Do your fics change?

sometimes you have to torture them to get them to behave

I don't like tortutring my characters!

 

Sort of a yes and no question for me. I plot out the story in broad strokes with very little detail. Then I change the deatils as the characters change and a I get a btter feel for them and more comfortable with them. So in sense yes my fics change around the characters, but their still goign where I want them to go, the only thing that changes is how they get there.

 

Oh, god, yes.

Granted, I haven't written many fics, but I've definitely seen it to be the case with "His Father's Son". I think I'm on chapter 12, and that was originally going to be the last chapter; instead, I haven't even gotten halfway done yet! Boba keeps wandering off and doing whatever he feels like doing - he just refuses to listen to me. He's supposed to be hunting down someone - anyone - but instead he decided to sit down and start braiding Wookiee fur! Urgh! He's the most aggravating little thing, and it's my fault, because I give him free reign.

Ahem.

Anyway, that said - I don't mind not being able to completely control my stories, because for one, leaving things open makes the story longer. I always go into the story with a basic idea of what I want to happen - key events, if you will - because if I can't pin things down even that much, there's no point in even starting the story; I won't finish it. But I often end up starting at point A and taking several detours, jumping in puddles, climbing trees, and sliding down snowbanks, before I finally get to point B.

*shakes head* Oy.



For freedom. For justice. Viva la Rebellion.

 

While my first work is still in progress (13 pages, 3 chapters), I find that my fiction does depart from my original concept. While I have a basic outline in my head I don't have a detailed one written down. I do know the direction in which my story is going and basically how it will end. I find the journey enjoyable as I "discover" it along the way. It's almost like I'm watching a movie for the first time as I write. Some chapters just flow seamlessly. I do hit roadblocks and obstacles and then I have to do some research.

 

I think that, in general, whether the writer realizes it or not we all have to adapt our stories to suit the whim of our characters. After all they do have a mind of their own and will do as they want. The only way to stop them is tie in a chair and gag them...and that's a whole different kind of fic at that point ;-)

 

I do find it somewhat intriguing when I try to take my character in a certain direction, for instance a conversation, and I find myselfe thinking, he wouldn't say that or do that. It's really not like him. But he would certainly do this.

 

I believe that in writing fiction of any sort, you do need an outline. A beginning, a set of middle events, and how it all ends up (climax or not). How detailed that outline is and how strictly you follow those details, however, is up to the writer. As someone already said, though, a lack of an outline leads to getting lost and never really getting to where you need to go before you either bore yourself or the reader.

Personally, I tend to keep my outlines rather skeletal with only the most necessary elements written in stone. Everything else I keep loose because almost everytime I write, the characters WILL start making choices of their own and do things differently. In many ways, it often feels like actors coming up to you as the director and saying, "What if I change these lines? How about if my motivation was different here?". It's your job to know whether they can have that freedom or if what you outlined is so critical, there can be no deviation at that moment.

I like having the characters attempt to change things on me. When a character goes through a work without ever seeming to turn to me and say, "Nah...here's how I would really do that..." I start to wonder if that character's just a shallow, boring, cardboard cutout (and whether he's fine for his role in the story, as not every character needs to be lively and rounded).