What Happens When Your Characters Hijack Your Novel?

I didn't set out to write a novel with a social conscience but apparently I did. I'm good with that.

But how does it happen? How is it that sometimes the characters take over and start writing the book themselves? As a writer, do you ever feel as if they've hijacked your book and you are left to be nothing more than an observer?

I certainly felt that way when I wrote The Beech Tree. Often, I would be typing away and, suddenly, say "No! Stop! That can't happen!" And I'd get all choked up as the scene unfolded.

The characters are, after all, creations from my own mind, right? I have complete control over what they do and say, don't I?

Why is it, then, that their reactions caused me to toss out the outline, completely change what I had planned for an outcome and go in another direction?

I don't know. What do you think?

I decided to write this particular post because of a very nice review I received from a English woman, Robin Haughton. It caused me to think about the creative process and how what you planned isn't always the final product.

Robin won a paperback edition of The Beech Tree in a Goodreads giveaway and was kind enough to share her review on Goodreads:

"A great emotional roller coaster of a book. You will be taken through all the trials and tribulations, laughter and love of the owners of the initials carved in the beech tree. Not content with just that, the author then weaves all these lives into interconnectedness as the story progresses, and then finally when you least expect it, throws some wonderful twists into the mix towards the end. Entertaining reading that will draw you into every characters life, tissues needed for the tears of laughter as much as the sad moments.

Somehow, the author makes the unfairness of life readable, whether it be brutality, bigotry or racism, pointedly and atmospheric without overdoing it.

Nostalgic and emotional reading, short chapters make it ideal for those with a busy lifestyle who want to read for five minutes at a time, or holiday reading where you can just get stuck in and savour the intense feelings."

The Beech Tree