Frustrating characters

[Nicole]

My character is so stubborn it's frustrating sometimes lol Do your characters ever frustrate you? Or am I just the crazy lady? lol

[G.G.]

If you call stubborn putting their noses where they shouldn't or changing the course of the story, then yes, they are, but it doesn't frustrate me. I go with the flow and it often turns out better than I had planned.

[Nicole]

Hahaha yea, that's true. What inspired this was I was reading the first book over again and it's been a while so I feel very objective when reading it now, and I was just starting to realize how incredible stubborn and set in her ways my character is in the first book lol I was like 'you stupid--no don't do that! Ah come on!' lol I don't know, I was enjoying my own reaction to my character I wrote lol I was thinking the whole time like 'loosen up a little, Ash' lol So frustrating, I know she's smarter than that, but she gets herself into such trouble because of her stubbornness. *sigh* Silly girl.

[Ann]

Mine are frustrating me while I'm planning. i want them to kill more of each other but they are refusing.

Damn human rights...

[G.G.]

@Bisky LOL

@Nicole I guess that's why they advise to wait at least a month before editing. You can see the story as a whole a lot better.

[[deleted user]]

@Bisky xD "Damn human rights" Well then, make non-human characters. ;)

@Nicole I think it's awesome if you can react like that to your characters' actions. It means the novel's well written and the characters are complex. :D

[Nicole]

Hahaha Bisky, I keep trying to think of a witty reply but you're a hard one to keep up with :p

@Sandrine Oh you're a clever one! And also thanks ^^ You're far too kind :3

@GG true! ^^ I'm just usually too darn impatient to wait that long before jumping into editing lol but def a good rule to adhere by.

[Brian]

@Jess I feel like the best villains are the ones that are doing things for a believable reason. It's all about perspective. If your character is doing it just because they are evil then you should rethink that. Ask yourself why they are doing this? Have they become drunk with power? Were they raised to believe that it's OK? Are they just doing their job?

[Brian]

@Nicole I don't mind if my characters misbehave. It just means I have to figure out a way to get them out of whatever mischief they have gotten themselves into.

[Carl]

If a character frustrates me then it's my fault.

[[deleted user]]

Once your characters start to take on a life of their own you are turning from a composer of stories into a writer.

[Carl]

Brian, right. Villains don't see themselves as villains. For example, Wall St bankers see themselves as businessmen. Uh huh. Sure. You bet.

[Claire]

@Jessica, sometimes I like to open up a new document on my computer and simply write down my character's history. You get a lot of ideas as you go and it really helps clarify what made your villain this way.

[Brian]

@Jessica Claire is right. I take it one step further. I create a character sheet for all of my major characters. History, description, etc.. I use a pen and paper rpg system to do it. It makes it a lot easier when writing for each character. Almost like playing the game, but you control all the characters.

[T.J.]

Nicole wrote: "My character is so stubborn it's frustrating sometimes lol Do your characters ever frustrate you? Or am I just the crazy lady? lol"

Yes! I had that happen just the other night! She pissed me off so much, but thank goodness her main man put her in her spot..

[Nicole]

@Tiffany hahaha thank god for their main men <3 lol

[T.J.]

Nicole wrote: "@Tiffany hahaha thank god for their main men <3 lol"
LMAO absolutely!

[Rick]

You can rest assured that if you don't like a character in one of my books, I don't like that character, and they're probably based on someone that frustrates me, so in all likelihood they will be meeting a violent end that will make you happy (or at least it makes me happy). I feel the best wary to release the problems in the world is to kill them off in books.