Because I wanted to, that's why

I love getting lost in the world of a book. I love how you never know what will happen-and how you know that ANYTHING can happen. And that is one of my favorite things about writing. I get to control that world and decide exactly what will or won't happen.

I've been asked before why I did something in my books, in a 'why did *insert character name* do that?' And I've gotten comments like '*character* should have done this instead. Why didn't they?' The answer is simple: because that's what I wanted.

I've been asked the 'why' question a lot about dozens of characters/settings/really minor things. Sometimes I feel like readers are hoping for a secret, deep meaning behind my reasoning's but more often than not, I just wanted that to happen/not happen. I write my books how I want them to be written, how I see them in my head, and how I think they should play out. With all of my current series, I knew how they would end before I even started writing. I know I've mentioned before that I wrote the very last paragraph of Contagious before anything else. 

Staying in-character can be a challenge, especially when I'm writing a character that is very unlike myself. Orissa from The Contagium Series is one of my favorite characters (if not my all time fav...) and she is pretty much my opposite in a lot of things. I had to make sure her choices, actions, and decisions were fitting to her own personality and not my own. She is a shoot-first-aim-later kind of person and makes her choices based on what is best for the current situation. She doesn't always think about how things will affect her later on; she very much lives in the present. Which, in turn, makes for some sticky situations. She does try to do what she thinks is best, but since she has a tendency to make rash and quick decisions, things tend to backfire and she ends up getting herself into trouble.

So why in the world would I write a character like that? I wanted to. Simple as that. I wanted a character that was very far from perfect. I wanted to write about someone who makes mistakes, doesn't think things through, and isn't loved by every single person in the book. (Huge pet-peeve of mine...I can't stand picture perfect MCs) Orissa is definitely rough around the edges and I really loved writing her.

Writing someone so different is like the ultimate escape from reality, which is what I love about reading so much. I love getting caught up in the worlds I've created and I hope others enjoy them just as much :)