Hello there, Brandywinians. I have a little time before I leave for Brainerd, so I’ll fill you in on an experience I had this morning, working on my new novel The Baldur Game.

I think I’ve made it clear, both in my reviews and my posts on the writing process, that I believe in character-driven stories. I am moved more by personalities than by puzzles.

So now I’ve got Erling Skjalgsson, my hero, along with Father Ailill, my narrator, in England. They’re at Winchester where King Knut, the Dane who conquered England, keeps his court. I just finished a big scene where Erling is forced to make a hard decision in order to make an alliance possible.

I wrote the scene. I resolved the situation.

Then I realized I’d poked a hole in the plot. A source of dramatic tension I needed had been neutralized. I needed Erling to make a different choice.

But that would mean manipulating my character to suit plot requirements, wouldn’t it?

I re-wrote the scene, though I was unhappy about it.

But I read it over. You know what? This worked better.

And I realized a potential weakness in letting characters drive the plot (at least when I’m doing it). The thing I’d had Erling do the first time wasn’t what he’d actually do. It was what I’d do.

And I’m not like Erling at all. This scenario worked way better.

Lesson learned. Let your characters be themselves.