Inside The Writing Life: Characters Behaving Badly

… or at least, proving singularly uncooperative.

I have vague recollections – without being able to point to specific examples, mea culpa – of other authors lamenting this phenomenon, which leads me to believe I am by no means the first to experience it.

It’s no secret either, that once begun, stories and characters tend to develop a life of their own – chiefly, imho, because both the narrative and the characters evolve as the story progresses. The characters respond to events, which leads them ...