Writing along the turbulent path that is Act II and everything is going quite well. Not only have I been able to pump through a bunch of pages everyday but my main characters ae enjoying it too. In my developing short, "Only In Dreams" (shameless plug), my two main characters have worked through a tough issue and have found what would be a great level to stay. Marc, the main character, has essentially found a way to have his cake and eat it too. All is well, if only...

...if only I, the masochistic author I am, can't help but embed Marc while the character trait which can't leave well enough alone. He could be fine now but I have engineered him to self destruct. If only I could type "The End," and hit submit, but I can't. And its actually made me a little sad. I created Marc. He's my creation, my child. While it would be great to have a happily ever after, I know Marc happiness, much liked a doomed addict's sobriety, is fleeting. And for that, I feel a little guilty.

As awful of a movie it is, it makes me think of "Last Action Hero" when Arnie finds out he's fake and all the trama he's been through was created by his writer to make his story more compelling and exciting.

Anywho... have you ever done anything to your characters that actually made you feel guilty? Ever been tempted to end a story before "anyone gets hurt." Maybe you planned on going for the "sad ending" and think otherwise when you got there?

Interesting post SF,

Are you sure your characters should be enjoying it? I don't think mine do. I suspect they hate me. The ungrateful bastards. You clothe them, keep them warm and fed and then put them through hell and what do they do? They moan and swear just like me. Gits. They don't even shut up when I kill 'em. I can still hear 'em whine.  

You can always bring Marc back. Hollywood have mastered that art. Finish it and let somebody else have a read. They may tell you something you could never have though of yourself.

I never feel that guilty about what happens to my characters. I love it when they do something unexpected, if that makes sense. Better leave that there. Beginning to disappear up my own hole if I continue with that one.

Nice plug. I'm intrigued. Now, back to Cotton And Corn...

Re

rendevous

Quoted Text I never feel that guilty about what happens to my characters. I love it when they do something unexpected, if that makes sense. Better leave that there.

Yeah. I hear ya. Just the short I just finished, Only In Dreams ('nother shameless plug) had a definite point where if the protagonist only followed the advice around him, he would have been fine.

It makes you wonder about destiny and God. Can we have a destiny if a God grants us free will? And in our cases, we're the God in question. His big experiment is akin to our screenplay. Should we (me and God) feel guilty about the events we set in motion? Oh well.

Quoted from Souter Fell Anywho... have you ever done anything to your characters that actually made you feel guilty? Ever been tempted to end a story before "anyone gets hurt." Maybe you planned on going for the "sad ending" and think otherwise when you got there?

Ending my series made me feel guilty as I planned to do so much more with that series but after working on it for this long I decided it was time to say goodbye to the characters I use in everything (Even my Soul Shadows script had them   )

After that I'm free to do anything I want but I just don't want to write about anything else. Maybe that's why I have written so little in the past two years.

Get those WPD fingers going again lad. If that TV thing is what I think it is then there was many a well crafted chuckle in there. I'll be commenting on that in the next few days.

That much plugged short of SF's was a fine read. In the queue SF?

Quoted from SF Should we (me and God) feel guilty about the events we set in motion? Oh well.

This reminds of comments I made to Dressel and Sniper recently. One had a character doing a bit of verbal gay bashing. The other a character that did a bit of the old rascism.

Now, I think both authors were a little worried about this and the reactions these characters would cause. I would be too. I said it would be interesting to find out what those foreign in appearance and those who 'bat for the other side' would think.

All that's fine. Well it would be but both got comments saying they should 'tone it done' or 'trim it back'. This to me is completely wrong. Characters can do whatever the bloody hell they want to. As long as it's interesting / engaging I don't care what they get up to.

How come nobody bats an eyelid when some looney character goes round chopping chunks off some girl but if the character gets homophobic or rascist many readers go woah! Dangerous stuff!

Quoted from Souter Fell Ever been tempted to end a story before "anyone gets hurt." Maybe you planned on going for the "sad ending" and think otherwise when you got there?

This is the quandary I find myself in with my story. Which door do I open? What message should I convey? Do I go with the heart-warming, yet predictable ending? Or do I go the more practical route and potentially deprive the reader of a worthy payoff?

I think I read "Only In Dreams" but I'm going to go over it again, using the context of this thread as a sort of road map through your thought process.

I'll give you a decent critique if I can. If not, i'll just drop another post here and see if i can figure out how you solved your dilemma.

Quoted from rendevous Are you sure your characters should be enjoying it? I don't think mine do. I suspect they hate me. The ungrateful bastards. You clothe them, keep them warm and fed and then put them through hell and what do they do? They moan and swear just like me. Gits. They don't even shut up when I kill 'em. I can still hear 'em whine.

I don't nurture my characters.  I make them a simple breakfast and throw them out in the harsh world that I created.  Let them fend for themselves.  Sometimes they make it back home for dinner; sometimes they don't.

Your characters have a destiny to fulfill, the story that they are a part of.  Taking them out of the story makes them incomplete.


Phil