@saokymo

We've only had things like birds come inside. A snake once, almost. Since we have so many animals around here all the time, it's bit of a miracle nothing else, since many of them come a bit too close sometimes... But I know all about the animals "speaking" or at least behaving sometimes like they're one of us, lol. Our dog is just like that it's so cute and funny.

That is so true... Especially the big ones.

All animals speak in their own way, it's just that humans are very bad at listening.

Have your characters ever acted without your input? Like... writing out a scene, planning it to go one way in your head, and then the characters just... do something completely different and unexpected instead?

Hah, that they, and we, are.

Yes. I can plan all I want, but at the end of the day once they have their own personality, they can easily take control over my big fancy plans, or they twist things around into something that fits them and their story better. I'd be more worried if it never happened and start looking for mistakes from my writing.

Yet I've heard of very successful writers, who I would consider good writers! Whose characters remain simply figments they write about, who never do anything they are not told to do...

I think the best characters are the ones who never listen to their authors and make their own stories. :3

@akili
I guess it is possible to write a story that's readable (although nowadays success means very little, when you're looking for high quality), even when the characters and the worlds don't become alive. I guess. But that still doesn't make them the very best stories to read. A writer creates worlds and personalities. If they do nothing, start living so to speak, then in my humble opinion that writer hasn't done a very good job... Sorry..! ;__; /shot

...Which doesn't mean that the characters should be out of control all the time, that isn't good thing either. As with all things in life, there should be good and healthy amount of balance...

But to tell the truth, I don't read many new books anymore (former massive bookworm talking here), no matter how popular they might be, since they simply don't do to me what a good story should do: pull me into the story and keep me there through the whole journey and hopefully even leave you wanting more, if it's a very good one.

@saokymo
I like letting my characters have their way, but there are times when I won't let them have their way for one reason or another. But not too often, since it's fun also for the writer when the entire story isn't clear yet what it's going to look like in the end.

Story idea: characters who revolt against their author, tie them up and rewrite the story for themselves! XD

That sounds like a perfect crack story, lol. XD

Eh, I'm going to disagree with you.
I started by looking at my very favorite authors, whose works I consider to be very good, and then checked out interviews and their blogs (where applicable) and essays they'd written on the craft of writing to see how they worked.

And some of them surprised me by saying they were always in control of the story/world/characters, because "it's all a creation of their own minds and they direct their own minds, and they never had a moment when a character would 'want to do something different' ".
Of course, they did, instead, have times when they'd read through the outline they had created and would say, "this is not logical for that character to do, because it is inconsistent with what I have established their personality and goals to be, and there's no reason for it to have changed to that extent. I need to find a different way to drive this conflict". And would change it.

But they never had that sense of their characters living beyond themselves.

And it wasn't predictable! I couldn't guess which authors would go which direction on that... the ones who thought about their characters in a dispassionate sense versus the ones who almost superstitiously believed their characters had existence beyond what the author gave them.... there was no way to tell which one would be which.

did you guys get to your goals yet? :3