Re: My characters

4thKingdom | Poetry & Writing Board | Join Free

Posted by Sedruce at 4:44am Aug 20 '09
You must sign in to send Sedruce a message

More than once my characters have revolted against me, and my stories have ended up completely different than what I set out to write.

Okay, so, this book I'm reading--Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel--says that any time the character gets away from the author, it's a sign of shoddy writing, an incompetent author.

I FULLY disagree. Everyone I know who writes has had the experience at least once that their character does or says things that FIT, but weren't intended. To me, a good writer doesn't force the character, sie tricks or goads or bribes the character if sie really wants a certain thing to happen...to me, it's an amazing accomplishment when characters are so dimensional and real that they have a life of their own to the extent that they change what we're doing. That...is beyond awesome. But this book claims it's awful.

Incidentally, I agree with almost everything else in the book that I've read so far (I'm almost done with all chapters on writing, just the revision and publishing chapters remain), and I recommend it, even to people who've written extensively (as I have). :)

There are 12 private posts in this thread. You need sign in to read them.

Below are the public posts in this thread:

Note that there are no ads here. Just intelligent and friendly conversation. We keep the spam out, the trolls out, the advertisers out... 4K is just a low-key, old-fashioned site with members from around the world.
This community began in 1998, and we continue to accept new members today.

If you're looking for a richer experience than Facebook or Twitter, this is it.

Debate & News Extreme Help & Advice Lifestyle Media & Arts Special Interest