One thing you must know as an author, just because you write your characters, doesn’t mean you’ll know what they’re going to do next. You don’t know how they’re going to behave or how they’re going to act in a scene. You can’t control them and I’ve learnt several times that characters have minds of their own.

Luke Bright usually behaves well, but in one particular scene in An Undercover Dream, which I had planned for years, he took the reigns and changed it. It was as if when I was writing it, his actions and reactions kept pulling me away from my plan and towards something that I hadn’t anticipated. I tried to make him wait but he knew what he wanted and he wasn’t prepared to let me write the scene I was writing – he wanted it his own way. So, I had to change it. Anything else would’ve been unnatural.

So, whilst you may think you know your character better than anyone, you don’t. They know themselves and they know what they want, and who are we to stand in their way? I don’t mean give them a lack of struggle and make them millionaires, but if a scene keeps directing one way, go with the flow, don’t feel restricted by what you want because it’s completely up to the character to make that choice themselves.

Again, in book 4, the same types of things happened and characters surprised me. It may sound weird but they were the ones making the scenes so easy and natural so I let them drive it, not me. And when a scene goes like that, you really know you’ve got the character/s down because it’s their natural actions expressing and guiding the story, not you telling it.

And in my work in progress, the same thing happened. Something completely unexpected that threw me. I was writing the scene at the weekend and as it happened, I honestly couldn’t say that I had planned it. Yet, the characters clearly had other ideas, and what happened came completely out of the blue and changed the whole book. But now I see it was better than any plot I could’ve created by myself.

So my advice, don’t just write the scene but read it too. Read your characters and see what they’re trying to tell you. If not, you risk writing a sub-optimal scene. Don’t be too precious with your plan, because your characters are what really matter. They probably will surprise you, and so they should.

And as for the header of this blog, it certainly does connect – actually with that scene I mentioned above. But you’ll have to wait and see exactly what I mean later!

Atlantic Split, At Liberty To Live and An Undercover Dream, the first three books in The Luke Bright Series are available to purchase NOW! The final book of the series is to be revealed.

Please follow me on my blog and social media links below, and use the links on my website to purchase a copy of each if you have not done so. Don’t forget to leave a review! Thank you once again for taking the time to read this blog post.

N.A.K.