A Hero with too much to say

Over a year ago I started my first paranormal/suspense. Loved it. Knew I was going to write a lot more.  My hero in that story has 5 brothers. One of them has been after me since he was dreamed up to write his story. I even had an awesome hook. I’ve had other things in the works though and despite his being quite loud and bossy and annoying was determined to finish them up before diving into his story. He has not been happy about this but I saw this as a good thing…it gave me more time to tighten up points and scenes and who these people were.

Nano was to be his heyday. I couldn’t wait as much as him. Finally I was going to get him out of my head and on paper. I started to write. I was so excited. I actually trembled with it, I tell ya.

Then four days into it my hero throws me a curve ball.

He doesn’t want to be who he is supposed to be.

Excuse me?

The writing came to an abrupt halt. And now we’re busy arguing. Loudly. Constantly. With no end in sight!

I want to scream. I want to stomp my feet and shake my fists and demand that he listen to me.

Okay, I admit it, I’ve actually done that. Didn’t work. He simply leaned a hip against a tree, folded his arms and smiled that damn bad boy smile he is so famous for. Urghhh!!!!!! If I were a violent person, I’d hit him right now.

Okay, I seriously considered it but it’s kind of hard to hit something that isn’t actually there.

Let me give you a glimpse into what has been going on:

When I first realized, no let me rephrase that, accepted, that he really did not want to be who I had him being, a vampire, (I knew in my gut he’d been telling me this for months, I just had refused to listen) I was on my morning walk. I thought….

‘Okay, so he doesn’t want to be a vampire. This is problematic. Not the end of the world. But problematic. If I ever do want to sell that first book I’d have to make a few changes. Yes, the books were meant to be stand alone and yes, that first book hasn’t sold yet but they were connected and it would mean changing things.’ I contemplated everything and finally thought, ‘I could change things. It wasn’t my first choice but…it was an option and it would make my hero happy. So yeah, I was willing to work with him. I LOVE my hook in this second book. And having him be a brother who wasn’t a brother could add all sorts of interesting twists to the series. Cool, I decided. Yes, I could live with things.’

I went home from my walk happy and excited to write. Except…my hero wasn’t done.

Before I can begin to start to write he informs me, “Your awesome hook isn’t the main plot point but rather the internal plot point.”

Me: “What?”

Him: “Which means your main objective has gaping plot problems.”

I didn’t believe him at first. I frowned. I did dishes. I glowered. I did laundry. I stomped around and couldn’t write because dang it all…the man was right.

He stood there and grinned, damn it all!

I finally sat down to write again resigned to having to rethink a few things when he speaks up again.

“I’m part of a special force unit in the military. Has to do with my powers.”

“What?” I get up and walk away from the computer shaking my head and gesturing with my hands. “No, no, NO. No way. You can’t be!”

He just grins.

I get adamant. “Look you can’t. You are a shrink.”

“Yes, but a shrink in the service.” He winks at me.

I get desperate. “Okay I know you are supposed to be able to live a long time but you are not from the US. You come from Scotland and you have that lovely brogue accent I could listen to all day. I’d have to have you become a US citizen. Because quite frankly, I simply don’t have a clue about the service over in Scotland. I mean does Scotland even have their own service or is it a part of England’s…talk about ignorance in an area. I simply can’t do it.”

“I’m not from Scotland.”

“WHAT????”

He shrugs at my dismay. “Have you ever heard me speak with an accent?”

I walked away. I baked goodies for the middle son’s birthday school treat. I glared. I was not letting him do this to me. I had things all planned out. I knew where things were going, what was going on, my whole world was created and set. I was not going to let him do this do me! He wanted to alter a few things, fine but no way was he suddenly in the military and not from Scotland.

But those dang chocolaty brown eyes simply kept staring at me wherever I went.

“Ugh, fine, you win. No, I have not heard you speak with an accent.” I glare at him. “So what? I’ve been hearing you in my head for over a year! You’ve been demanding I write your story and you knew what I was thinking. You’ve been from Scotland the entire time and not once did you say, ‘Hey, Cole, I’m not from Scotland. All you’re carefully laid out plans aren’t going to work.’ ” I stand with my hands on my hips ready to do war and praying that no one walks by and wonders what the heck I’m doing talking to what appears to be an empty room. “You can’t change this on me now!”

He lays down on a sofa(and no, I have no idea where the sofa comes from) arms stretch overhead, tattoos clearly visible beyond the edges of his grey-green t-shirt. I stare at those tattoos. I know where those tattoos have come from. I know the why behind each one. I know how he got the scar on his left thigh and when he got the one along his chest on the right hand side. I understand why he wears the beaded chain around his neck at all times and I can tell you why his right ankle acts up every time a storm is brewing. I know him. Everything about him.

Yet he was telling me I didn’t?

He murmurs, “Did you ever once hear me talk with an accent? Even when you had me in my ‘brother’s’ book?”

The cocky man doesn’t even look my way! I turn away and stomp out of my house to go get groceries.

That was yesterday, the end of the second day of arguing with him. And here it is day number three with still no writing. No, I’m not getting any writing done ’cause, dang it all, once again he’s right! And I’m most certainly not happy about it. It means I have a hundred and one other things to figure out before writing another word! Do I continue to use the same world or create a new one? Military…fine, he’s in the military, I can find a way to make that work even with the old world, but how and why and how do the incidents he insists are still happening, happening? Who is the bad guy besides the internal bad guy? Can I work his brother’s story and this one together and still get the result he wants? Yeah, probably, if I get real creative. But how much creative is good before it is a fantasy instead of a paranormal suspense?  And if I’m making it a fantasy then my first story for sure won’t work. Maybe I should just make this a separate story all together. But then do I rename him? I like his name. He likes his name. He likes his brother. Brothers. And you know, for someone who is soooo outspoken about so many things you’d think he’d, like, tell me what he wants here. But no, he simply lies there and smiles that bad boy smile while I try and figure out what to do with him. Ugh, the list of questions goes on forever.

For the first time ever I’ve truly contemplated ‘knocking off’ one of my main characters. Except, then his smile just widens with that glint in his eye. And I know. I know there is no way I’m not telling his story. He will not leave me alone if I do that. And dear lord that simply would not be good.