Mystery: Out of character

Mystery: July 29, 2026 Issue [#13867]

Out of character

Editor: Gaby

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Making 'bad people' seem human is the key to making them really scary.
~ Tom Noonan

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Ever written an entire story or article or a newsletter in this case where once finished, you realize that you are not writing about the things you should be writing about? This would have been the case here. Writing an entire romance newsletter just to realize that, hey, it doesn't belong here!

If you consider me a character, I'd definitely be in the wrong place.

Writing characters into a story seems so easy for some. They sit down, think for a few moments and type their heart out. The people they write about belong in the story. Each of them has a purpose and it leads to the final outcome. Clear, precise, and simple. They don't worry whether or not they belong there, they already know they do.

But what if? What if the character you are set on including in the story simply does NOT fit? Their story is different and no matter how hard you try to change their path, they refuse to follow. If you tell this to anyone who isn't a writer, I'm sure they'd look at you as if you'd lost your mind, but there are characters like that. Their story has to be told from their perspective not yours.

What do you do in such cases?

Do you discard the character? Leave them sitting on a shelf waiting for their turn? Include them as a sidekick? What?

I have had a few of those whirling in my head for years. One scene which leads exactly to nowhere and I cannot decipher where the story goes. I've tried. I've written pages on one character and forced him into situations he wasn't quite comfortable with. He became whiny and ignorant. I'm not sure if it was towards me or the other characters or both, but I decided to scratch the story and leave it sitting collecting dust until this guy tells me what his true story is. A few others are like that as well, but they aren't as strong in their stubbornness as this particular one.

It's a shame to let a character sit on the sidelines, but what else could one do? Perhaps one day, out of the blue, those characters will reveal where they want to go and we, as writers, are simply bystanders who get to tell about it.

Unless you have better ideas?

'Til next time!
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