When you're writing, sometimes a character comes out of nowhere - and if you let them, they will take over the story. In my novel 'Speaking to the Fourth Wall', her name is Anneli Brand and she was supposed to be a completely incidental character.
She was supposed to be in ONE scene, at a meeting where she told the main character that he was a Very Bad Man. That was her scene, I didn't give her a second thought, in fact I created her on the spot. One second she was nothing, and the next second she was an executive, in a meeting, being disagreeable.
She's managed to forge an entire plot thread of her own. Now she's hiring private detectives, feeding her dog oreos, and musing about her childhood in Pennsylvania. What's cool is the fact that the book is much better for her presence. An inverse theme is being explored now that would have been ignored before.
I've been writing for 10 or more years, on and off, and it's always been interesting to me how real characters are. Once created, they have a life of their own. If you check back in on characters you haven't visited in years, they surprise you by having a new job, girlfriend, and hobby.
It's creepy in a way - once created, they exist. And they go their own direction, from the moment they're born. I wonder if any scientific studies have been done to observe this in writers?
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