I went out to get coffee for me and my Sweetie before work this morning and something caught my eye. The man on the corner was holding himself in a very strange posture and talking to the woman in front of me. I couldn’t hear, since my windows were rolled up and my radio on. I started to let my imagination run wild and wonder if she knew him, if one was asking the other for directions, if she was trying to get him to come home (his ‘strange’ posture made it look like he may have been mentally or physically handicapped.) The light changed, she rolled her window up and left, and he leaned against the lightpost on the corner.

The trip back home to drop off said coffee took me by the same corner. Where two firetrucks (including a medical emergency one) and an unmarked cop car were blocking off the far right lane. And strapping this poor man onto a stretcher. And suddenly I had a flash that was something like Thirty seconds before I arrived at the stoplight the first time:
Man: Ma’am, please call an ambulance
Woman: Are you all right?
Man: No. Please, call me an ambulance

This scenario was nothing like what I had expected when I first witnessed the scene. But I suspect now it’s closest to the truth.

Yesterday I started outlining my novella. An odd thing to do considering I’ve already written bits of it, but I wasn’t able to write the other bits so I figured “Outline”. I’m not one of those people who are pro or anti-outline by nature. My short stories are usually shoot from the hip, my last two novels were outlined but my first two were not. But this one…pieces were just missing for me and I had to see it all big picture on paper to figure things out.

I have three main characters:

• A recently discharged Marine
• A drug dealer
• The girl they’ve both dated

The Marine’s twin sister is in there too, but only in the flashbacks. Up until yesterday I thought the Marine was going to be my sympathetic fall-guy. You know, the one who likes everyone, wants to give them all a second chance, doesn’t see the bad in anyone? And that my drug dealer was going to be the raging ass who didn’t trust anyone or anything. I know these two characters, we’ve talked. The two scenes I wrote out even played them that way.

Except that when I got down to outlining, I realized it was almost exactly the opposite. When I saw the actual story unfold, it was nothing like I guess it would be. Well, not completely true. Girl is still the same. Her change and growth is kind of the point of the story and if she changed at this point…*poof* no story. But all of the sudden my Marine is manipulative, a little cruel, and very callous. My drug dealer a little more laid back, empathetic, and probably too nice for his own good.

And I think if I had tried to write the story with them in the old shells, it would have fallen apart (like it was) and I never would have been happy with it.

Each time I have one of these revelations, I think today is going to be the day I can finally finish this damn story. Here’s crossing my fingers that today I’m right.

I’ll figure it out right after I go find sweetener for my coffee…which I’ve only just realized is a latte and not the mocha I ordered.

Do you characters ever change character on you without your permission? And how does it work out?