Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Just Who is Writing This Story?...

I'm very thankful that after the long break of the holidays, I have been able to settle back into my writing comfortably.

But now I'm beginning to wonder just who is writing this story. I feel more like I'm reading than writing. While I have an overall idea of what is going to happen with the story, I'm not completely positive of exactly what twist and turns will take my characters from point A to point Z. And I was surprised to find, while writing tonight to discover that sometimes I didn't even know what was going to happen in the next paragraph.

In my mind, I had a scene set and as I began writing, suddenly my characters started doing things differently. I decided to give over to their demands and follow their leads. And I think it turned out better than my original plan. But it made me question, Just who is writing this story?

Is this a question unique to me? Do most people have everything so worked out prior to actually writing that they don't encounter this? Or am I just a normal person whose characters like to jump in her head and take over?

Here's where the scene took place:

Isn't it lovely!

April

5 comments:

Cole Reising said...

Hi April - Yes, lots of times things go differently for me then I had expected. I think that this is due partially because it takes me so long to type(I'm a fast typer but I mean that my mind still zooms way, way ahead)and by the time I'm to a point my mind is bored with the orginal take and is not ready to reinvent - the part that I like the most to begin with! So I usually follow the new lead unless its too wacky - which does happen once in awhile. :) Have fun! Cole

Anonymous said...

Lovely, indeed. Sometimes characters surprise me, too. If I already knew everything that was going to happen to them, it wouldn't be fun to write!

April said...

LOL, Cole... I find that not only do my hands type faster than my head, but my left hand types faster than my right despite being right handed. So, my left hand is always inserting its letters before the right's. Argh!

Great point, Olga. My characters definately find ways to surprise me. I was anticipating a heated exchange between my h and H and my h up and went fell asleep, surprising both my H and me!

Anonymous said...

Lol, April, now that was definitely a surprise. Now I am waiting for my characters to decide where they are going to take me. I have a very strong-willed heroine who doesn't accept orders from anyone, even her writer!

April said...

Oh, Olga... I had the stongest willed heroine with my last ms. At one point I thought of taking her out for margaritas and paying for double doses for her. I never thought I'd reign her in. Actually, I didn't we compromised and I have to say she did help the story a lot.

It just makes me feel like I have MPD sometimes (multiple personality disorder). I growl while I'm writing and my hubby looks over and asks, "computer problems?" I just say, "No." I don't think he wants to know it all :-)

Good luck!!