No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.
-Robert Frost
The Plot Thickens
Robert Frost nailed it. If you are not moved to tears as you pen the death of a character you love, or some other tragedy befalls him or her, how can you expect the reader to care enough to shed tears? Likewise, if everything that happens is expected, well…the reader will find the plot and characters predictable and boring.
It is often said that, when writing a novel, the characters will take over and the writer is just along for the ride. Though I had heard that saying many times, I didn’t know what that meant until I began writing myself. Let me give you four personal examples for you to ponder.
In one instance, I had planned out exactly what I was going to write that evening. I knew how much time I had (only two hours), I knew what the characters were going to do and say…it was going to be “easy” writing. Until I actually began writing, the characters came to life, and I found the plot taking a severe detour. When I stood up after those two hours, I had just managed to get to the point I had planned to start at when I sat down. Talk about humbling. My characters had taken over (be careful – they can be bossy!).
Another time, I had planned the death of one of my characters in a mystery series I was writing. I built the character carefully in the first novel. Killed said character in the second novel, only to find during editing that this character came back to life. By the third novel, I was determined that this character would die. So I was completely stymied when – by the end of the third novel – that character was alive and well. Um…suffice it to say that characters do come alive – and they have minds of their own.
Many times I have a scene planned for a book, one that I will even mention to my husband or friend, and as the time approaches for that scene to be written I realize…I can’t fit it in. The way the story and characters developed, it was no longer an option. Well, now what? I wasn’t planning to go here and what I planned over there was integral to the plot! Sigh…such is the life of a writer.
In the End
I was recently trying to end a novel but every ending and resolution for the characters seemed trite and over-done. For weeks I was frustrated, my characters (for once) choosing not to lead (finicky people, those characters can be…), and I refused to write an ending I wouldn’t want to read myself. Then my husband looked at me and said, “What about…?” And I simultaneously loved him and hated him. He had just handed me a scenario that avoided all the things I detested…but I was going to have to have something happen that made my heart bleed to a character who I loved. Yes, I cried when I wrote that scene.
All this to say…if we as the writers are surprised…if we as the writers hurt for our characters…if we allow for our minds to be open and are willing to relinquish a little bit of control…
We will be surprised…we will feel what the characters feel…and so will our readers.
Write on, friends!
