It's Week Two of NaNoWriMo, and while my novel is just as fun to write as ever, I have run into a small problem: my characters are misbehaving. This shouldn't be possible, because I don't believe that characters have free will. I created them, and I control them. Somehow, though, they aren't acting the way they should.
The biggest problem? Unexpected hints of romance cropping up early. Look, I'd already figured out who my main character might (eventually) end up dating. But he's supposed to be kind of standoffish now, and instead he's being friendly and interested. How does this happen? I'm writing every single word that comes out of his mouth! If I want him to be rude, he should be rude! Somehow, though, they're not arguing very much - their arguments tend to center around a mutual friend's worrisome behavior - and they already had one near miss, romantically speaking.
Plus, my main character, who was supposed to be somewhat bisexual when I imagined her (mostly interested in men, though), turns out to have lots of chemistry with one of her female friends. More, arguably, than with the guy she was potentially supposed to end up dating. This is chemistry I didn't even intend to write. And none of this is supposed to be happening at this point in the novel.
I just have to keep reminding myself that I control the characters and the narrative. Once I've gotten the first draft beaten out (i.e. December 1), that's when I can go back and make sure that all the character relationships (and I mean all, not just romantic) progress in a reasonable fashion. That's what revision is for, and there will be months and months of that once this novel is done.
2 comments:
I know what you mean about characters not doing exactly what you would plan. I like to think of writing a bit like carving wood (bear with me) - overall, what you carve is going to be what you imagined, but to get the details out of the wood, you have to flow with the grain. This may lead you in unexpected directions, but you always get back to where you should have been with the overall carving being what it should be. And after saying that, my own NaNo characters are likely to have a massive rebellion tomorrow ;-) .
Aaahhhh, I love your descriptions of your novelling journey. And WOW YOU ARE AT 100k!!!!! :D YOU ROCK!!! :D Very nice work. Although it may not be so pleasing for you, I love that your characters are rebelling! There must be some reason for it, I'm sure you'll work it out to be awesome! :D
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