I’ve Had It Wrong The Entire Time! #AmWriting

I’m still on my LaTonya kick this week. Only now, I have inspiration!

LaTonya’s been the toughest character for me to figure out. I thought I knew her, but it turns out I had it wrong.

Who wouldn’t want to bond with Naomi?

Okay, I didn’t have it totally wrong. Everything in my old post is still applicable. But I kept pushing her to be a woman bent on revenge–cold, distant, filled to the brim with hate for the monster that killed her guardians there was no room for anything else.

Except she refused to comply! Stubborn woman. She kept wanting to bond with Naomi or cry on MaTisha’s shoulder or get chatty with Liz. She wanted to be part of the other characters’ lives… and that’s not the behavior of a revenge-obsessed, consumed-by-rage person. (I know this because a former therapist gave me a list of traits of such a person. Thank you, Jeanne!)

That’s when I realized something. LaTonya is passionate, not cold. She is fighting for a cause. She isn’t bent on revenge; she’s an activist! She wants to rally people to her side to give her more power to put an end to that miserable monster. She might do some unscrupulous stuff from time to time, but it’s for the greater good!

And gosh darn it, am I excited! I’m reworking her earlier scenes to reflect the differences. They might be minor, but it changes the big picture. And it is invigorating!

Have you ever come to a realization about a character? Have you had issues with characters not behaving like how you envisioned them? What did you end up doing about it?

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