Paddy in the Pub

[Vyon]

How do you create characters. And what do you do if they "take over"?

[Brenda]

I don't know. I recently started a story where I had a particular situation in mind, but in trying to create a path to that situation created characters who now seem unlikely to put themselves in that situation! I am going to have to try to rewrite the characters!

[Greenrider Tresa]

They create themselves. Seriously. Get the traits and such that I want together, and find a name that seems to fit, though I've had some choose their own names as well as tell me what they look like/their personality. Especially with Pern characters.

If they take over, I let them. I can usually write more that way, and it's easier. Don't think i've had a case of them getting into an unlikely situation yet. Mainly cause if I think of the situation first then I'll see the rgith characters in my head.

Sorry if that's not well explained.

[Brenda]

My problem is, I had an idea for a situation, but I wanted some buildup to explain how they got to that situation - but now they don't want to go to my original idea!

[Vyon]

Why "Paddy in the Pub?"

Because I went to a writers group where somebody had that happen. I'd say the person doing the writing had a chip on his shoulder himself, but the result was that his character was the only one that I remembered two days later. "Paddy in the Pub" is my title, the original story was untitled

The scene was, the character was drinking in a very remote New Zealand pub. He is the only pakeha (white person) in the pub that night, and two young Maoris, bent on creating trouble, tell him something like "whitey go away, we've had enough of being oppressed by you pommies"

The Irishman, of course, is not a pommy (English) and responds at some length that the youngsters know nothing at all about being oppressed by the English. The Irish have had it for two thousand years. Historical accuracy was not a point of this writing, but then, it wouldn't be in the real case either. An Elder then resolved the issue, but that bit wasn't read in class.

The tutor panned the whole story. She said it was polemics and there was no place for that in writing. I think she is wrong. After all, that was the only story of ten or so that I remembered afterwards. It needed pruning, the trick would be to retain the electricity without blowing the fuse.

And then I thought, what to do with those characters. I generally eliminate them altogether, but real life isn't like that. And the lack of the fire, and the awkward characters that everybody tries to ignore, might very well be why my stories are still not published. And I also wondered if anybody else had any ideas on what to do with them.

[Vyon]

I don't know. I recently started a story where I had a particular situation in mind, but in trying to create a path to that situation created characters who now seem unlikely to put themselves in that situation! I am going to have to try to rewrite the characters!

I had that one happen too. I had the story all plotted out in my head. Then the principle character turned round to me and said: "I'd commit suicide if I was in that position" - I finished up having to re-write the end of the story to suit him.

[Brenda]

I've decided I'm just going to have to write some new characters to get into that situation, and figure out some other way to get them there, and figure out what's going to happen to the original characters who don't want to go there!

[Vyon]

I've decided I'm just going to have to write some new characters to get into that situation, and figure out some other way to get them there, and figure out what's going to happen to the original characters who don't want to go there!

Careful! That's how you get short stories turning into a trilogy!

[Brenda]

No, they're not going to be related at all - I just tried to write one story and ended up with a different one! I'm going to finish it but I still want to write the first one!

[Anareth]

They just sort of seem to happen. I eventually figure out details on background, personality, etc. but generally I start with a person with a gimmick already in place. Then I fit in where they come from to the person I have. Only very rarely does something develop as I write that I haven't thought about in terms of personality/background, though once in a while something comes up. As I was working on the first draft of a story now in rewrites I realized that one of the two 'second leads' was developing quite an unrequited crush on the female protagonist. I've filed this away for now as it could pay off later.