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I don’t mean how has your character grown as a person during your story. What I mean is, how has your character changed from your fist inkling of him to his present state?
Was he originally supposed to be a hero, but you realized he worked better as a villain? Did she start out as a love interest, but end up being a sister-figure? Did that librarian with one scene end up become part of the main cast? Characters are wily creatures who don’t always behave, so tell us your stories!
Ooh, I love this topic, @vanna!
I have a character that I can tell is starting to change, (what I mean is, he’ll have to change totally, because he just isn’t working in my story like I thought he was going to) but he’s actually my MC (I sense some re-writing in my future 😛 ). But right now, he’s leaning more towards being the secondary character. Which is really funny to me because, since now, I didn’t realize how much a character actually could change. It’s like they have a mind of their own… So yes, they don’t always behave!Ooh yes… this happened to me with a minor character @vanna.
I literally had zero inkling he existed when I started the book— then I realized I’d need someone to fill the role of a judge, and when I walked in on his first scene he blew me away. He’s one of the deepest, subtlest, most complex characters in the story, and I didn’t even know he was going to be a part of it.
They sure can be surprising, can’t they? 😀Oh! Oh! YES!! I LOVE THIS TOPIC @vanna GREAT IDEA. My novel has so many characters that have changed. In actuality, all of them have changed since their creation.
Such as my main character Eon. I literally invented him to be a goofy teenage boy trying to take care of his sister. He has since then transformed into a young man going through an a time of self doubt but who would die for those he loved. Meaning, he’s grown up since I came up with him.
Or my favorite example, Eon’s sister Millenia. She actually originated as a mother figure in a completely different story. But somehow she turned into this beautiful, sweet, innocent little girl. She is still very mature and motherly in her actions though.
Or the mother figure in Eon’s and Millenia’s life, RosieAnn. originally she was supposed to be their protector turned antagonist. But I found as I wrote she was really caring for them, and so that has changed her quite a bit.
And finally, Eon’s best friends: Eli and Egypt. Eli was created to be the goofy side kick, but he’s really surprised me with how tough and deep he is. I’ve also found that his relationship with Millenia was very deep and special. Not in a romantic way, but also not in a brotherly way. Idk how to describe it exactly. I’ll let you know if I figure it out. Egypt has been a roller coaster of a character, I can’t decide whether she’s a mother figure, a sister figure, or a love interest, so I’m trying to figure out how to fuse the three.
Wow I can’t believe how long I just talked. I just love my characters ya know?I was trying to create some background characters. I had a picture of a friendly girl with black hair and the name Jemimah came into my mind. It didn’t fit the setting though, so I changed it to Mima. Now she’s a redhead named Mim. Initially she wasn’t related to anyone, then she was Red Rob’s daughter and then Elind’s daughter and now her half-sister.
Elind changed from being a young woman with a little brother and sister to an older woman with an almost grown up daughter to somewhere in between with a couple of young children. Sometimes she had some of her parents around, sometimes not.@Kate-flournoy They certainly can. It’s so neat when they just pop out of nowhere.
@Adry_Grace I know exactly how you feel. I could gab on and on about my characters, and their backstories. Yours sound really interesting. Would you say Eli and Millenia are more like really good friends or maybe a mentor-student type relation?
@Faithdk Yes! I know exactly what you mean about having a mind of their own.
For instance, I have a character name Beryn (Berin? Beren? I can’t pick a spelling.). He’s a secondary character, but one of my favorites. The irritating thing is that he refuses to just pick a girlfriend! Originally he was with Eleyna’s (one of my major characters) younger sister, but I ended up getting rid of her because she barely contributed anything. Then I had him with Feyla (another major character), but they broke up and she got together (or will be getting together) with the protagonist of my current WIP (another story of something coming out of no-where.). After that it was a mermaid, a villainess (she refused to reform for me.), a foreign merchant’s daughter, and the sister of a different character (who I may or may not kill off).
Thankfully all of this took place in my obsessive-daydreaming stage, because otherwise I would have wasted a lot of paper. -_-
@vanna This does happen to me occasionally. It’s pretty neat when it does. My current MC (Edwin Brook) actually came from a previous story idea I had that just kept morphing until it turned into the very distinct and much more dynamic story I am writing now. I really don’t think I could think of the two characters as the same. I also had my strongest impression of him when I started off with how he would act in the second half of the book. When I wrote the first half of the book, I was somewhat surprised at the differences.
My favorite example though is this character I have named Drake. I first created him because this girl was going to get kidnaped for reasons of the plot and I needed someone with the right qualifications to rescue her. The most apparent choice was to create a young bandit with an interest in her. Now personally, I think he’s an idiot, but he’s also incredibly dashing. After he rescued the girl with incredible foolhardiness and disregard for obvious dangers, I totally started to love the guy. I frantically searched around for a way to bring him back into the story and finally found a place for him right near the end that allows him to show off his crazy stupidity and dashingness while heightening the drama of the closing theme.
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Oh my @vanna, that Beryn sounds like quite a hysterical piece of trouble.
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@vanna Yay! I’m not the only one!! My characters tend to become real to me so I can talk about them forever. It’s great until people start avoiding you cos they find you annoyed.
Student-mentor isn’t quite it, though I feel like Millenia looks at Eli as a leader. They are good friends but I feel like it goes deeper than that. Idk. I’m probably just over complicating it. I do that a lot.
@Daeus Drake sounds amazing. The stupid, foolhardy, dashing characters are sometimes the most lovable. 🙂
Another character I had who changed (kind of) in the middle of the story was a spoiled, snot-nosed prince who had literally zero spine and horrifying amounts of… hem… self esteem. I didn’t think he had the guts, but halfway through he turned traitor without my permission, and promptly got killed for it. *shrugs* He had it coming to him, anyway.
My characters tend to become real to me so I can talk about them forever.
@Adry_Grace you are most definitely not the only one. 😀Oh, and @vanna Beryn does sound like a piece of mischievous trouble as a character. Best of luck with getting him to behave! 😀
@Daeus One of my story ideas ended up morphing quite a bit too. Drake sounds really fun, and how great that you were able to work him into the ending while increasing your climax’s drama.
@kate-flouroy
Beryn is definitely a hysterical piece of mischievous trouble. He tries to make up for it by being outrageously charming. What’s really funny is that despite the fact that he refuses to be matched up himself, he keeps trying to play matchmaker for everyone else. *rolls eye.*
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