When I was writing my novel for my college thesis, I was under a major crunch because I had procrastinated and fucked around like any normal college student would do ;) I managed to crack the whole thing out in just over a month, but the first draft's ending was more than a bit dodgy- my otherwise wonderful and relatively stable characters out of nowhere suddenly had a major falling out, which ended up involving a high speed chase all over the New Mexico desert. My main prof on the project took one look at my zombie eyes when I came through the door the next day to discuss the draft and said gently, "This ending obviously comes from your exhaustion, not your characters. Would you like a chance to rewrite the ending before we decide this is done?" I honestly hadn't thought of it that way until then because my characters usually do run the show.
I've been getting hung up in Nano when things like this happen, I get unhappy about it and I've been managing to take baby steps back and change little things to try to keep it going where I want it, mostly just to keep going. It's been an interesting thing, being in charge this time around, not letting them walk all over my ideas and come up with their own story. I will be curious to see, reading it after, whether I will hate it with a passion or something because of this difference. I hope not, it's nice to have a little more control than usual.
Interesting. So did you rewrite the ending of the novel, and did it come out differently, better?
I used to have tremendous problems with plot and character not doing what I want . . . major problems. Five (long) novels later, I have a lot of practice herding the cats in my brain, and these "major problems" have become more like minor surprises. It's actually nice to get them, and it's vital -- if I don't start getting them by around 15,000 - 20,000 words, I know that the story isn't "alive" enough.
It's a good sign, really, when characters start nudging in directions that you weren't expecting -- sometimes they really do know best. It's a sign that they're behaving more like real people, that you've envisioned them properly, and they occasionally think of things on their own that you can't or wouldn't.
Thankfully, the way this is plotted, my characters have a lot of leeway -- I can still get them to go where I want and do what I need them to do.
I did rewrite it, and I was really pleased with the ending as were my profs. It ended up pulling together nicely, and I was surprised by it, especially since the high speed chase wasn't completely unjustified either ;)
I have similar feelings about my characters, mine often do make the plot on their own. Your post spoke to me actually because my NaNoWriMo characters had a similar altercation going on that they managed to resolve. I didn't make them solve it, but I did make them drop it for the moment.
I'm having a great time seeing where this will go. It's been a long time since I've been writing seriously. Parenthood, and before that my various day jobs just sucked the life out of me, so I just got out of the habit. I forced myself to do this, and am finding it blissfully easy, actually. It's nice to know I can control the problems that were giving me trouble before, perhaps even a little better from my time away from them. Something cleansing about it being okay for it to completely suck. :)
I've been getting hung up in Nano when things like this happen, I get unhappy about it and I've been managing to take baby steps back and change little things to try to keep it going where I want it, mostly just to keep going. It's been an interesting thing, being in charge this time around, not letting them walk all over my ideas and come up with their own story. I will be curious to see, reading it after, whether I will hate it with a passion or something because of this difference. I hope not, it's nice to have a little more control than usual.
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I used to have tremendous problems with plot and character not doing what I want . . . major problems. Five (long) novels later, I have a lot of practice herding the cats in my brain, and these "major problems" have become more like minor surprises. It's actually nice to get them, and it's vital -- if I don't start getting them by around 15,000 - 20,000 words, I know that the story isn't "alive" enough.
It's a good sign, really, when characters start nudging in directions that you weren't expecting -- sometimes they really do know best. It's a sign that they're behaving more like real people, that you've envisioned them properly, and they occasionally think of things on their own that you can't or wouldn't.
Thankfully, the way this is plotted, my characters have a lot of leeway -- I can still get them to go where I want and do what I need them to do.
Reply
I have similar feelings about my characters, mine often do make the plot on their own. Your post spoke to me actually because my NaNoWriMo characters had a similar altercation going on that they managed to resolve. I didn't make them solve it, but I did make them drop it for the moment.
I'm having a great time seeing where this will go. It's been a long time since I've been writing seriously. Parenthood, and before that my various day jobs just sucked the life out of me, so I just got out of the habit. I forced myself to do this, and am finding it blissfully easy, actually. It's nice to know I can control the problems that were giving me trouble before, perhaps even a little better from my time away from them. Something cleansing about it being okay for it to completely suck. :)
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