“That is the thing that you want, teetering over the abyss. Anytime you write up to the very edge of what you have planned, nudge yourself to go further. Let your character flirt with blowing up all your friends plans. Challenge yourself. Some of the best writing of my life has come when I’ve had an agenda, and the character was like, “That’s not what I’m interested in today.”” (Jane Ratcliffe, Craft Advice With Brandon Taylor)
Writing Exercise: Pushing Characters Beyond the Edge
Key Writing Practice Techniques:
1. Breaking the Writer’s Agenda – Strong character development emerges when writers relinquish control and allow characters to dictate their actions. Pre-planned plots often feel mechanical; authentic stories arise when characters resist expected paths.
2. Escalating Beyond Comfort – Tension peaks when a character disrupts their own world. Safe choices stall momentum; stories thrive on uncertainty and risk. Pushing characters beyond planned limits deepens conflict and reveals true motivations.
3. Betrayal of Expectations – Characters who make unexpected yet believable decisions challenge both writer and reader. When a character turns against their assumed course—whether betraying a friend, revealing an unspoken truth, or abandoning a goal—the narrative gains urgency and depth.
500-Word Writing Prompt:
Write a scene where a character is moments away from following a carefully planned course of action—one that aligns with their values, relationships, and previous choices. At the last possible second, they make an impulsive, even reckless, decision that contradicts everything leading up to this moment.
The shift must be driven by an internal realization rather than external force. The character should act not because of sudden disaster or external coercion, but because something within them resists the expected path. Their choice should fundamentally alter relationships, power dynamics, or the story’s trajectory.
Examples:
• A loyal second-in-command undermines the leader they swore to protect—not out of greed, but out of a new understanding of their own ambition.
• A bride-to-be, after months of planning, abandons the ceremony—not because of cold feet, but because she realizes she wants something entirely different.
• A whistleblower, on the verge of exposing corruption, destroys the evidence—not because of fear, but because they question whether the truth will actually help.
Evaluation Criteria for Success:
• Character agency: The protagonist makes a decision that feels both surprising and inevitable, based on their internal logic rather than external forces.
• Authentic emotional shift: The change arises organically, with clear psychological motivation rather than feeling like a forced plot twist.
• Consequences: The action fundamentally disrupts relationships, power dynamics, or the expected trajectory of the narrative.
• Resonant subtext: The scene suggests deeper conflicts beyond what is immediately stated, leaving space for reader interpretation.
Strong vs. Weak Execution:
• Strong: A journalist, poised to publish an exposé, unexpectedly hands their notes to the very person they were about to expose. They don’t do this out of fear, but because a single moment of unexpected empathy reframes their understanding of truth and consequences.
• Weak: A journalist, moments before publishing, simply walks away from the article with no clear emotional shift or motivation beyond hesitation. Their choice feels arbitrary rather than revelatory.
Follow-up Questions for Workshopping/Revision:
• Does the character’s decision feel organic or forced?
• How does this moment fundamentally alter relationships or power structures in the story?
• Could the scene work if the character made the expected choice? If so, how can the stakes be heightened?
• What subtle cues earlier in the story foreshadow this shift without making it predictable?
Recommended Reading:
• “Emergency” by Denis Johnson – A hallucinatory, unpredictable narrative where characters continuously defy expected choices, leading to moments of unexpected depth.
• “The Depressed Person” by David Foster Wallace – A character whose internal conflicts disrupt both their own plans and the reader’s expectations, forcing an intimate yet unsettling shift.
• *An excerpt from Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh – The protagonist’s internal logic drives shocking, often uncomfortable choices that reshape the story’s trajectory in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable.
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