Wednesday, May 13, 2015

My Characters are Smarter than Me.

On Saturday, April 25th, I started writing a book.  It's going well, almost frighteningly so.  There's a small voice in the back of my head that says writing shouldn't be this easy - that if the past is any indication, because the book is going so well now, I'll hate it when it's done.

Fortunately, there's a louder voice in my head that knows the past doesn't guarantee the future and can make the other voice shut up.

I do realize that by talking about this book now, I'm going against what I said last year about keeping a book secret while I'm working on it.  But I figure that as long as I don't talk about the actual plot, I won't run into the issues detailed in that blog entry.  For now, all I'll say about the plot is that it involves airships and blackmail.  ^_^  And either way, it's not the plot that has me scratching my head these days.

My friend Rena has a saying: "Foreshadowing: look for it in quality literature."  Part of why I plot (aside from the fact that I write absolute crap stories when I don't) is to know what happens so I can foreshadow what's to come.  What's been weird about this book is that the characters are foreshadowing things long before I planned for them to do so.

I've had beta readers point out that I needed to bring up a plot point or suggest a plot twist long before I actually did.  That's nothing new.  What's new is when one of the main characters feels the desire to mention something that's a crucial part of the second-to-third-act transition in the book's second chapter, all so that plot point has time to develop in the background and doesn't seem like it came out of nowhere.

If anyone later asks, yes, I will say I meant to do that.

I've seen other writers talk about how they know they're doing it right when the characters take on a life of their own, and seem to write their own dialogue and determine their own actions independent of what the author originally planned.  That's happened to me more than once.  I'm used to it - hell, I plan for it.  I leave enough breathing room in my plots for things to change without breaking the story.  But it's quite strange to feel like my characters are telling me that they know how the story should go better than I do.

Then again, they're probably right.  And now that I think on it, since I do my best not to think too much when I'm writing and just write, this is happening in more ways than just foreshadowing.

There are a lot of things happening in this book that I didn't plan for.  Most of them are in character reactions as events transpire; I don't always write reactions into my plots, as I figure that's something that will come up in the actual writing.  And that's happening a ton in this book.  It's been interesting to discover new aspects of characters I've had in my head since 2002, and at the same time, I feel like I'm just watching things transpire and scrambling to write them down quickly enough.  It feels like the sort of thing every writer might hope for, but it's very weird to have it actually happen.

I have only vague plans for what will happen after this book, but some of the things that have come up feel like they're hinting at that - foreshadowing for things I don't even know yet.  But I'm trusting my characters, as they seem to know better than me.

Next week: Word Count Blues.

As a side note, I want to thank everyone for the amazing comments on last week's entry.  ^_^  I was a little nervous about that one, as it seemed a bit melodramatic and too much like my typical "you can do it" IWSG content, but I'm glad y'all liked it so much.  Thank you.

16 comments:

  1. Be glad the characters are foreshadowing for you. I'm not very good with that (or symbolism) so when it appears, it's completely by accident.

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    1. Foreshadowing I can do, but symbolism I'll leave to anyone who feels like interpreting my work. (If that ever happens.) I never try to be symbolic, but I can't wait to see what someone someday comes up with. Odds are good I'll laugh. ^_^

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  2. My characters are always smarter than I am, and they often bring some paltry detail into the narrative that I didn't plan at all -- but that turns out to be absolutely crucial later on. It's amazing to watch it happen. Either my subconscious is a foreshadowing machine! Or I'm really lucky.

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    1. Mine do the same thing. ^_^ They also have a tendency to address things in dialogue much earlier than I'd planned to address them, so I can do more with those things over the course of the story. It's kind of nice sometimes.

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  3. My latest characters have been suddenly throwing out things which add a lot more depth to the plot than I knew was there. But not always. Be glad that they're leading the way and enjoy where it takes you.

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    1. Trust me, I am glad. It's just a little surprising, especially when I've been writing these two in various stories for so long. It's good to know there's always more I can discover about them, though.

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  4. LOL, the title of this post is awesome :) Yes, this is why I'm such a plotter! All of that preparation and planning and development means the characters come to life, and take care of the story for you. It's so much fun when that happens.

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    1. Thank you. ^_^ And yeah, it's a lot of fun when the characters start to act on their own like that. One is turning out to be a great deal more driven than I'd planned, but it works so well, I wouldn't fight it if I could.

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  5. Trusting your characters seems like a good idea. You can never be sure what's going on in their heads, so trying to predict their choices can sometimes get difficult. :)

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    1. I'd know what was going on if they'd tell me, but noooo... :P But seriously, you're right. It's almost always good to be surprised like that, though it can be a bit jarring at times, like when it leads to someone running toward the dragon instead of away from it.

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  6. Sounds like you're stalking the wild character. That's a great place to be -- following in their footsteps.

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    1. I don't know if I'd say I'm following, more like they know where they're going just as well as I do. Though that does beg the question of who's leading who. ^_^

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  7. That's when you know you're really in the groove. :D

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    1. Seems that way, and it's been like that for this whole book, which is probably good.

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  8. I love it when my characters surprise me. It's almost as if they are giving me hints early on. Like, "Come, on stupid. Catch this clue I so graciously gave you in chapter two and use it to get me out of this jam." So glad your book is going well. I wish all projects were like this.

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    1. It's a good feeling, but I can't help distrusting the work when it's this easy. It feels like it should be harder, like it should be slower going. I'm probably thinking too much, as usual.

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