Last night I had one of those exciting moments where a character suddenly says something I had not planned or foreseen. It's as if -- oh, happy day! -- the character has totally taken on a life of his or her own.
What happened was this: my hero was having a confrontation with the Woman Who Done Him Wrong (not the heroine). He's seen what she's up to (ie trying to rekindle the flames) and it ain't workin'. More, she's been badmouthing the heroine (oh, oh!), so he finally tells her she has to leave his castle at the light of dawn the next day.
And then, suddenly, as if Celeste isn't a creation of my imagination, comes: "But I have nowhere else to go."
What the --? She's a rich widow. Her husband was a Very Important Lord. What does she mean, she's got no place else to go?
But hey...this is...interesting. Yeah, could work. It would keep her around longer, which is what I'd intended, although I'd given her another reason to do so. But what does she mean, she's got nowhere else to go?
Speaking for the author, too, the hero basically asks, "What are you talking about? Of course you must have houses, estates, you could go to."
"No," she replies. "They all went to my husband's nephew because we had no sons."
It's true she's childless and that's been true from the beginning, so that fits. And now the hero's got more of a dilemma, because he's really a nice guy.
That's where I left off. Today, I'll start at the beginning of that scene, revising as I go, then continue on. But I don't mind revising, because it's wonderful when the characters suddenly take you around an unforeseen bend along Plot Road.
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