There are two kinds of people who listen to the voices in their heads—schizophrenics and authors. Fortunately, I fall into the latter category, the group that doesn’t talk back. Or so we pretend. But the truth is, those voices in our heads belong to our characters, and whether we’re brave enough to admit it to the world beyond our writing caves, those conversations go both ways.
Our characters demand quite a lot from us, especially those of us who write mysteries. After all, we’re constantly putting them in situations filled with murder and mayhem. Is it any wonder they’re constantly interrupting our plotting to insinuate their own two cents?
My most demanding character is Anastasia Pollack, the reluctant amateur sleuth of the eponymous Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. In every book, I get to a point in the story where Anastasia goes on strike. She absolutely refuses to continue on the path I’ve laid out for her. No matter how much I try to force her into the next chapter, she won’t budge.
Have I mentioned what a royal pain in my butt she is?
This standoff leaves me no choice but to cave to her demands, especially since she always gets the backing of the rest of my characters who line up in solidarity behind her. Then they pool their resources and send my muse off on holiday.
Have I mentioned my characters play dirty?
No author wants to sit in front of a computer screen staring at a blinking cursor for hours on end, especially when deadlines are looming. My characters know this, which means I have no choice but to capitulate to their demands. Otherwise, they won’t send my muse a return-trip ticket.
With every book, Anastasia tosses a monkey wrench into my plots. “You’re taking the easy way out,” she screams. “I demand more conflict! Another red herring! One more plot twist!”
“There’s no problem with the story the way it is,” I whine.
“Wanna bet?” she asks. “Send the chapter off to your critique partner. See what she has to say.”
“Have you been speaking to her behind my back?”
She grins. “I’ll never tell.”
I wonder what my critique partner would say if I asked if she’d heard from Anastasia. Would she think I’ve gone nuts? I’ve decided it isn’t worth the risk. Anastasia is a fictional character and only a fictional character as far as she knows. Best to keep it that way (and hope she isn’t reading this!) Instead, I send off the chapter for some feedback. A few hours later her notes arrive—stating exactly what Anastasia had said.
“Fine, you win,” I say, bowing to the inevitable. “I’ll write the story your way.”
“You’ll thank me in the end,” she says.
And you know what? Darned if she isn’t right. Every single time,
including recently as I was in the middle of writing Guilty as Framed, the 11th
Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, now available for preorder.
~*~
USA Today and
Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery,
romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter
books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews
dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series,
“North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” Learn more about Lois and her books at her website, www.loiswinston.com, where you can also sign up for her newsletter and find links to
her various social media sites.
Sounds like Anastasia knows something about writing, which makes sense after 11 novels. Keep listening to those voices telling you how to improve!
ReplyDeleteOh, you are singing my song! It’s always best to listen to your characters – their sources are impeccable. Congratulations on 11!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by today, Lois!
ReplyDeleteMy characters will talk to me if I sit them down and interview them. They'll also write back if I write them a letter asking them what's going on. Otherwise they just talk to each other, up there in my head, and ignore me. Luckily, because they are in my head, it's easy to eavesdrop and take notes.
Thanks, Jim and Kait!
ReplyDeleteMolly, I love the idea of corresponding with your characters. I'll have to give that a try.
It's never enough for me to have a plot idea for a Nick Hoffman mystery: I need to hear Nick telling me the story and I'm his stenographer. I did try starting one of them and he said, "What are you doing?!"
ReplyDeleteMy characters generally take the lead and all I can do is follow where they go.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, prefer the ones who are understanding and almost apologetic as they point the way to the ones who have a snarky edge when they do it.
I so agree. When I wrote One Taste Too Many, I started pushing for one thing and the characters said "NO!" When I finally listened to them, I ended up throwing out 1/2 a book and rewriting .... they were so right! Thanks for coming today
ReplyDeleteKM, I think my characters are more aggressively demanding than yours. They're definitely not apologetic when they insist on changes!
ReplyDeleteDebra, thanks so much for inviting me to visit Writers Who Kill today.
Great post, Lois!
ReplyDeleteMy characters don't talk to me per se. But they often subtly take over, especially the secondary characters, and I find myself writing bigger parts for them.
Molly MacRae, I am so going to try writing my characters letters and see what they write back!
Holey moley, Lois. Do you have any advice for me keeping my characters from striking? Right now they're not making many demands, although one for book 3 tried to take over as protagonist and I had to put her in her place.
ReplyDeleteLily certainly hasn't complained that she wants more conflict or action.
Darlene
Lev, they do have complete control over us, don't they?
ReplyDeleteKassandra, Anastasia is anything but subtle in her methods. Count yourself lucky!
Darlene, it's my experience that it's best to do what those characters demand. Otherwise, they may all go on strike, and you certainly don't want that!
It's not my characters so much that dictate what I write, but parts of the storyline that insinuate themselves in my WIP. Sometimes a set up for a situation appears in one book and this becomes part of the plot of another book further along in the series. And if my characters seem to be saying something that's contradictory to my plotting, I go with their flow and find it all works out by the end of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI like it when my characters tell me things and take me in surprise directions.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn, I have character arcs that continue from book to book, but I haven't done that with a plotline. I've found most readers don't like to be left hanging. I have introduced characters that come and go in the series, though, bringing them back when the storyline calls for them. Or maybe I should say when they demand to be brought back because of the storyline.
ReplyDeleteNancy, those are always wonderful surprises for me, even if I stubbornly refuse to go along at first.
Lois this is a great post! In my Dodie O'Dell Mystery series, Dodie (my protagonist) is constantly whispering in my ear...sometimes it's not a whisper. "I wouldn't say this" or "I wouldn't do that." She has planted herself in my subconscious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the discussion.
Finished my first mystery last spring and I was worried because I don't know how the story happened. I had an idea where to start and knew exactly how it was going to end, but nothing in-between. So after I established the opening scene the characters started interacting. I found that I was mostly taking dictation. My only conscious input was to describe the scenes; where they were, what they were doing, and what was happening around them. Often when I chose to take the action in a direction headed toward the conclusion of the story, one or several of the characters would hijack the action and take me in a completely different direction. It was surprising, exciting and fun. Then I finished the book and sent it off to the editor. I published the book, Motive, and received glowing reviews. As I said, I have no idea how it all got into a manuscript or even if I could do it again. I wondered if I was just lucky.
ReplyDeleteSo this year I took another stab at it, using the same core characters. And it happened again. My wife doesn't believe that I hear voices. But they guided me through another mystery and I have just finished book 2 two. I can't tell you how relieved I was to read the comments from other authors who have had the same experience. Thank you!
Thanks, Suzanne! Glad you enjoyed the post. Keep listening to Dodie.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, isn't it amazing how that happens? Congratulations on your second book. May your characters continue to speak to you!