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Are people waiting for me to revise my post before continuing? I was waiting for Eala to re-post her post, after which I was going to revise mine and carry the Harreld bit into a new post. Just checking.
Another trick that we might find helpful: Other writers have their characters do surprising things, to which our first reaction may be, "But my character would have done such and such in the middle of that action! - - I need to ask that writer to revise accordingly." That's the obvious way to go, but there's a better way - a Tolkienian way.
The Tolkienian way went like so: Tollers would make up an Elvish word, then find himself asking the question, "well how did that word come to be?" Then he'd write a story about it.
So when something doesn't happen the way you expected, ask yourself, "Now, why didn't my character do such and such when that character did so and so?" Then use your imagination to see what kind of answer you come up with. You might surprise yourself that what results turns out to be better and more interesting than going with the original plan.
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