Forum: Author Hangout

I was rereading my first story, Building a Better Past, seeing if that would kickstart my way into the sequel, when I got to a scene in the middle of chapter 11 and it reminded me of process I went through then (and still do to a degree).

I had a rough outline of where I wanted to go and knew I needed some minor characters to help add depth, so I came up with the three amigas — Jenny, Jodi and Felicia. They were intended to be semi-important, but still disposable if the need arose. As I was narrowing the story down I felt the need to add some drama to everyone's lives, so I added a new character, Alex, who took Jenny on a date, another car lost control and plowed the passenger side of Alex's car. There was more story after that point, but it doesn't matter because it was never written and I don't remember it now.

So I wrote the first scene in chapter 11 basically as it sits now. Then I wrote the funeral scene where we learn what happened. And not a word more would come. I had an outline to work from but I couldn't seem to write to fit it. I tried just picking interesting scenes from the rest of the story and jotting notes on them. Nope.

To that point things had been flowing smoothly, but I sat looking at it, unable to figure out what to write, for almost as long as it had taken to write the first part. Finally I was a bit desperate — this was my first try at writing, so also my first writer's block — and decided to see what would happen if Jenny lived. That, apparently, was the ransom she was looking for because the story started flowing again, except it didn't go where I'd originally intended. I kind of liked where it went, though, so I went back and added a scene here, tweaked something there, to pull her further into the story.

Since then I've realized that, for me, outlines are a good place to start, but the characters are going to tell the story where to go, not me. As long as I let them do their thing, they'll leave my muse alone so I only have to worry about the normal interruptions in life keeping me from writing.

Has happened to me in each of my stories…

AWLL — Kara (was supposed to be a short, torrid affair)
CTL — Deanna (was supposed to be an occasionally appearing character)
GM – Clarissa (was supposed to be a casual acquaintance/study group member)

Definitely, and over and over, though in my case it's much more that I try to write something and they say 'No, do it this way,' and I have little choice but to go that way.

There have been times when I've overruled them, as the direction they 'wanted' was seriously counterproductive to the story. By and large, though, they're right.

I have had more than one story that practically wrote itself. Only the start of chapter 1 even remotely resembles the outline.

Since then I've realized that, for me, outlines are a good place to start, but the characters are going to tell the story where to go, not me. As long as I let them do their thing, they'll leave my muse alone so I only have to worry about the normal interruptions in life keeping me from writing.

Yes. This happens to me all the time. I have a character named Roscrow. The man has the grip of a dragon and when this dick's got a strangle hold on my muse, he just laughs at my outline and tosses it over his shoulder like "Yeah, that's cute. I am a god among men, please."

In another story that I'm working on now, the FMC was a couple hundred years old (an elf/dragon) before meeting the MMC, along with a few other details about both of them, but then... I started this rewrite and things have, uh, not gone how I planned them? I'm honestly glad for this because holy hell *loosens collar a bit* but it's just fun and funny to me to watch the pieces fall together later down the road when I just let the characters make choices for themselves. It's that overwhelming excitement that tells me I'm on the right path.

I kind of think that when I push too hard to stick to the outline, that blocks me up. If I think about what the characters would do in a situation based on their personality rather than because I want that thing to happen, the story just flows. That always feels the most exciting and everything comes together.