# Do you have arguments with your characters?



## Rhizanthella (May 17, 2013)

I know this happens to other writers as well, but sometimes it is just so annoying!  I try to create a gentle sweet girl and she becomes a nagging mother-like girl. I try telling her to be less nagging and more innocent but she just won't listen! And then there're the one's that may have the exact personality I want, but suddenly they won't do what I need them to in order to progress the storyline. Is it creepy how real made-up characters can become or what? I just hope the character that is currently being tortured severely doesn't try to kill me in my sleep tonight! Do any of you experience these things?


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## A. E. Lowan (May 17, 2013)

Like I always say, half my best friends are imaginary.


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## PaulineMRoss (May 17, 2013)

Author Andrea K HÃ¶st had this to say about her book 'The Champion of the Rose':

"The novel also features some of the least obedient characters I've ever suffered.  An intended major marriage does not happen - the participants flatly refused, each for their own reasons.  The intended villain gave me a Look and told me not to question their loyalty.  But on the plus side a secondary character cheerfully turned around and came to life - and threatened to take over the pages."

So no, you're not alone


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## Guru Coyote (May 17, 2013)

I guess if I "had things I need them to do," I'd have arguments with my characters. The way it usually works for me is that I sit down and listen to their voice, watch their actions. As a creator of stories my job is more to lure my characters into bad situations than to tell them to go.

I guess having game mastered story-telling games for many years with a ton of very character-oriented players helps a lot here. One of the key strategies for a satisfying game session has always been: "Watch where the players take their characters, what they are interested in. Build on that, make it the center of your plot."

I think I treat my story characters in a very similar way...


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## Aidan of the tavern (May 17, 2013)

I've never actually had an argument with any of my characters, but if you craft them well they do write themselves to an extent after a while.  I think of it as them "growing wings", you provide them with a situation in the story and you don't even need to wonder how they react, because they are themselves (maybe that came across convoluted?).  



aelowan said:


> Like I always say, half my best friends are imaginary.



Haha, good point.  Come to think of it my first protagonist could technically be one of my best friends, despite the fact we've never met face-to-face.


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## Rhizanthella (May 17, 2013)

aelowan said:


> Like I always say, half my best friends are imaginary.



That is sadly true. I've come to find that I can only truely trust the characters I create. I once even used them to give me advice in hard times. Sometimes they are the cause of my nightmares! Imagination is a beautiful yet terrifying phenomenon...


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## Guru Coyote (May 17, 2013)

Rhizanthella said:


> That is sadly true. I've come to find that I can only truely trust the characters I create. I once even used them to give me advice in hard times. Sometimes they are the cause of my nightmares! Imagination is a beautiful yet terrifying phenomenon...



My brother once said to me: "Your mind is a haunted place."
I took that as a compliment, although it wasn't really meant that way.


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## Rhizanthella (May 17, 2013)

Sometimes it's the insane people that come up with the best stories. Or the weirdest. *looks at one of my thrown away story ideas and shrugs*


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## Sia (May 19, 2013)

Yup. Didn't someone once say that writing is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia?


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## Rinzei (May 19, 2013)

I've had a character that went south against my wishes. He was so bright and bubbly at the start - and then I somehow realised through writing that he was a jealousy-prone narcissist! How did that happen? Conversely, his brother went up in my books - I thought he was a broody, angry git and he turned out to be quite caring and fun. I don't understand how these things just happen!


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## Guru Coyote (May 19, 2013)

Maybe we should let our darlings in on the kill.


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## Ireth (May 19, 2013)

In one of my novels, I tried to set up the MC's best friend with the MC's younger sister, only for the friend to inform me in no uncertain terms, in the middle of the climax of the book, that he was bisexual, not straight, and in love with the MC. I was like, "Really, guy? You could have picked a more opportune time to let me know!" Like any of the times he was peacefully interacting with the MC or his sister, for example. Yeesh.


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## Addison (May 19, 2013)

With my characters it's like talking to a teenager, and I'm the parent. If you have teenage kids or siblings then you know what it's like. They either don't listen, don't care or blow you off so it's really you ranting like crazy. A one-sided argument. Which doesn't help to resolve issues.


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## ecdavis (May 19, 2013)

I deal with headstrong characters all the time, many times they end up acting in a way that I hadn't intended.   It is odd how they seem to sometimes have a mind of their own.   I've had two that were supposed to be adversaries that ended up falling in love and two bad guys that weren't really so bad after all.   
I had one story where I was going to have this Prince with an aloof attitude toward everyone, that hated my main character's race of people, but after the MC rescued him, the Prince was supposed to chance his mind and slowly an interest in my MC was supposed to develop, over the course of a handful of related short stories.   I had the story-line all plotted out, but the Prince was just too big of a jerk, and nearly got the MC killed then ended up getting himself killed by 'friendly fire'.   It threw a major wrench into my story, but actually, I began to like it a lot better and just rolled with it.  But the series of short stories turned into one short story, though I plan to take the MC in a new direction when I finally get back to writing about her.


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## RK-Summers (May 20, 2013)

This was how my novel began. They would NOT leave me alone until I wrote their story.


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## Rhizanthella (May 21, 2013)

@ecdavis
That reminds me of one of my characters! I knew I wanted my MC to have a love interest and I was about to introduce a prince of another planet. I had to decide between him and the boy that was /supposed/ to protect the MC. Even if I ended up going with the other boy, the prince was going to still be this really kind guy that liked the MC and was gentle with her. I couldn't decide for a while so I kept writing with the possibility of either. Then the prince became this sarcastic jerk that liked the MC. Their love didn't work out, but this new sarcastic character became one of the main side characters that is a lot of fun to write.


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## Guru Coyote (May 26, 2013)

I might need to take back what I said earlier... If I had *insisted* on my current story going the way I had it planned... I think I'd have gotten on the wrong side of both of the main characters.
Maybe I just don't have arguments with my characters because I let them have their will.


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## Rhizanthella (May 28, 2013)

True, I let them have their way. But sometimes, when I don't like their way, I pull them aside(or infront of all the rest of the characters) and give them the what for. My charcters are my only true friends and no matter what I say, they'll always love me. Heh heh.


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## Addison (May 29, 2013)

Sometimes my characters bring on the arguements. And they're all from one WIP.

You ever had a friend, sibling, family member or anyone who always calls or whines if you pay attention to someone else? That's how this story is acting. I give myself a break, to stay fresh, and work on another story. Then out of nowhere something about the original will pop into my head and won't leave me alone until I confront it. When I do I do it angrily. That way I can go back to the other WIP in peace.


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## Rhizanthella (May 30, 2013)

I can only work on one thing at a time. All my other WIPs have died. They sit there decaying in some dusty shelf waiting for the day I finish my first series.


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## Weaver (Jun 4, 2013)

There was one incident when I was only thinking about a story I was working on, and out of nowhere, the protagonist said to me, "I am not a [email protected]#m metaphor!"  I don't know if that counts as an argument; I had not intended to use that character as a metaphor anyway, although apparently he was worried that I might.  

But yes, I have had characters go in directions other than those I'd planned.  I had one character, originally meant only to be VERY minor, who ended up as a major secondary character in a novel.  (It wasn't HIS intention, either, but one of his friends had other plans, which he declined to share with the authors until it was too late.)  I've had a characters who was first written as a bit angsty and a loner end up happy and outgoing, the sort of person who is better able to deal with life's tragedies.  (I'm pleased for him, but I wish he'd let me know sooner -- it would have made writing the story in which he's major supporting cast a lot easier.)


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## Tom (Jun 7, 2013)

My comic relief flatly refused to be comical in any way. She just wouldn't. And then there was the part where the wizard was going to cast a spell...he didn't want to. I just couldn't write about it. So finally I threw up my hands and said, "whatever, dude! you win!"

If they get too annoying, I wish I could kill them, but that would crush the test readers...


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## Weaver (Jun 7, 2013)

Tom Nimenai said:


> If they get too annoying, I wish I could kill them, but that would crush the test readers...



You need to learn how to threaten your characters effectively.    Believe me, there are things you can do to them that are worse than killing 'em -- and are usually good for the plot, too.

I understand what you mean about not wanting to upset your test readers, though.  My own Loyal Reader is a big fan of GRRM (who, as I understand it, is "really good at killing off characters that the readers care about"), but if I or my clone-sibling were to kill off one of _our _characters... 

Sometimes a character is plot-resistant because he/she is not the right person for the role.  If you've made a casting error, best to recognize it and make changes quickly.  Sometimes a character is plot-resistant because the author has lost focus and forgot what story was being told.  There are times when you've got to trust the characters and yourself -- they're your creations, after all, out of your imagination, and maybe you know what you shold be doing better than you realize -- and go with the flow.  Maybe the story the character wants to act out is a better idea than the one you sat down to write in the first place.  Plot resistance can lead to plot complications, and that's usually a good thing.


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## Guru Coyote (Jun 7, 2013)

As I watch this thread go on and on, and keep reading the delightful post... I begin to wonder. Have any of you ever had arguments with *someone else's* characters? Have you ever found yourself reading a a story where the characters reache out to you, telling you they wanted/deserved a different plot or role?


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## Rhizanthella (Jun 9, 2013)

I had a character that I knew I would like planned to die from the get go. When my test reader said he was her favorite character in a text, I could stop laughing. She was going to cry so hard when I wrote his tragic death. However the friendship crapped out before she could read about him coming back. Oh well. 
On arguing with other peoples characters, I haven't so much as argued, but rather stole. I saw the character idea but didn't care for the role, like Guru said. So, I stole the character idea and put it where I felt it should be. Steal and create.


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