When you are writing fiction, sometimes the characters really do just take over!
Yesterday, as I was working diligently on the first chapter of my book, trying to set up my main character, as well as the mood and tone for the book, something totally unexpected happened.
Lizzie, completely out-of-the-blue, "inherited" an unforeseen relative. Seriously, poor Lizzie had just come home from a hard day at work, schlepping a couple of grocery bags and a stack of student essays while fumbling with her keys at the front door, desperate for a cup of tea, when who pops into the scene but her British war bride grandmother--a total surprise to me (but apparently not to Lizzie). Do you suppose they had planned this from the beginning? It does feel a bit conspiratorial to me.
Anyway, ever since this woman appeared in Lizzie's thoughts--with instructions on how to make the perfect cuppa--she won't seem to stay silently in the wings. This morning, she moved into Lizzie's childhood home and became a surrogate parent when teenaged Lizzie's mother dies, as well as becoming the primary muse behind Lizzie's love of literature and stories. While I'm trying to get Lizzie to listen to her voicemail, this woman--sunshine personified--is busy writing folksy letters to college student Lizzie, keeping her spirits up while she's missing home. She has even managed to become the at-least-partial inspiration for Lizzie's name. (I did manage to at least partially wrest the source of her name back to where it is meant to belong--with Jane Austen and her parents' introduction in a college lit class.) I'm almost afraid to see what this woman will do next.
This could end up being a very long book!
;)
Oh, I hate it when that happens. I had a neat sequence of events in mind for my last novel effort, but my protagonist kept finding better ways to overcome—or worse, avoid altogether—obstacles in her path that were key to the plot. I had to do a lot of rethinking to get things back on track, but to be fair, I think the end result was significantly improved. It's annoying when your subconscious is smarter than you are.
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