Oops

[desperance]

Halfway through the book - almost exactly, as it 'appens - and I've just had one of those moments, where a character takes an entirely unscripted left turn and walks out of my expectations altogether.

I was just writing this stitching scene, where the old guy with the boat makes a surreptitious trip across the strait, then comes back to the island. I thought the point of it was the returning, so's we could see the state of things at home; but he just met these people on the mainland, and I have noooo idea what to do with them now, but they're obviously here for a purpose...

(Actually, of course, I do know exactly what to do with them: put them somewhere safe and keep aware. What I don't know is why they've turned up, what part they'll play in development. But it's always good to have extra pieces on the board, in unexpected places...)

This always happens, new people just walk in and turn out to be important. Sometimes it's early on (Sieur Anton, in the Outremer books: not in the original proposal, my dears), sometimes it's almost last thing (Djago, in 'Bridge of Dreams'); this time it's neatly halfway. Either when they're needed, or when the opportunity arises, I suppose. Which might be the same thing, come to think about it.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I think that's one of my favorite bits about writing. :) New characters suddenly appearing, or a throw-away line in the third chapter suddenly becoming extremely important in the climax. I love that. :)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's what actually carries me through the slog of wordage that lies between the exciting beginning - "ooh! White space! Quick, let's scribble on it, let's start something new and shiny!!" - and the exciting end - "ooh! Nearly there now! Look, all those ends are wrapping up so sweetly! Quick, let's put our head down and charge!!"

Well, a part of what carries me through. There's the line-by-line pleasure of the actual words, finding the right ones and putting them in the right order; I still love that, after all these decades. Yay. But plotwise, story-wise, yes: it's the surprises, the new arrivals, the events you weren't prepared for. The thing proving to be greater than the sum of its previously-laid-out parts.

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wonder what these unexpected characters are saying about my state of mind.

I seem to have a bit of a Star Trek thing going on - you know, a character you've never seen before turns up on the bridge, only to be killed off a few minutes later.

Sometimes I think all these characters are going to form a gang and get me back.

[devonellington.livejournal.com]

I love it when new characters come in and open up the story! How exciting!

[julesjones]

Sieur Anton, in the Outremer books: not in the original proposal, my dears

Hmmm... I *thought* there was something slightly odd about his story arc -- he didn't feel jammed in at the last minute, he felt as if he belonged and the story wouldn't be complete without him; but he was also not present for a great deal of the story, even though the way he's introduced makes it clear that he's an important character. If he's one of those characters you didn't know you needed until he walked onto the page, that explains it. :-)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Now that is interesting. Most people just gape in bewilderment at the notion that I could have constructed a proposal without him, and/or gape at my stupidity for not having realised how urgently I would need him. Nice thing is, he made sense of Marron for me. He came, obviously, because Marron needed someone to serve; what I hadn't anticipated was that Marron needed someone to love.

[danjite.livejournal.com]

I just made a posting referencing a song about this topic.