I was 2000 words into a short story yesterday when I closed down for the day. Of course, my mind didn't shut down and I was at a point in the story where I needed to find the focus and figure out where to go next.
I'm a big fan of paper and ink writing, I find that I can jot down pages of notes, ask myself questions about the story, and drop lines of dialogue until the story begins to make sense. All of this is so much easier on a scratch pad than on the computer because once it's embedded in the story I really hate to hit that delete button. As I jotted down my notes the story began to take shape and I knew exactly what I had to write this morning to make the story come together.
Then, while I'm munching my morning toast, it hit me. I completely changed the one character who is central to what the story is all about. Arrrgh. Within one page I'd changed her from a very uptight person to a free-wheeling drunk just for the humor effect. Then as the climax was approaching I slipped her back into her uptight shoes.
Oh yeah, the scenes are good, and funny, but they've got to go. Keeping her uptight will still add that touch of humor I need, but in a different way. Don't you just hate when your characters dress up in a new persona in the middle of a story?
7 comments:
Happens all the time!
Good to know I'm not alone!
Oh my Sandra, this is why I'll always love short stories the most. At least it's a few pages of rewriting--I've had characters hijack several chapters as in: why didn't you tell me you were a major character BEFORE Chapter 15?!
Still and all, it's always annoying, no matter what you're working on!
At least you caught yours.
I can't tell you the times where I inadvertantly changed something in character and wrote multiple pages until I belatedly realized that I made a monumental.....error.
I didn't realize that this happened all that often. Usually when I'm writing short, I manage to stay in the character's head and they stay the same unless something in the story changes them. This time, there was no reason for the change except I thought it would add a bit of humor. Author intrusion on my part, I guess. And one more thing to watch for. :-)
This, too, happens to some of my characters and it's always nice to know that other writers encounter the samething.
Yes it is, Barbara. One of the grand things about blogging is that I don't feel quite so isolated when I'm writing.
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