Characters continued

Remember last time I wrote this blog I told you about the characters I've created and how they've told me what they want done?

Great example of this is a secondary character I've had for a number of years.

Now, this is a police detective in my version of Perth. He's always been a support character and he's in a lot of different stories - only because Perth is "small" and everyone knows everyone else. (Just kidding, Sandgropers!)

So, I put dear Ben into one of the stories I'm writing for BCP's Otherworldly Emergence novella series and he was happy there. Found his niche as a supporting character and the story got to its conclusion.

But then I got to writing a follow-up story. One that included Ben after the emergence. Suddenly, Ben's saying 'Hey, I want my own super power. This is what it's gonna be and when I've had training, you're putting me into your second story because I want to see what they do.' Of course, my reaction was "what????".

So, I did that. I gave Ben the super power he asked for. And then I put him into the second story for the BCP Otherworldly Emergence novella series. Totally shocked some of the characters - they'd known him from other stories - but it ended up being the right course to take.

Because Ben's new power managed to get them through the climactic battle with the antagonist. Without his new power, I was struggling to figure out how they were going to win the day.

So, my advice is sometimes following your character down the rabbit hole is a great move. Sometimes, it works. Yes, I am fully aware that sometimes it doesn't, but when it does, it can be spectacular. So, give your unruly characters free rein once in a while. I bet they surprise you with what they came up with!