Chapter 4.3: Does It Count As Murder If You Only Strangle Them In Your Head?

So, anyone who loves reading has met the characters you yell at. Possibly out loud, possibly in public (drawing many confused or disturbed stares along the way). It happens, characters do stuff that ticks you off. Maybe it's a simple as sighing in frustration when the couple in a romance novel don't talk to each other and get upset over simple misunderstandings. Maybe you yell at your favorite character when it turns out he's the one who's been the bad guy all along.

It happens to everyone. Characters act unexpectedly sometimes. Maybe it feels out of character, or maybe you never knew what their real character was. They react in ways you never saw coming. And sometimes you want to reach into the world of fiction and shake them until they shape up and get back to being who you know and love.

Well that happens to writers as well. Most people think that writers have the control in their story, that they are the ones who decide what the characters are going to do. This is only true to a very very very small degree. We have a basic idea of what characters are going to do, of who they are.

But often, the characters are the ones running the show when you start writing as story, at least that's how I've heard it works for many authors (and how it works for myself). You start off with someone you believe is a simple side character and then suddenly they've over taken the story to become a vital member of the plot.

Or they react completely differently to a situation than you thought they would. For example, I once believed that a character would be headstrong and filled with righteous anger after a fight with another character. Instead she broke down into a puddle of tears and disappeared from the world for two weeks. That will screw with your plot.

And I've heard people say "You're the author. You're in charge." Now, this should be true, and you fight tooth and nail for it to actually be true. I've actually had arguments with my characters during the writing stages. I had a character once who was convinced she could weave and wanted a loom in her room. I said no. I said that since I knew nothing about weaving, she wasn't allowed to have one and then I went to bed...and five minutes later I got up and wrote the loom into the description because she nagged me and wouldn't leave me alone.

Although, this year I did have some success negotiating with a character and talking her out of saying something she would regret, that would break her and her dad apart (which would suck for me because I need them to like each other for other plot pieces to work). I told her "No. No no no, do not say that. You will hate yourself for it." And she backed down. Score one for the author!

And sometimes, characters just have sides to them you haven't seen. I believed my main hero in my story was just going to be your run-of-the-mill smart ass. And instead he is surprisingly deep and has brought in a whole issue of black and white and gray that is just taking root and popping up all over the place.

If you want to see more proof of this phenomenon, go here. It is quite fun to see how stories run away with people. Also, this is why Edward left in New Moon.* Stephenie Meyer said she begged and pleaded with him, but he left anyway. Sometimes there's just no arguing with these people. ;D

*While I enjoyed Twilight, I am not a hysterical fangirl groupie. Also, Team Edward already won. Why are there still teams?