Fellow authors understand the phenomenon when a character decides when, where, how much, and what you'll write. With the other novels I've written (Playing for First, Come Back to Me, and Two for the Show), I've not had a character take over as much as this character, Eleanor, in my latest novel, a romance. In the book, she is telling her story to two other main characters and in the course of setting the pace with them, she's doing the same with me. There will be a night where she's very talkative and I'll write 3,000+ words. This will be followed by two nights of 2,000+ words and then maybe two nights where she has nothing to say at all. And it's not that I'm slacking off in my writing. I've never done that before and doubt that I ever will. It's that she doesn't want to tell me her story one night, just as she's told the two main characters to "come back tomorrow morning."
It's a fascinating process. I've written 33,500 words so far, know where I'm going in the book, but also am very where that Eleanor will only lead me there in her good time.
Those who aren't writers may think all of this sounds a little far fetched--"Right. Your characters talk to you. Sure." But as I said, those who do write will know exactly what I'm saying.
Sometimes Eleanor frustrates me, but I only hope that when the book is done, she'll be pleased with the finished project. She's such a remarkable woman, I wouldn't want to disappoint her.
