Where do I get my characters? Under the couch? In the back yard? When asked this, I usually look confused… because, don’t they just come with the story? Sometimes.
For the most part, before I sit down to write a story, I have a basic working knowledge of my characters. Some of the things they like or don’t like… ways they’ll react to certain things… sometimes, I’ll even have a slight idea of what they look like. For the most part, though, I don’t want to know much more than these basic things.
You may find yourself hacking away at the jungle one day… and the jungle hacks back. I’m talking about your characters getting all grumpy and misbehaving. In one of my short stories, my main female character got assaulted. First of all, I wasn’t aware that it was going to happen (I’m a pantser, remember?), and secondly, her reaction was just plain completely out of character. So, I’m sitting there, completely flabbergasted with her and the way she handled the reaction, and my jaw is sitting in my lap.
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