Living Characters

Living Characters

When planning your characters, how do you go about it? Where do you get your inspiration from? Tv, Books, friends and family are all great places to get character ideas, but how do you know which characters are most suitable for your story?

I talked before about a novel having a life of its own and how it grows with little or no help from anything else, and I’ve also described that scenario happening when writing a character synopsis, but has anyone found that a character can take on a completely unplanned life of its own? I did today, and it was weird. The character’s role remained the same, but the way I wanted to present the character changed. This big burly angry Scotsman who was supposed to be quick to temper now has a sensitive side to him. He’s no-longer shouting all the time, and actually has developed a jolly round face. I didn’t intend this, and hope it doesn’t change the story too much, he is a small character after all, but one change like that can have a ripple effect; changing the way characters around him react, therefore changing the way they behave within the story. The story remains the same but does it have the intended atmosphere? If the atmosphere of the story does change, do you go back and edit so it remains to plan? Or do you let it run its course and see what you end up with?

In the past I have let the story develop by itself and discovered a gem at the end, but I am not naive enough to think that will happen every time. So when do I let the novel cultivate and when do I remain true to the plan I had created? I guess it all comes down to how you feel about the direction you are going in. I enjoy letting the yarn unravel by itself, but in some cases I must be disciplined enough to not let my imagination run away with itself.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever had characters and stories create themselves in this way? Or do you remain true to the original idea?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x