Before finding an awesomely evil villain, my original villain just wouldn’t play along. If anything, he seemed to become the victim rather than the villain. When I attended a writing workshop, I was amazed with how much people identified with him. Inadvertently, I had given him high stakes if he failed, and people felt his situation was unjust . This caused them to root for him. He broke out. He was, honestly, a throwaway character, but has now taken on a major role in this manuscript. What happens next? I can’t tell until the manuscript’s done–there always seems to be one final twist that I don’t see coming before the final revisions!
I panicked this week when another minor throwaway character began coming up time and time again. One that I have no idea why he keeps popping up…until today. What’s happened to him turns out to be part of a major plot point. At least Bob as I am jokingly calling him right now, is not clamoring for the spotlight. What a relief! How is it that some characters take on lives of their owns? Sometimes they even manage to become larger than life. It’s maddening and wonderful! And this is why I keep writing—even as the writer, who’s theoretically in control, I find myself holding my breath in suspense of “what comes next?”
