Surprises

Have your characters ever done anything to surprise you? Something totally out of character, but something that totally and completely worked with their situation? People are unpredictable. Why can't characters be? Actually, aren't characters supposed to have contradictions in their character.

So, here's my point: Ray surprised me this week.

Here are a couple of facts about him so you can see why he surprised me:
1.  He's introverted.
2.  He doesn't talk about his feelings. At all. He's the kind of person who would prefer to deal with his problems by himself and not involve anyone. He doesn't really want anyone to see his pain. He's a good liar and a good actor, so you rarely see what's really going inside his head.

So, here's what he said:

*Note: The POV character is his sister, Aura.

**Another note: He just ran away a week or so ago and tried to commit suicide and they're sort of talking over it.

      “I almost had a panic attack. I’m not kidding.”
      He raises an eyebrow at me and I can’t help but remember a couple of years ago when he’d do that just to annoy me. I always got mad at him because no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t do it. The sides of his mouth twitch a little. “That might have been funny to see.”
      “It wasn’t funny at the time. You scared me.”
      “How come?”
      “What kind of a question is that? Because I knew you might be dead already when I left the house.”
      “Why would you care though?”
      He’s never asked me anything like this before and I think I know the answer he’s looking for, but I haven’t told him that in ages, which kind of makes my heart heavy. I laugh a little, like it’s a totally obvious answer. “Because I love you, that’s why.” And as soon as I say it, I know it’s true, even though only a year ago, I would have completely denied it. Sometimes faces are unreadable and right now I can’t tell what’s going through his mind. Especially since he won’t look at me. I wonder how long it’s been since someone has told him that he’s loved. He hasn’t heard it from me and definitely not from Mom.
      “What about Chris, though?” I can tell he’s kind of forcing out the words. I can only imagine how much it would hurt to think or talk about him after what had happened.
     “What about him?”
     “A…are you still mad about what I told you the other day?”
     I can’t help hesitating a bit on that question. “Okay, first off, I’m not mad at you, specifically. But, sometimes it’s hard to get used the idea, you know?”
     He nods, like he completely understands that. ... He has the same expression on his face that he did at the hospital when I told him that Chris had died. Like he’s trying to block his emotions.
Copyright Hannah De

See what I mean? He's never ever said anything like that before. Has your character ever surprised you?

Pain and Suffering

I've found that I can discover key things about my characters through the way they handle pain. Now this may seem completely obvious, but I'm going to give you an example anyway, between my main character, Aura, and her younger brother Ray.
When the story starts, Aura's boyfriend, Chris, dies in a car crash. Ray was driving the car at the time it crashed, so he feels responsibility. So each of them have sufficient suffering that I put them through. *evil writer cackle* They each handled their pain in different ways.

Aura yelled at God, got another job, refused to think about Chris and basically shunned anything that reminded her of her pain.
Ray started doing drugs and did anything in his power to make his pain go away and got angry and defensive when anyone told him he shouldn't be doing what he is.

So, here's what I learned through observing these things:
Aura: 

1. She's a person who believes on just pushing through.
2. She's a person who wants to blame someone for her pain.
3. She believes that forgetting and ignoring what hurts her is the solution to her problem 

Ray: 

1. He's a problem solver.
2. He doesn't like being told what to do.
3. He believes that he doesn't need help and that he can do everything on his own. 

I just thought this was interesting. I figured this out after I'd written half the story and it helps shape their character. Try it!

And, one more thing: I'm ecstatic! I found a song that perfectly sums up the lie Ray believes. It does have a lot of screaming in it, so if you don't like that, don't listen to it. It's called Damage by Red.

Now the damage is done. I can't escape, can't run, can't undo what I've done. All I do is damage...It's destroying me...I'm sick of the misery...I am human debris....I'm a catastrophe. Take this away. It was just a mistake. Save me.