skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Attempted Murder Gone Awry: ROW80
In Chasing Shadows, the sequel to last year's Chasing Memories, I introduced a new character. This character's main purpose was to enhance the story and then die in dramatic fashion.
Only she had other ideas.
I killed her three different times while writing the book, and each time I edited her back in.
Why?
I've asked myself the same thing. And the answer is something that had never happened to me before in my writing journey... she simply demanded it.
Now, she's going to figure prominently in Chasing Forgiveness (a novella).
Writers: Has something like this ever happened to you? Has a character ever demanded more story or to live?
Readers: Have you ever read a book where a character died and you wished you could bring him/her back to life?
*****
Wednesdays are A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) check-ins. My editing progress is slow for now since we still have two Chinese exchange students living with us. But, I'm plugging away.
Speaking of ROW80... I met the lovely Juliana Haygert through this amazing writing community. Recently, I read the first two books and novella of her Everlast series. Loved them. Team Micah!
Today, I am featuring the latest in the series, Cup of Life (a novella), on Mom in Love with Fiction. Please stop by and check it out here. There's also a great giveaway.
Congrats, Juliana!
5 comments:
I'm dealing with that now! I keep trying to kill a character and he won't let me! His ideas are really good though, so I'm happy to keep him in. For now. ^_^
I always wished less popular characters died in Harry Potter. To many characters I loved died. It was too many!
I had a character that was just supposed to have a 'walk on' role. Next thing I know, he's demanding more lines AND his own POV. Okay. Fine. I gave it to him. Then I tortured him as a lesson to other upstart characters. You come in here with those kinds of demands and you're going to work for your page space, mister! ;)
Oh, my characters always demand things that don't fit into my nicely laid plans. Years ago I was working on an epic fantasy and I sat down one day to write. The next thing I knew, one of my beloved characters was dead. Now, it was my first novel, so all of my characters were beloved; needless to say, I cried. Later in the story, I realized that he wasn't actually dead but was gravely wounded. So I guess I learned early not to be surprised! ;)
Ugh. Characters are so freaking pushy, aren't they? Wait... Are you sure you haven't developed feelings there...?
Sometimes, it crushes us to bring a character to an end. But I advise using the pull on your heartstrings as inspiration and killing them off in the most heart-wrenching way possible. :) Just my two cents.
WRITE ON!
I've had a few characters that I like do something stupid and end up dead when I didn't expect it, but I've never had one escape death... yet. Anything could happen.
Good luck with your resilient character, I hope it works out for the best (for both of you).
Post a Comment