I’ve just reread “Mastery” by George Leonard and I am inspired by what he says. You’ll see the ideas cropping up in many writing books under various guises but the stuff he talks about will apply to any pursuit that you might undertake.
That together with a recommitment to working through Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones” are really making overcoming procrastination an easier task than I have ever experience d and I think I might have made a personal breakthrough. Have you had such an experience?
And Other Personas
I am a new writer. I only have one book published so far but I am thrilled with that. I find when I am working on the sequel I sometimes get stuck. That’s when I realize that I haven’t listened to my character, that I’ve tried to lead them to a place that they would never go on their own. So I have to start at the basics, and get inside her head (her name is Emily) and ask Emily where we go from there. After that. I am back on track.
Congratulations Kimberley on the publication of your book. (BTW what is its Title?)
You are describing something that authors have argued about for a long time. Do you control your characters or do they control you?
I know that that’s a very simplified position and as you rightly point out that to force a character down a line that would be not within their normal behaviour can diminish the believability of the character, yet it could also enrich and deepen the character to make her more complex and contradictory like most people.
Another thought is that you could use a supporting character to lead them to that place where they would never go on their own. Just some thoughts.