When characters don't follow the plan

I’ve been revisiting a fantasy novel that I had fallen in love with as a teenager, The Axis Trilogy. As I was reading it I remembered what the author had said about the character Faraday and her intentions for her fate. She commented in an interview, “She was never meant to become a major character – she just "grew". I couldn't control her.” (You can read the article here.)

I’ve written a past article that mused over this very quote. As I’ve gotten into the swing of writing and creating comics once more, constructing outlines and plots, laying down story beats and expectations of where the characters might go and how they will react, I find that this holds ever more true.

I remember one instance when writing with a friend, a character of mine spontaneously broke it off with their original character. They immediately got on my case, exclaiming, “What are you doing?!” I, equally dumbfounded, could merely and lamely respond, “I don’t know! I didn’t know that was going to happen!”

As stories progress, I find myself surprised when my characters begin building relationships with other characters behind my back. For instance, in one current comic, my writing partner and I have an OTP ship, however, it is becoming clear that there is an emerging and rather complicated love triangle (though, as it goes on, it is looking more like a polygon) emerging, much to our surprise.

Are we still pursuing the story beats we have planned? Of course we are.

It remains to be seen if our characters are on the same page.

Have your characters surprised you? Have you ever changed your story to fit around their new position? Let us know in the comment section below! And join us on Sunday evening for our Quackchat at 5:30PM(EST)!

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