One of the biggest obstacles I deal with in my writing--besides my rampant perfectionism--is my characters. As much as I love them, they're a trial in every single story.
Damon from Ravyn's Flight? He didn't mention he had a secret that had been weighing him down for years. Nada. That bombshell got dropped on me when I was about midway through the book. Since I had no clue this was coming, hell, I had no clue he even had a secret, I had to go back and add some foreshadowing so the readers wouldn't be blindsided like I was.
Wyatt from Eternal Nights kissed Kendall and then a scene or two later stopped cooperating. I couldn't figure out why I was so stuck. For six weeks all I did was write and delete, write and delete. Then he finally mentioned that he wouldn't risk all the work he'd done by kissing her like that. Eventually, we reached a compromise, but not before he made me sweat.
Kellan from In the Darkest Night didn't hide that he had something in his past that ate at him. With his PTSD, it was pretty hard to hide besides I knew from his brother's book that Kel had disappeared for a while. So although he gave me no idea what had happened to him while he was held captive until shortly before he told Farran the truth, at least I knew enough to write his book.
This list kind of makes it look like it's only my heroes who give me grief. That's not true at all. My heroines will lie to me. They'll insist that they don't have any issues--it's the hero's book, I'm fine. And then this funny thing happens as I write. I start to sense the truth.
My current heroine let me believe that she had no issues. Oh, sure, she had some baggage with her parents, but nothing that would complicate her relationship to the hero. I spent forever trying to figure out what was going on with him. The only thing I got from him was that he didn't want kids and he was afraid that would end their relationship. I quizzed him up and down and sideways before I gave up in despair. What was going on with him?
Slowly, as I mulled and rewrote and mulled some more it began to become obvious that my heroine was the one with the issue. She'd lied to me! Outright, baldfaced lied. And she wasn't the first and I doubt she'll be the last.
You think they'd help me since I'm the one bringing them together, but no. Instead, they are probably my biggest problem.
