I have spent a lot of time reading about plot, it’s role and it’s pitfalls.  There are so many times when I am watching a show where the main character is a brilliant detective, and has solved many cases with eagle eye observations and keen deduction.  They his character walks into an obvious trap, or ignores key evidence that an armature would recognize.  I’m often left thinking “What the heck happened?”  “Why is he/she suddenly so stupid?”

The answer is that the plot is driving the story and certain events have been outlined and decided upon by the writers/producers and these events need to occur to keep the story moving forward.  Yet when you really know the character, it is obvious that he/she would never, should never, be so idiotic.  In these case the characters have taken a back seat to plot and their voice, their true nature, is ignored.  And the viewer/reader is deemed as being too stupid to notice.  Well even my kids notice when a character they know well does something “out of character” so I’m assuming that most people notice this as well.

As a new writer, I have learned to get in the head of my characters.  I know what they would, say and what they wouldn’t. What they would, do and what they wouldn’t.  And when I have an outline for the next part of the story in front of me, and then sit down to start writing I sometimes realize that it just doesn’t work.  Based on what happened earlier, they would never do or say what I had planned.  So do you go with the plan, or with the characters?  For me, every great story I have ver seen or read has really all been about the characters.  Thre is an episode of the Walking Dead when Daryl and Carol spend most of the episode exploring a hallway, and as I watched it I felt incredibly envious that the writers know these characters so well they can make some thing so seemingly dull, become so all engrossing.  

My tip is to really get into all aspects of your characters before writing, and sometimes this undos tanning will notably come until you start writing and the personality will begin to emerge.  You are in charge as the writer, but respect the characters you created and allow then to be true to who they are.  Don’t let a previously contrived outline turn your heroes into idiots.