Kevin on Kraft: When Your Characters Stop Following Instructions

Episode 109 What happens when the characters you created stop following instructions? In this second installment of Kevin on Kraft, I talk with author Kevin Tumlinson about creating characters, discovery writing, how much description readers really need, and what happens when fictional people begin taking a story places their writers didn’t expect. We also get into the writer’s secret weapon: revision. Sometimes that perfectly planted detail in Chapter 3 exists because you discovered in Chapter 19 that you needed it. Before our conversation, I share why I missed last week’s episode: I’ve been thoroughly absorbed in writing The Chemistry Between Us, my upcoming romance novel under the name Devon Marin. Read a sample and get a chance to receive an early copy: DonnKing.com/Chemistry Along the way, Kevin and I talk about Dan Kotler, character continuity across a long-running series, letting readers use their own imaginations, Chekhov’s gun, Jaws, Jack Reacher, Indiana Jones—and the increasingly urgent question of whether Reacher ever replaces that toothbrush. We also stumble into the questions for our next Kevin on Kraft: How do you write a character who is smarter than you are? How do you write someone whose experiences differ from your own? And how does a character change across a series without becoming somebody else? In this episode: • Creating characters who feel alive • Discovery writing vs. planning • When characters change the story • How much physical description is enough • Planting setups during revision • Maintaining character continuity across a series • Writing character arcs over multiple books The Alignment Show is about living your values to value your life—pursuing what matters to you with curiosity, creativity, connection, and choice. #Writing #WritingCraft #CharacterDevelopment #KevinTumlinson #TheAlignmentShow