Don't tell me what to do!

     That’s a funny way to start a blog isn’t it? Probably thinking that I’m making a reference to an editor, or publisher, or something of that sort. Actually, what I’m talking about is the characters I often come face to face with in my short stories, or my novelettes that I’ve written. You are probably asking yourself, What in the hell does he mean. Most of the time when you think of characters you think of the basic principal of one. Male, Female, tall, short, skinny, fat. Are the characters nice? Or are they cruel? The kind that if they unexpectedly had something happen to them in the story it wouldn’t hurt your feelings at all if something where to happen to them? For a moment, I’m going to step beyond all of that and describe a little bit about my characters. With all of the classifications above, I would they could be just that easy to put into a group. Come up with all of my heroines, my bad guys, and the rest of the supporting cast that makes a story good. Unfortunately, in my stories it doesn’t always work that way and about ninety nine percent of the time characters tend to come half-hazardly stumbling into a scene that as I recalled in the initial draw up they weren’t there.

     Does the scene still work? Yes and No. It would have always been a lot smoother if the scene could have been without this particular character or in some cases characters but it adds to the story and it adds a lot more development to it. But on the flip side of this very own coin is that it sometimes can hinder scenes if characters don’t show up at the right time, or in many instances not at all. Reading through this already I’m willing to bet, that you are thinking that I am a complete nut case. Someone who treats these invisible people as if they where truly flesh and blood. That, just like any new age television show, or movie I treat them with delicacy and make sure that they stay happy. But as any writer will tell you it’s not always about what you want the characters to do, they’ll do what THEY want to do. A story will not always have a happy ending, nor will it always have a bad ending. The more time you spend working on any specific character or characters the more likely they will “talk” to you. Again, there you probably think Wow, Grayson you have truly lost your mind. I bet you had an invisible friend as a kid growing up that you shared your toys with. Truth be known, no I didn’t have a invisible friend growing up as a kid. But the more time you spend with a particular character the more of a tendency to let you in.

     But with that said, there are also many instances that a character may or may not talk to you through the entire story. They may want the attention, but will not say anything to get it. I have one character in particular right now that has said very little in the means of development or letting me in on any of his secrets. The character keeps himself well guarded with very little to say all of the time. Even in the current story he gives off a vibe to the rest of the characters that are creepy to them. With all of this said as well though you’re going to find that any one character may not want to be put into a particular situation or later in the story you end up finding out that they refuse to do something. One character in the up-coming marshals story you find she is a huge risk taker. Well when I had originally designed her she hadn’t been that way at all. It’s always fun to see characters evolve into something or make more out of themselves as you had intended to. It’s like watching a child grow and take pride when they do something great in the scheme of things (No pun intended). Or shake your head and cover your eyes when they get themselves into situations that you think they should know better. But always on the other side of this you have a character that is screaming for attention, waving there arms up and down frantically as they try to flag you down. But with this comes the possible chance that they don’t even belong in the current project you have going.

     A lot of the times, the characters will be from either a different series? Same series (That is not relevant to the plot), or a completely new idea. How do you wrangle these characters up and keep them quiet so you can work on your current project? I find that writing the idea down, the character, basic description, and what they do is a simple way to quiet them down. It’s like putting them on hold during a phone conversation. It keeps them quiet and waiting patiently. What’s the point of my blog? My point is this: For any writer out there, that is brainstorming characters, having a hard time coming up with characters, or struggling for plot development. The best thing you can really do is just sit on it. Get a pad and paper and just think on the idea. A lot of the times, the characters will find you before you find them. Once you have a character in mind, or just a basic outline of what you think you want in one. Jot down notes, how can this particular character come into play in either this story? Or a separate one in itself. Many-a-times in my work you will find that my characters have a tendency to overlap in the different series. But in my defense, the characters jobs often overlap which you will seen in OceanView, which will hopefully be online and available by the end of February 2013.

     Nobody wants to read about a two dimensional character that comes from a cookie cutter mesh. If you have an easier time with doing backgrounds or histories? I’d recommend starting there. If you have a easier time with names and jobs? Start there. Either way, the more you brain storm on a particular idea the easier the characters will come to you.