{"id":39160,"date":"2021-05-10T06:30:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T18:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=39160"},"modified":"2021-05-09T22:49:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T10:49:38","slug":"inside-the-writing-life-characters-behaving-badly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2021\/05\/10\/inside-the-writing-life-characters-behaving-badly\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Writing Life: Characters Behaving Badly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u2026 or at least, proving singularly uncooperative.<\/p>\n

I have vague recollections \u2013 without being able to point to specific examples, mea culpa \u2013 of other authors lamenting this phenomenon, which leads me to believe I am by no means the first to experience it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret either, that once begun, stories and characters tend to develop a life of their own \u2013 chiefly, imho, because both the narrative and the characters evolve as the story progresses. The characters respond to events, which leads them to change and grow, including in their subsequent actions and responses, hence the narrative also changing. Very like real people, in fact, and since they are<\/em> real in the world of the story, it\u2019s probably just as well that they do alter and evolve, even if it\u2019s not always convenient for the author.<\/p>\n

Or as Field Marshall von Moltke (I believe) said, \u201cNo plan survives contact with the enemy.\u201d <\/em>No, indeed.<\/p>\n

Almost 100% of the time, though, the alteration proves beneficial to the story, even when a departure from the original plan. Almost as if the characters know a thing or two about themselves. Unfortunately that self-knowledge often evolves deep in the authorial subconscious and can take a frustratingly long time to work its way to the conscious \u201cworking face\u201d: O-o!<\/p>\n

\"daughter-of-blood-by-helen-lowe\"

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

The most recent instance was of a slightly different order and involved the character of Thanir, a Darksworn antagonist that The Wall of Night<\/strong><\/a> readers will have encountered in Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/a>. (Yes, he is<\/em> in The Chaos Gate<\/em>, but as he survived the events at the end of Daughter<\/em>, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a spoiler. \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n

I have a pretty good understanding of Thanir\u2019s backstory and \u2013 as I thought \u2013 his motivations, but those of you who recall his character will know that he is enigmatic at best. So on coming to the crunch of last month\u2019s sequence, I discovered that his character was even more complex than I realized and his motivations equally challenging to unravel.<\/p>\n

\"\"

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

All of which lay at the core of my calling last month\u2019s endgame sequence \u201ca little tricky\u201d<\/a> \u2013 and what was in my mind, also recently<\/a>, when I quoted Haruki Murakami\u2019s: \u201cMy stories are always unpredictable to myself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Although when it comes to Thanir, I may also need to paraphrase Lady Caroline Lamb on the subject of Lord Byron. She declared that the famous (and infamous) poet was \u201cmad, bad, and dangerous to know.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Lady Caroline Lamb, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence<\/p><\/div>\n

The paraphrase, in this case, is that Thanir is \u201cdifficult<\/strong> to know\u201d<\/em>, although the Derai would probably fully concur with the \u201cbad, and dangerous\u201d<\/em> part, too. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the author\u2019s job, of course, to unravel the motivations of even the most enigmatic and difficult-to-know characters \u2013 and so unravelled they were, at least sufficiently to advance the story.<\/p>\n

All part and parcel of the writing life, albeit requiring considerably more than a day\u2019s work. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Previous Bulletins From Inside The Writing Life<\/em>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n