Imaginary Friends

I saw this great shirt in a catalogue yesterday that made me laugh so hard. Because it's so true. The quote: "Writer's block: when your imaginary friends stop talking to you." I don't know about you planners out there, but I have had characters hijack my stories so often it's ceased to be a quirk. It's the way I write. I think the story's going on direction and then BAM! Someone informs me that they're pregnant or gay or have a dead brother that they want to bring back from the dead.

There were two major ones with Savior (that I remember) that made me want to smack my characters. The first was that, after three years of working on this story, my protagonist pops up and says that his name wasn't really Trick, after all. It was Araeli, but he had changed it at some point to honor his brother's death, and wanted me to include that fact if I could. So I did, when I rewrote the entire manuscript. Then, this past spring when I was reworking the first hundred pages or so, Kel informs me that he had a cat that really ought to still be living with his brother and could be an important plot point. I tried my darndest to work that stupid cat in; I tore my hair out over it. In the end, I couldn't make it work. I don't think poor Vysni even got a mention, though I do have some fun ideas including her for shorts or prequels, if I ever make it that far.

Then there are the brilliant times when you're walking around (downtown, at work, around the house, at a writer's conference), talking to these insane beings that live in your head. Out loud. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does that. When they spring a plot point on you in the middle of the shower and you scream something incomprehensible at them because it either solves all the things you've been struggling with for the past year or creates even more chaos, and then your mother races up the stairs to make sure you didn't accidentally cut your arm off with the razor, is a particularly fun time. Especially explaining to her afterwards what really happened.

Non-writers just don't seem to understand the insanity that happens when working with characters who are supposed to be so real and believable. Part of being a good writer is creating these believable people to act in our stories; so why do we get incredulous looks and insane name tags when we bring up the fact that these characters really control the story, not us, the authors? Is it really so difficult to fathom?

Hello. My name is Emerson and my characters boss me around.