Hey you! Where the ^%$# are you going?!?

Write it, see where it goes! You can always go back if it doesn't work out.

My MC did something similar a while ago. She was supposed to snd a message for help and wait - but she decided to steal a ship and now we're in a lawless underground city I didn't know about.

Every single time I've fought my MC for control and won, I've been wrong. Let her go her way... she knows best.

BTW, I'm a pantser, too.

ccarver30 said:

Anni - that sounds so much more interesting! She took charge!

OFG - I'm going to go with it... for now!

Click to expand...

Yep, and it fits much better with her personality, too. But I'm off trail without a map now so have to re-do my outline for the next few chapters. I'm sort of a hybrid - I have a couple of pages of rough notes and a list of things that absolutely NEED to happen in the story, but other than that it's all by the seat of my pants.

And absolutely go with it.

Well, if you want to stifle the story, you could always send her back to her cousin's house.

However, if you want to allow your story to breathe, let her continue on her journey.

My plot was up to no good last night, sneaking around in my downtime.

ccarver30 said:

UGH. My stupid female MC just threw me for a loop. She was supposed to go to her cousin's house (she is quite upset at the male MC) but instead she goes to his best friend's house! WTFrick, MC?!? What am I supposed to do with this?!?

Maybe have to rewind and turn her on the path she was SUPPOSED to take... or... write the damn thing and see what happens!

p.s. I am a pantser.

Click to expand...

You could have the cousin answer the door at the best friends house wearing nothing but plastic wrap. Problem solved.

Hell, I write super-detailed outlines, but I'll still give a character her head if she starts tugging at the reins.

When you're lost in the woods, the horse knows the quickest way home.

Go with it! I'm an outliner, so I had already dictated what one of my characters was supposed to. Well, she refused to follow along. But since it was NaNo when I wrote the novel, and one of the best things of NaNo is to let myself experiment, I went with it. She was right, of course. Darn it.

Seriously? Why not, right? Or is that, Why not write? Ahh, who cares.

Seriously, though. Who cares?

On the outside chance I should, and indeed, I should, as that's a tenet of aye-dub: RYFW!!!! My mcs sometimes surprise me by wanting to say things that are inappropriate. Or, they may do something that causes me painful embarrassment. What can I do? They have their agenda, I have mine. I try to accommodate as best I can, whilst staying true to the narrative. That's not always easy, as you've so eloquently stated, ccarver30. So, we grin and bear it, cross our fingers and toes and hope for the best.

My irritated mc just informed me that I've blathered on long enough, and now he's threatening to "Post Quick Repl--

I love to trot out this anecdote:

When Tolkien was writing Lord of the Rings, he never intended for there to be any character called Strider. This guy just showed up in the bar and attached himself to the party of Hobbits in a thoroughly dramatic way.

Tolkien was pretty upset when this happened. Who was this guy? The author had no idea why his brain had decided to toss this new character into the planned story.

But he kept writing, and Strider turned out to be Aragon, the long-lost king and a crucial character in the books. The story would not have been nearly as big or as rich without him.

Your subconscious has seen something good and is steering you toward it. Yes, this is a freaky experience because uncertainty can be terrifying, but go with it. Something great is about to happen in your story.

One of my mcs just ditched the group....jerk. I want to pull him back but now that I've read this thread I'll let him do his own thing, for now.

I'm jealous. My characters never do anything I don't make them do. It seems like it would be so much easier if they just did it themselves...

quickWit said:

You could have the cousin answer the door at the best friends house wearing nothing but plastic wrap. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

They hadn't invented plastic wrap back then. Or even nudity, for that matter. And I'm pretty sure sex was conducted in full-length ballgowns, and top hats and tails, with servants conveying trays of bodily fluids between partners along with engraved letters of introduction.

The joy of being a panster is being able to follow a trail. Just go with it. It will end up somewhere interesting.

Of course the pain of being a pantser is having to rewrite the start cos it doesn't fit with where your characters lead you........

I'm a pantser too. I would write the damn thing and see what happens. I'm pretty much a pedestrian in the novels I write...I keep writing to see what happens. I love this kind of writing...where even your own expectations of what will happen next don't come to pass. GO WITH THE FLOW!

See? The characters know.....

ccarver30 said:

So, I was in the can, thinking about where she is going with this, and I know exactly what her intent was (the little minx)!

Click to expand...

TMI, but I'm intrigued. Go on.

Just let the story go where it wishes. Otherwise you could sound like your forcing it and readers will catch on.

Little minx huh? [O:] Good thing you let her go where she wanted.

L

I'm a strict outliner, but I only outline what needs to happen, not how it has to happen (well, I may sketch ideas on how, but those can be ignored). This seems to give the characters enough freedom to have them obey, without letting them wander off in random, pointless directions. So I would just go on with whatever plot point was supposed to happen at the cousin's house with the best friend's house as the setting instead.

This is what I love about being a pantser. I'm working on the third book of a series that started out as a snarky environmental crime story. But then my MC started checking out her boss when she thought he wasn't looking and next thing I know I'm in the middle of a paranormal shifter romance.

Just let the characters run amock. You never know where they'll take you or how much fun you can have along the way.