I had a rough week and many of my characters shared that rough patch. The Lich is in a bad spot. Sari is being tortured. Luke is upset. Nyx is about ready to blow something or everything up. On the plus side, Fizzle is having a blast.
So, what pops up on television when I’m wandering? A movie called ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, which stars Will Ferrell and isn’t really a comedy. It’s an odd movie about a man (Will Ferrell) who hears a woman (Emma Thompson) narrating his life. It turns out that she’s an author and the main character of her book is this man, who actually exists. It’s hard to explain briefly without spoilers, but it was a very fun movie. From the viewpoint of an author, I found it fascinating. Oh and Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Maggie Gyllenhall are in it too.
So, what would happen if you opened your front door and found your main character standing there wondering why you do the things you do to them?
Legends of Windemere 
Stranger Than Fiction is one of my favorite movies because of that exact same question. Ever since I’ve watched it, I think about it when I’m writing, and hope my characters don’t hate me too much if it ever becomes a reality. I tend to torture my characters a lot sometimes, so, it’s always a possibility they’ll just want revenge.
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I do the same thing to my characters. Before I saw this movie, I wondered the same question and even tried to plan a story about my characters meeting me. It didn’t end well. After this movie, I thought it would simply be a really cool conversation filled with apologies and explanations.
One thing that surprised me about this movie was how great Will Ferrell was. I think he showed some major talent in this.
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Oh I agree, when it first came out I was unsure about it, but now I’m glad I watched it.
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Good question! And Stranger than Fiction is something I’ve seen the trailer for and wanted to see.
If my main character just now popped up, he’d wonder why his mother had died, why he had no job, why his father wanted him to return home and life was generally a bucket of rotten apples. I think he’d be a very angry man and ask me why I made him suffer – to build character??
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That sounds like an awkward conversation. I’m sure mine would do the same. I’ll have to make sure he knows it’s for the best.
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Try to run. I wouldn’t get very far, though. Catskinner is something of an iconoclast.
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What’s that old phrase? ‘Don’t run. You’ll only die tired.’
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Hey Charles!
I nominated you for the Wonderful Team Member Award!
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Thanks. That looks like a relatively easy award to follow through with too.
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I like to think my main character would thank me 😀 I did get her away from her humdrum life on Earth and introduce her to the love of her life, after all!
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Maybe she can take you on an adventure too. 😀
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I’d hope my MC didn’t treat me the way Rutger Hauer treated hi maker in Blade Runner. Icky
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Yikes. That does bring up the question on what happens if it’s the villain at the front door and not the hero.
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Yikes!! I have a feeling she might actually know me better than I know myself! Lol
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I hate it when they’re like that. 😉
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Heehee me too…shes a miss know it all!!
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I love that movie (and it’s soundtrack). I had to laugh at the question you pose – that is my life, lately. I finally *saw* the overarching character for my series, and he’s been active in my head ever since. I had to start a blog because he is so present, and his book is the last in the series (he’s the reason for the first two books, but he doesn’t get to tell his side until #3). He’s not altogether fond of me, nor I him, but we put up with one another.
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Interesting. So, this character isn’t he main hero? Or is your story more of an ensemble cast?
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I like the ensemble cast idea!
Dubh Suile isn’t the main character in the first two books, but he is the core/reason for the story – Sean and Maureen are the main characters in book 1, and I’d like to meet them – I think they’re rather charming, actually. And sometimes I’d just like to give them a big hug, because they get put through the ringer.
But, they’re only on their adventure because of D. All of it is his story, but different parts of the story are told from different perspectives. It wasn’t always such (first wrote it when I was 17!), but it’s how it was meant to be. Even if D is an overbearing Pict with an ego the size of Texas, now that I can see him in his entirety (spent 13 years with his story in me not being able to see him), I kind of like him. And now that I’m writing his story, he tolerates me, as well. 🙂
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Funny how characters evolve over time. I’m curious what the story is now.
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I would agree – for most of my characters. The germ of D was always D – it was me that had to grow! The story is essentially a time travel adventure with some history and fantasy via mythology – D is a Pict Druid born in 669 AD and through his training, crosses over to Tir na nOg, becoming one of the gods of his ballads, as well as the “Dark Druid” mentioned in a lot of Irish myths in order to overthrow a despot. Book 1, with Sean and Maureen, essentially chronicles his awakening to the growing problems in Tir na nOg, and the two protagonists are unfortunately caught in the middle. The challenge has been balancing D’s more melodramatic tendencies with a more lighthearted adventure story.
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It sounds like while he’s essential and the core of the story, he’s not the main protagonist. Like the holy child that a hero has to escort through dangerous territory or a fallen god that needs mortals to help regain his power.
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A fallen god . . . that sums it up perfectly!! Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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I love that film. And yeah, it does make me wonder. I think a lot of my characters would hate me – I’m not a huge fan of happy endings, and I’ve killed off the best friend of one of my characters, made another shoot her brother, put a vast majority of them in situations that are way beyond them…
I would LOVE to meet my characters. Don’t think they’d love to meet me through.
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I’m seeing a lot of people worried that their characters would hate them. We authors seem to be really main to our heroes.
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That movie sounds really interesting! I will have to watch it 🙂
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It’s definitely worth it.
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Call my home insurance agent. There wouldn’t be much left to the house when Jac got through with it.
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Yikes. Glad my characters are . . . the town is doomed if Nyx shows up. Maybe it’s best that those of us with powerful, temperamental characters pray that this never happens.
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