I never write stories with the ending in mind, because I want the story to develop a life of its own, and I want the resolution of the dilemma to surprise me. Sometimes I really get myself stuck this way. This story spun completely out of control and surprised me throughout, so it's one of my favorites.
— Bill Watterson, describing the storyline in which Calvin duplicates himself, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book
I do not hold myself responsible for any of the opinions expressed by the characters in my book.
— Lewis Carroll, in the preface to Sylvie and Bruno.
Nostalgia Critic: You're the author! Tell me what to do!
Doug Walker: You're the character! Tell me what to write!
Doug Walker: You're the character! Tell me what to write!
That's how writing works the vast majority of the time. You give these characters life and then they tell you what they want to do.
— Bryan Konietzko
on the finale of The Legend of Korra
on the finale of The Legend of KorraI have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it’s something I never expected.
Don't blame me. I'm but a lowly instrument to the muses.
—Suzanne, Orange Is the New Black
At this point, ten years in, these characters sort of "bounce" off one another according to some dimly recognized set of mystic laws. Writing the strip has always felt more like something we're observing, some natural process, than anything we're doing ourselves. That's what I tell myself when I see a strip like this, and try desperately to imagine what might have informed it.
, and try desperately to imagine what might have informed it.—-Tycho Brahe/Jerry Holkins, Penny Arcade vol. 6: The Halls Below
I think one of the most wild things as a writer is the sensation that you’re not actually directing your characters– they’re sort of directing themselves, and you’re scrambling around attempting to copy down whatever it was that they just did, but they don’t wait for you to finish copying. They just keep walking and talking and moving around and existing of their own volition and at some point you look up and you’re like “WHOA OKAY EVERYBODY BACK THE FUCK UP WHERE ARE WE”
It’s kind of like trying to write sheet music for an orchestra while it’s playing
It’s kind of like trying to write sheet music for an orchestra while it’s playing
And sometimes, just sometimes, you *think* you're writing a love interest but 1/5 through the first draft your protagonist grabs your shoulders to tell you that the plans have changed and you just have to deal with that.
— Tumblr user @witcharyllia on averting Ho Yay between enemies
I wrote this for nano, and the entire plot grew out of an attempt to reverse-engineer an explanation for a standalone snippet of fiction inspired by one of those KID visual novels. The constraints of the scenario produced a plot almost without my having to deliberately plot it, and the events of the story follow inexorably from the conditions and characters involved. The plot happened without my having a lot of choice in the matter.
"That's the weird thing about writing character driven stories. When one really gets into the heads of one's characters, it becomes apparent that they have minds of their own. I'm assuming not literally, but hell, maybe they do on some quantum level. Perhaps Moperville truly exists, and this comic is merely my interpretation."
For months I had been absolutely barren of ideas, completely unable to work up anything sellable. Then the man Conan seemed suddenly to grow up in my mind without much labour on my part. Immediately a stream of stories flowed off my pen — or rather, of my typewriter — almost without effort on my part. I did not seem to be creating, but rather relating events that had occurred. Episode crowded on episode so fast I could scarcely keep up with them. For weeks I did nothing but write of the adventures of Conan. The character took complete possession of my mind and crowded out everything else in the way of story-writing. When I deliberately tried to write something else, I couldn't do it. I do not attempt to explain this by esoteric or occult means, but the facts remain.
—Robert E. Howard, on a letter to Clark Ashton Smith on December 14 1933.
...it's not that I necessarily wouldn't draw a cartoon like Henry or Snuffy Smith or Blondie, it's that I can't. If I drew Blondie, for example, it would still come out looking like The Far Side; Daisy would get rabies and bite Dagwood, who'd go insane and have Mr. Dithers stuffed - whatever that means.
—Gary Larson
Waffle House Millionaire: I've done something. I'm not sure it's a good thing yet.
A Self Called 'Nowhere': You've done something?
Waffle House Millionaire: I.... created? No, created is the wrong term. I feel like it was already there, waiting for me to give it life. I put a thing on paper, and I'm bringing it down on that fat fuck like the wrath of god.
A Self Called 'Nowhere': You've done something?
Waffle House Millionaire: I.... created? No, created is the wrong term. I feel like it was already there, waiting for me to give it life. I put a thing on paper, and I'm bringing it down on that fat fuck like the wrath of god.
— Old Man Henderson, regarding the "creation" of the man himself.
"Where does the story end? I don't know, ask the characters. They're the ones driving the plot and they refuse to stop and ask for directions no matter how lost the plot gets. See? It's not MY fault my characters have taken on a life of their own. That'll be a great comeback to a one star review: 'the voices in my head told me to write that'."
— J.P. Beaubien, Terrible Writing Advice, "Plotting a Story"
