Friday, January 14, 2011
I don't know if other writers experience this or not, but I often find myself straying from where I thought the story would go when I start one. Sometimes the story takes a a mind of its own and before I realize it, a complete turn has happened and the work ends up somewhere other than the place I thought it would be. I've started out writing about crazed abductors and ended with up with Vampires. Does this happen to you? Do you keep to a strict story line that you have come up with or does it change as it does with me?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ah, John! I feel your pain. This happens to me often. In fact, my current WIP originally started from another character's POV. I've learned to roll with the changes. I believe all ideas are given to us for a reason, and going against them usually leads to frustration and a deadlock.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see it's not just me. I agree about about the deadlock, every time I try to adjust where the story is going to match my preconceived notions, I end up staring at the computer with a foolish look on my face.
ReplyDeleteMy stories evolve all the time - my opening paragraphs end up somewhere in the middle and secondary characters often become main characters as they develop a life of their own. All part of the fun!
ReplyDeleteStories have a mind of their own. Usually, I come in with an ending in mind. I don't know anything other than who I want to stand at point A and where I want them to go: Point B.
ReplyDeleteHow they get there, is up to them. Sometimes they don't want to get there. In horror writing, I call this dying.
Julia: life of their own is how I feel too. I've often told my wife that this or that story went it's own way.
ReplyDeleteDraven: I like how you call that dying. I'm trying something new in my Zombie book with who dies. Beyond one character that I intended to kill from the beginning, I pulled character names out of a bag. Funny around my house it became known as the bag of death and because I based some of the characters on my family, they were actually relieved if the name wasn't "theirs" that was chosen.
Draven stole my answer. I know where my characters start... I know basically where they end up. Everything else that happens in between, besides maybe some major plot points, is entirely up to those same characters.
ReplyDelete