“It is WILD when your characters speak to you, and really lonely when it they don’t.”

This is a comment from one of students — James — in the online screenwriting course I’m currently teaching. And I thought it really captured the emo-coaster that is a writer’s life:

“It is WILD when your characters speak to you, and really lonely when it they don’t.”

How exciting it is when a character we’re writing suddenly pipes up with this line or that. But also a bit scary, especially if what they say or worse, what they do, isn’t what you had planned. 

Have any of you experienced that frantic feeling where a character steps out of your outline and goes their own way?

Most of the time, we probably learn to trust those characters — as we should. We’ve brought them to life and it figures that we should give them the freedom to go their own way. 

How best to describe that experience? Riding a bull trying to toss us off? Following a toddler as they follow their whims? 

And the ultimate irony is that while the experience of seeing them emerge into their own can leave us feeling lost, the reality is if we have the courage to follow them, they can actually find the story in a magical and startling wayw that we probably can’t.

So yes, I think we could safely call that experience wild.

But then, what about those times when our characters won’t talk to us.

Lonely. Heavens, yes. Just you and your writing surface (i.e., computer, pad of paper). You sit. You ponder. You plead. You pray.

Nothing. But. Silence.

You can try to will your characters to show up, to talk to you. And some times that can work. But in a maddening twist, I find that more often you have to basically give up trying and only then do they appear.

So you find yourself trying not to try, which is itself, of course, still trying. 

Wild. Lonely. Huge swings from one experience to the other.

It can be maddening, can’t it?

What do you feel when a character speaks to you? 

What do you feel when a character suddenly departs from your plans and walks away from your outline?

What do you feel when a character won’t speak to you?

What do you do to try to lure them out of their silence.
 
How do you handle going from WILD to LONELY, back and forth again and again?

Comment Archive