Characters running away from you?

23,338 words should be you word count by midnight tonight.

And guess what? I'm ahead! I had one amazing, amazing day. I got an idea and the words just kept coming and coming. I gave up on sleep to do it, but I managed! I've never had a day like that before during NaNo. I think it's because I stopped worrying about getting to that goal right now and just let the words happen. I let the idea go until the end and it worked. So next time you get an awesome idea, don't stop when you hit that magical 1667 words. Keep going until the idea's done.

Also, I want to talk a little bit about characters. Yours might be running away from you by now. I know mine are. They aren't sticking to that damn outline you made! They've gotten more emotional or maybe angrier or more stoic. Whatever the reason is, they aren't acting like you expected anymore. This could be a good thing. I personally always run with the change.

I know the characters better now- know more about their motivations and feelings, have more exact examples of how they react to situations. And I like that. I think forcing them back into the guidelines is forcing them to act. They've become real people to me, with their own reactions and that's something to celebrate. The realer they are to you, the realer they'll be to your readers.

However, sometimes the new characters will just not work. They won't follow the path they're supposed to be on to get to that end moment. You have two options at this point: you could force them back into their original guidelines. It will work sometimes and it is possible. Sometimes it is the only thing that will work. Other times, you can alter that path they take, alter events and other characters subtly so you still get to that big reveal, just a slightly different way.

So if you come to this point where your characters are acting all wrong, think about your options and then choose one. Or don't bother. You can always edit them back into character in December!