what will they do next?

I learned of a funny thing this week. It's about characters. And it's about people, too.

Sometimes when you create characters and you start writing them into a story, they take on a mind of their own. They are no longer you, and they start telling you what they are going to do next. It is very surreal. I thought I was writing a story about a Mexican archeologist and a Scotch enthusiast comparing notes on the finer qualities of tequila, and it turned into something completely different. How did that happen?

We all have learned the lesson that it is impossible to make another person into who you want them to be. What's funny is that the same can be true of fictional characters - of your own creation. Fascinating.