Madeleyn Questman
I actually get inspired to write because of my characters. I tend to focus on character-driven work, and before I even put together a final story I like to fully flesh out my staff in as detailed a fashion as possible, all the way down to the kinds of things they like to eat, the music they listen to, the books they read. Then I give them a day or two to ‘proof.’ Usually they’ll be pretty happy with everything I’ve given them, but I’ve had a few characters who just weren’t into the way I set them up – they didn’t like their names and they didn’t like the hobbies I gave them, so I let them make their own decisions. They turned out to be much richer in the end. I’ve also had characters who simply refused to do what I wanted them to do because it just wasn’t part of who they were, so I allowed them to make suggestions, which took the chapters in different directions but made the story flow better. In a couple of instances, I’ve woken up and found that my characters have completely rewritten part of a chapter. It’s exciting to see what the characters will do, especially if they have any ideas of their own.
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