Do Your Characters Have Tired Legs?

My chracters are always with me. I know them better than some of my friends. I can't fall asleep at night unless I am focusing on them. If I don't, my mind races with bills and the job and other real life stuff. You'r not crazy, you are a writer....

I found that musing over it too much made me less inclined to write--I still need writing to be partly recording the plot but partly discovering the details of it as I go.

I don't know if my characters get tired but I sure as hell do, devoting all my thinking time to them. But, that's what writers do, and you eventually learn to live with it because you want to - and because you HAVE to.

JANE007 said:

Should I be worried?

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You're a writer and you're asking other writers this question? *g*

If you're crazy, we all are.

But that's ok, we're writers...a certain amount of insanity is to be expected.

My characters are stalking me. Shhhhhh don't let them know I'm. . .

Just because I'm not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me....

My characters are with me for most of the waking day. If I'm bored I start daydreaming, "OK, what would my MC think of this?" It helps get a better handle of who they are. For example, what would my mage think of going to an amusement park or theater, or how would he react if suddenly beamed up to the Enterprise?

Actually, this is close to a question I've been meaning to ask. Do you create your characters first and then the story, or vice versa? I've come up with characters I'd like to tell stories about, but I've seen others suggest their characters are created in order to fulfill certain functions within the framework of the story. I can see some truth to this with minor characters, but what about your main characters?

With me, the characters come first. It's as if I have a bunch of people in my head (responsible for those voices I hear perhaps?) and whenever I come up with a situation, I ask, "Right, any volunteers?" and see who steps forward into the story.

My my, that sounds wacko. :O

I too have a pretty good idea of my main characters before I start writing. That's not to say I don't change them; I've been known to turn a character evil halfway through the second draft, but at least I'd like to think my stories are character driven. If I don't write for a few days I find myself missing the people I've made up in my head. If it's strange then at least we're not alone.

scarletpeaches said:

With me, the characters come first. It's as if I have a bunch of people in my head (responsible for those voices I hear perhaps?) and whenever I come up with a situation, I ask, "Right, any volunteers?" and see who steps forward into the story.

My my, that sounds wacko. :O

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My MCs I made up first, (or they joined me first ), then came the story...but side characters often spring up as the story progresses.

That was a much more sane way of saying what I meant, Sass.

My characters talk to me all the time, mostly when I'm trying to do something I hate (they have what feels like screaming matches when I do math homework...), and right before I go to sleep. If they're in your brain, they're staying there; mine - some of whom were killed in their own story - are solidly there.

TheIT - my MCs come first, often from people I see on the street, and then hang around waiting for a story. Sometimes they become background characters while they wait. But definetly, I never have a plot before I have an MC or two.

We're talking about fiction here. There are three kinds of novels: character driven, plot driven, and character/plot driven. Character-driven or "mainstream" novels often have plots, but they are secondary - the emphasis is on the development of the characters. In this type of novel, the character often comes first. You create an interesting character and throw them into an interesting situation, and see what they do.

A plot driven novel (sometimes called a "thriller") includes the various genres: scifi, fantasy, mysteries, romance, horror, etc. The characters could be anyone, it's the events in the story that are important. Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, etc. are good examples. Alice could jump into Oz and Dorothy into Wonderland and nothing would change. Alice and Dorothy are purposely not developed as characters so that they represent "everyperson" - making it easier for a wide range of readers to identify with them.

In the third type, the character/plot driven novel, we find many of our best books. The plots are often unique and exciting (LOTR) and the characters well-developed. These are the novels that win Pulitzer prizes and sell well over the years, are read at school, etc.

Some writers resist stuffing their work into categories; this is mostly for the benefit of publishers, who must separate books to accommodate the many readers who read only romance, only scifi, etc.

Shhhh They are out there, I know it!

My Main- Mc showed up at work one day with a disk. She's a very nice person so I took the disk. What could happen, you know. Well then I got home and the other MC was waiting for me, and he'd brought a couple of his friends. He's just marginally psycho, but his, uh, associates are disturbingly dangerous people and. . .
Oh, my, I didn't know you were there!. You know I didn't mean any thing by that last comment. . .