Please welcome Starla Kay back to the blog. She has a treat in store for us as she shares a few of the times her characters have surprised her. I’ve read all of the books she’s mentioned and have enjoyed each of these surprises…always wondering whether the surprise was something she planned or whether it was something her characters sprung on her. It’s nice to have answers. 
I’m giving away winner’s choice of an ebook copy of winner’s choice of one of the books Starla mentions below. Leave a comment to enter.
As a reader, I love little twists in a story when a character surprises me. Of course, the surprise needs to fit in with his/her characterization and the overall story.
As a writer, I also enjoy when my characters do something unexpected. It is part of why I don’t like to thoroughly outline a story. If I do that before I start writing, I’m generally bored with the story already…because I know what is going to happen and when.
I’ve been surprised many times by my characters, usually by the women. Here are a few examples:
In Holly’s Big Bad Santa, I knew Jared was returning to his hometown and wary about seeing Holly again. She, however, had no doubts about her feelings upon first seeing him again. She threw a snowball at his windshield. I didn’t expect that, but I was all for it when I thought about it after typing the action into the story line.
In Their Lady Gloriana, Gloriana turned out to be quite a curious young woman, especially when it came to knowing that her new husband, Thomas, and his first knight, Rowan, had been and still were lovers. Rather than being horrified or upset about the situation, she was always trying to understand more. And her nurturing nature surprised me and definitely Thomas in one particular situation. He came home sore from being ridden hard by Rowan and she wanted to soothe his pain. She was very serious about wanting to apply one of her healing salves. He was mortified about her wanting to soothe his ass that way. And Rowan was greatly amused when Thomas admitted this all to him the next morning.
In Snowed in with Her Cowboy from the anthology Cowboys in Charge, Kelly finally realized how badly she wanted to save her troubled marriage. I knew she would give him a special Christmas gift, but I didn’t expect it to be a riding crop with a heart-shaped top. He’s shocked, naturally, but she swears it isn’t really for discipline. The salesclerk had told her it was to be used by him to deliver a ‘sweet surprise’ when she’d been very, very good.
I could go on and on with my characters surprising me. If you are a writer, do your characters surprise you as well from time to time? As a reader, do you like when a character does something unexpected?
I love it when characters come to life themselves and take their stories in their own direction. It always makes for a wonderful read.
Yes, when the characters come to life for the writer, they definitely will for the reader.
Hello! That was fun!
As an aspiring erotic a writer, I have so much to learn still. I always thought that stories should be outlined (at least in my head) before I write them. I didn’t realize we can let the characters decided what they want for themselves! LOL.
Thank you!
Some writers thoroughly outline before they start writing, which is fine…if it works for you. After writing over 50 published books, I’ve learned not to do that because it doesn’t work for either me or my characters.
But I do have a general idea of how the story should go before I start writing. Then I hope it goes somewhere along that line. If not, I’m flexible. Don’t drive yourself nuts.
I’m a panster too, and sometimes I talk about my writing I find myself saying, I didn’t plan that it just happened.
Janice~
So true. Writing a story isn’t a lot different than living real life. We make plans…and they go astray. We sort of make plans for our characters…and they get all stubborn and do something else.
I definitely like to be surprised – both as an author and as a writer. A lot of times the surprises in my books come when I am thinking about a book…before I write it…when I think the character is going to do one thing and they end up doing something else.
In a book I’m working on now the heroine pulled a big surprise when she followed the hero out of the house and asked him point blank for a divorce. They’ve been estranged but he’s hoping they will get back together. She has in the past hoped for reconciliation…but now her biological clock is ticking and she wants to adopt a child, which she can’t do if she’s married to a man she’s not living with. While the idea surprised me it does fit with her goal at the start of the story.
As a reader I love stories that surprise me…as long as what the characters end up doing makes sense with who they are and their motives.
I enjoyed all the surprises you mentioned in your post Starla.
I love the “surprise” your heroine through at you and the hero. It will be interesting to see if the hero can get it together and save his marriage…or if she finds someone else.
It’s a romance…and though they have been estranged for a long time neither has been with anyone else in that time so they will get it together…the question is how…and that’s what I’m trying to get them to tell me at this point.
Characters can be as stubborn sometimes as real live people.
Thanks for stopping by, Wilma.
Great interview. The books sound great, I’d love to win them.
It’s so refreshing to hear that a writer likes to be surprised. I, too, do not like to completely outline my entire story. It makes the writing craft more exciting! Thanks for sharing, Starla!