Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Do your characters control your writing...

This is topic Do your characters control your writing... in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

Or do you dictate your characters' lives?

Would you change a character to make your story more sellable?

Posted by JmariC (Member # 2698) on :

Tough question.

Characters require quite a bit of development if you want them to be believable. The time you put in to developing (or discovering) your character, the more real they are to you.
So, when you try to write your character doing something they wouldn't do, it rings false and the writing suffers for it.

On the other hand, I have to create the plot. I have to find the start and finish line for the character and key story elements. Sometimes, I must kill your character.

This has a balance. I decide the big things, like the main goal or the roads they take, but I want my character to be real so they get to pick the little things, like what clothes they were or what they say or facial expressions.

Change a character to make them sellable?
For me, impossible. I would have to just come up with a whole new character. They might look simular, but it would be a different person to me.

Posted by luapc (Member # 2878) on :

Mostly I try to think like my characters would, which usually works for the story. I try to put myself into the story itself as I write it, so I wouldn't say that the characters or myself are controlling things as much as the plot and situation does.

To be honest, if an editor wanted me to change something about a character to sell a story, I definitely would. They see so many stories that they may have a better idea for the character than I originally came up with. What one person likes, another doesn't, so why not make a sale and please the editor?

Posted by JmariC (Member # 2698) on :

Just to clarify, my response to the question of changing the character is if it is a major change. IE if I was asked to make the character a pirate instead of a farmer. I would have to redevelope the character to such a degree it would be easier just to make a new character.

If the request is to change the hair color, then I would be able to just rewrite proper sections (though some personality differences would be kept in mind). Rewriting a description wouldn't really be changing the character to me.

Either way, I would be open to make a new character or the small change as requested.

Somethings have a bigger effect than others.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

The plot and the character have to fit together. If you want your character to go left when it seems they should go right, you will either have to let them have their head, change the plot, or change the character. Letting them have their head can be fun. I'm doing that right now in a new WIP that I've done almost no outlining for. I've got a few ideas and a character, and I'm letting her wander around the world and discover things and be who she is. It's quite interesting. I wonder how it's going to turn out.

Posted by JOHN (Member # 1343) on :

My stories are just about characters. Most of the time I don't have much of a plot at all. It's more of a day-in-the-life type thing and just watching the characters' relationships develop or deteriorate as the case may be.

I do have a fantasy novel under my belt, but even for that I have a fairly generic plot (hero goes on quest) and then it's all about the characters.

I really can't write from just a plot.

It's kinda like the TV show LOST. While the spooky island portion of it is fairly interesting, what I really come back for every week is the flashbacks of the characters pre-island lives.

Or a comic book called Ultimate Spider-Man (it a modernization of Spider-Man, not so continuity heavy, and Spidey's origin is set in the present instead of the early 60s).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/078510898X/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-7728712-6452861#reader-page

I find myself skimming the few Spidey vs. the villain-of-the-month bits so I can get to the parts with Peter Parker (i.e. Spidey) and his girlfriend Mary Jane. (I know comics have a stigma about them, but Brian Michael Bendis is one of the most talented writers in any medium these days)

Or even the difference between Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and David Eddings Elenium. One heavily plot driven and the other is mostly about the characters.

Again, my mantra character dictates plot and not vice versa.

And, no, I don't think I would change a character to make the book more marketable. That smacks of selling out. To me anyways.

JOHN!

[This message has been edited by JOHN (edited October 13, 2005).]

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

I can't write a story unless I know the character. I can see making small changes as needed to clarify who the character is or to help them resonate with the audience, but that is all.

I will consider critique from anyone who wants to offer it, including an editor, but I won't make a change unless it feels right to me. Sometimes I have to get psyched up for it and it may hurt like hell (who was the author who said writers should kill all their "little darlings"...?), but if I can see that it's the right thing to do, I'll do it.

It all depends on the story and the character in question. On two separate stories I had critiquers comment on the names of my characters, suggesting I make changes. One story I made the change, the other I didn't. For the one character name was part of the identity I had created, in my mind changing the name would change the character. For the other character, the specific name wasn't important as long as I maintained the ethnicity of the character.

Not sure all that rambling makes sense, so feel free to ignore it.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

It isn't like market considerations are the only reason you'd consider altering a character.

I'm a definite "dictate my characters' lives" writer, if a character has attributes that are getting in the way of my story, or lacks attributes that would help, then I change the character without hesitation. The original character can be in a different story.

None of this is in the interest of making my stories more marketable. It's in the interest of being able to tell a coherent story.

Posted by luapc (Member # 2878) on :

I see what you're saying about changing the character now. If it was a major change, I'd have to agree that I couldn't do it. Minor things, sure, but not major ones like the character's profession. If an editor wanted that kind of change, it seems to me that what they are really saying is that they like your work and the basis of the story, but its just not what they are looking for. Maybe you could offer to write a completely new story for them given the aspects they've asked for. But to change a story's main character, and maybe even a minor character to that degree, would probably ruin the story.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

Why on earth are we discussing editors? What do editors have to do with anything?

I started a story once with a reserved chemist who ended up getting involved in a missing person hunt. Turned out that the shy chemist couldn't possibly find the guy, so I made her an outgoing detective. In a sense, the plot dictated my character, but once I made the change I found that the character guided the plot...driving the search in ways that the shy chemist never could have.

The question here isn't about outside influences, it's about inside influences. The character looking to change the story isn't the editor reading it...it's the protagonist driving it, or maybe they're not driving the story and that's a problem. If you fell in love with the shy chemist, would you start having her do unnatural things, would you change the plot, or would you change the character? I chose to change the character, but maybe I wasn't as in love with the original version as others might have been.

Posted by JmariC (Member # 2698) on :

I think that part of the discussion is helpful for the "choosing what hill to die on" sort of thing.

Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :

With a few exceptions, I am able to distance myself from my characters enough to change them at will to suit the story. Each new draft of a story has the characters all behaving slightly (or majorly) different than the previous. But within each draft, I burrow deep into the mind of the character and their every action is true to them.

So, yeah, I change my characters. But I get to know the new version as well as the old.

Posted by Paul-girtbooks (Member # 2799) on :

My characters always dictate the story.

The way I see it, they are the story.

Me, heck, I'm just a glorified secretary taking dictation. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[This message has been edited by Paul-girtbooks (edited October 15, 2005).]