily for me, I didn’t have an earth shattering realization that could change the course of my plot. My characters are in a survival situation, so they really don’t have many options (reckless heroism, cold blooded survivalism, or…nope, that’s pretty much all they’ve got!), but I still feel your pain.
Happy writing! I look forward to checking out more of your blog!
It is interesting, isn’t it, that so often we feel as though we’re doing them wrong somehow? Happy writing to you as well, thanks!
Thank you for the link. Your post goes to show just how fascinating writing can be – where it goes, where it doesn’t or won’t go. I am constantly surprised where the process takes me.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I’m so far finding myself pretty excited on how things will manifest for me on any given day’s writing. Here’s hoping the excitement and surprise continue to spur us onward!