What will you do if your character misbehaves?

[ArchlordZero]

What will you do if your character misbehaves so much that he/she is driving the story away from your intended plans?


The old me would just kill them off, even if he/she is a main character. But nowadays I let them run free on their own.

 

[Yairy]

Control your fingers!

 

[Syringe]

Turn it into a character arc.

 

[Theirl]

What will you do if your character misbehaves so much that he/she is driving the story away from your intended plans?


The old me would just kill them off, even if he/she is a main character. But nowadays I let them run free on their own.

killing them off is just a waste isnt it? seing where their ride will take them is always fun... ex when i was playing dnd we got a quest to solve a kidnapping case. we end up getting lost in the woods while going to the village where the kidnapping happened. in the processe of finding our way back to civilization i found some random tracks going in the oposite way of we thought was civilization so curious we sidetracked the hole mission end up discovering a hob goblin base got our ass beaten run away... went back for revange after sugesting the local sherif that we could take care of the hob goblins that we would take care anyway for vengence. exterminated them goblin slayer style discovered ruins of an old gnome civilization, we stole an ancient golem(make him follow me me while it tried to kill me) after we subdue it we use it to destroy an hob goblin fort that a merchant asked us to take care for a lot of money... now u ask me what about the kidnapping? what kidnapping? the dm facepalm we facepalm the victim is probably dead... we gave up the quest went back home to find it being sieged by hobgoblin

 

[Corty]

Start popping the pills the doctor wrote up for me.

 

[NotaNuffian]

You ok bro?

Don't worry, most of us are here for you.

Not me though.

 

[Rhaps]

I only plan for my story in dots, and all I have to do is to connect them. So in the end, I'm fairly flexible with my stories.
Though if they were to diverage too much then just have someone kick them back near the course, this is why I scatter a lot of little bits of information about different characters that aren't that important until I want them to be.

A.K.A the DM method

 

[SailusGebel]

Nothing.

 

[Jemini]

Answer, plot better. If your character is misbehaving that severely, it means your outline was insufficient.

Scrap the past several chapters up until the point you identify things started going off the rails and start over with a better outline for the story and keep things in line.

In my case, the only misbehavior I get out of my characters is them dragging out the story arc a lot longer than I'd intended. I had the frustrating issue trying to wrap up a story arc that actually continued 14 chapters past where it was supposed to end, all because they had to exercise an abundance of caution (which was a trait very in character for them) and wouldn't just stupidly fall into the bad end I'd wanted for them. So, I had to add 14 extra chapters laying out a more believable scenario for things to end the way I wanted.

 

[HelloHound]

after I found out that sybil wasn't into revenge I was stumped; especially after I spent several chapters building up to her getting back at a bully of hers but after listening to her reasons I now have a better idea of what would actually make her move in the story

 

[doravg]

What will you do if your character misbehaves so much that he/she is driving the story away from your intended plans?


The old me would just kill them off, even if he/she is a main character. But nowadays I let them run free on their own.

Let them run free. A character who can evolve keeps the readers on their toes. Perhaps the story wasn't meant to go the way that I wanted it originally, if my characters are pulling it in a different direction.

 

[Empyrea]

Then I make new plans since my character obviously knows better than me what they would do. If I force things too much it starts to feel inorganic and I end up scrapping it anyway. My world and background are still the same, so it's all a matter of how she interacts and learns stuff. Planning is important, but it's kind of like spelling. Your character pulling the plot is telling you it's "spelled" wrong. Not fixing your error because that's how you "spelled" it first would be silly.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

I usually let them misbehave, and it's okay because I plan in terms of story beats, and those beats are pretty flexible.

Currently my most blatant examples are: MC stood up defiantly to a BBEG level opponent, sure that's intended. what was supposed to happen was the opponent slaps them around for disrespecting the local authority (himself) and some quick thinking gets everyone out of nominal trouble.

What ended up happening was opponent took it to combat and started actively trying to kill MC and their group (they already had reason to suspect MC was working with a criminal). MC used secret hidden powers (accidentally) to survive having their chest torn open (normally fucking fatal) BUT it kicks them out of commission for several days, meaning the next i wanna say 3-4 chapters now happens without them.

Which is ultimately okay. because the actual antagonist of that small journey is still in the cave they were going to, and he was still always going to commit psychological warfare, now he just jas one less person to worry about.

And I still got the character who was slates to fight him to fight him, but she is now supported by another character who flat out refused to leave her instead of being alone. Which still works because thats going to happen, a new old character will still pop in on cue, and a plot point will still happen on cue.

And looking back I feel I have a slightly richer experience for it. At least nothing feels forced and bad (if anything its JUST bad now)

So yeah. Character misbehaves and you can account for it? account for it. If you can't, take a break.

 

[Jailbreak571]

...
Kill him, his family, his friends, his pet pitbull named princess, and all of the guys who touched him. Very simple.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

They don't do that anymore thanks to BS rules and fear of the consequences... Character development (suffering).

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Youre the one who write those words.
They're not real people.

You can decide whether the characters were aware or not, and you're the one who decide whether the character wants to eat, wants to do adventure, wants to misbehave, wants to be freed from fate, wants to fight the gods, or just want to live peacefully.

You're the one who dictate them, and the one who may give them freedom, the one who write their "misbehavior", and even write what they'll do with their "freedom".

You're the one who decide what happens before the story and what happened after the story, because you're the author.

The story simply ends if you just leave them be and not continuing your words.

The character is incapable of misbehaving until you write them being capable of misbehaving in first place.

2D character drawing and writing has no power or knowledge on it's own, it's the 3D creator who shape them to what they're.

 

[ManwX]

You say it like hes opposing you lol. Honestly its your story so you are pretty much the god of this reality that is given form through your writing. Its an interesting question. Plan better for the mc to interact better maybe. Or just torture him or something. It begs the question that i always have what if imagination was just another form of reality that our consciousness just taps into snd idea seep out to our minds that are like sponges that absorb the info. What if everything you ever imagined was real. Its honestly cpuld be could not be. Its like the question that are we in a simulation or not.

Aside from me drifting away from the topic.
Well im someone who literally tortured my character bruh. I love to just crush hopes and dreams of characters. Im beyond redemption lol.