Author Lois Winston on the Battle of Author Versus Character
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By Lois Winston
It’s Their Story, not Ours
There’s a battle going on where author versus character. Authors often talk about how their characters sometimes blindside them. We think we know where our story is going when suddenly, a character refuses to do what we want her to do.
Authors think we’re the ones in charge. Characters know they’re really the ones in charge. It’s their story, not ours. We’re only documenting it.
Ignore Your Characters at Your Own Risk
At first, we reluctantly ignore those voices in our head, otherwise known as our characters. We try to power through the plot, holding fast in our belief that we’re the ones who know how to write and know the direction the story should take. After all, when it comes to author versus character, we’re the ones who have studied and honed our craft.
We’ve mastered goal, motivation, and conflict. We’ve learned about The Hero’s Journey and plot arcs. If we’re writing a murder mystery, we know we need means, method, and opportunity. Then, much to our surprise, we hit a brick wall. We discover our characters have joined forces with our muse. And much to our horror, they’ve unionized and called a strike!
Our Characters have Turned Against Us
They’re making demands! And threats! If we hold firm and don’t give in, we suddenly find ourselves suffering through a massive case of writer’s block. Those wonderful characters that sprang from our imagination have us over the proverbial barrel. We reluctantly realize we have no other recourse than to negotiate.
This Battle of Author Versus Character is a Battle the Author Can’t Win
However, they refuse to negotiate. We’re forced to accept that when it comes to author versus character, we can’t win. Have our creations taken over? Or were they always in charge, but we never realized it? Does writer’s block occurred because authors try to force square pegs into a round holes, but our characters refuse all our attempts?
Acceptance is not Defeat
I now have fifteen novels and three novellas in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series. When I wrote the first book in the early years of this century, I never expected the journey to last this long or take me to the places it has. I’ve learned to listen to my sleuth. She’s forced me to take risks with my writing and travel to literary places I never expected. She continually kicks my butt if I try to take the easy way out. So, I’ve learned to let her lead, and I follow. It’s a humbling experience to accept that you’re not in charge of your own creations, but in the end, I’ve found it to be a huge win.
Whether you’re a writer or a reader, have you ever had a similar experience in life where you’ve had to accept that maybe you weren’t right about the way you were doing something? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook of one of my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or Empty Nest Mysteries.
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USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
T.K. Thorne
Writing the second book in my series was going swimmingly, until I was stopped cold by my own protagonist. It all started innocently enough:
In huge hurry to leave the condo, Samantha boards an elevator. I’d planned for her to encounter someone downstairs in the parking garage, but the scene stalled because, I swear, Sam wouldn’t come out of the elevator. It was clear to me that I’d picked the wrong person for her to meet up with. It took a day of trial and error to get those elevator doors to open onto a different character, one who became a reader favorite.
LOL, Gay! Those characters have a mind of their own, don’t they?
I’m not sure if I’ve ever been so bold as you vis-a-vis my characters, but I will say that when I am “blocked,” I take it as a sign from my subconscious (or character) that I’m heading in the wrong direction. I listen to that voice because it’s always right, even when I had another plan in place.
Judy, I’ve learned that I always need to listen to those voices in my head. 😉
Clever explanation of the author’s secret dilemma. Can we really take credit for the story that our characters write for us?
Probably not, but we do it anyway. 😉
I have learned to trust Sydney, my protagonist in my Historic Hotel Mystery Series. She always knows best. I just listen.
Smart move, Kathleen!
Great post, Lois. One of my favorite things to do is to look back at what I originally wrote about my characters before I wrote the novel and the ways in which my characters deviated from what I originally thought about them! They definitely have a mind of their own!
Thanks, Lynn!
I so agree with you, Lois. When I wrote One Taste Too Many, the first Sarah Blair mystery, I sailed through the first half of the book but staggered through the second. Something felt off. I put it down for a few weeks and woke up one morning realizing that I had the wrong killer. I threw out the 2nd half of the book and sailed through rewriting it. What I found ironical was that all the clues were there for the right killer in the first half of the book. I simply hadn’t listened to the characters. In the end, the book sold the series and it was picked as a Woman’s World Book of the Week.
Debra, I used to know whodunit in the beginning of the book, but more and more often now, I let the story and characters lead me to the killer. I figure if I don’t know whodunit upfront, maybe my readers won’t figure out who the killer is before I want them to know. The best part of writing a mystery is when readers tell me how surprised they were and that they should have figured out whodunit sooner.
I love this post, Lois. How true! My characters often talk back to me and take a different path that I must follow. The story is always more sucinct when I follow my characters’ lead. I’m a plotter by nature, so at times, there is a tug of war back and forth like your grapgic depicts.
Also, it was fwonderful to meet you at Killer Nashville last weekend. Warmest wishes to you and all Guppies!
Great meeting you, too, Denise!
Great topic, Lois! I’m a plotter so I like to think I’m in charge. 🙂 Though, like Judy, I don’t resist. I take the tug in a different direction to mean that I need to consider a different path. However, I do have to say that when I was writing Night of the Living Break that the character of Mame just seemed to come out of nowhere. She was not part of my original plan, but the story would not have worked without her.
Don’t you just love when things like that happen, Mary Lee? It’s like the universe bestowing a gift on you.
You said it best… Ignore your characters at your own risk. In Until Dead, I created a US Attorney’s mother who had a huge secret but I gave her a milquetoast personality. She wasn’t coming alive on the page, so I went back to the drawing board and asked her who she was. She emerged a force to go along with her secret. You can have a dynamic plot but if your characters are lacking, the story falls apart as well. Great post, Lois.
So true, Donnell! A good novel needs both a dynamic plot and engaging characters. The best plot in the world won’t work if the characters are bland, cardboard, boring, or stereotypes. If the reader doesn’t care about the characters, she’s not going to care about the plot.