ne of my most shocking discoveries is how much writing from a character’s viewpoint warps the story.  See, the problem is that every character out there thinks that he’s the good guy (or girl).  And so when you write from her point of view, it’s hard not to make that person likable.  In fact, it’s nearly darned impossible.  The end result is that choosing to show a person’s viewpoint may shift the story–subtly or not so subtly–away from its intended axis.

I had one planned scene from the point of view of the antagonist’s sister.  I hadn’t wanted to stick the viewpoint in the antagonist’s head; I already knew it would make him look a little too likable.  What I hadn’t expected was that the sister would take over the scene.  It started oh-so-innocently, and it was a familiar story.  Widowed sister.  Quiet.  Dresses in black.  Fiercely loyal to her brother, who it turns out is a few years younger.  Wants only the best for him.
And then–and then–and then!  The next thing I knew, she was a real character, and she just wouldn’t spout the normal lines that I wanted her to spout.

Yes, I realize that I am in complete control of her.  But the truth was, when I found myself resisting delivery of her lines, it was for a reason.  She was boring as I’d written her, and I don’t like writing boring characters.  I can write about them, but by God, nobody cares about the viewpoint of a widow who’s fiercely loyal to her brother.  Fierce loyalty is fine as a motivation for a character you never get inside.  But the truth is, nobody’s motivated solely by fierce loyalty.  And why is she so fiercely loyal?  So he’s her brother.  But he’s also the Viscount.  Why can’t he look out for himself?

And what is it that she wants for herself?  The story I was trying to tell morphed drastically as I was staring up into space.  It wasn’t writer’s block, you know.  It was grappling for narrative sense.  The two aren’t the same.  Sometimes, if you’re blocked, it’s because you know better than to write what you think you need to write.  It’s not that your muse abandons you;  usually, it’s that you’ve abandoned your muse and have started walking down the wrong path.  Your muse is somewhere back on the trail, gesturing impatiently.  “This way,” she’s saying.  “THIS WAY, you dolt.”

So here we have Amelia.  She’s talking with her brother, and thinking about what she’s doing, and why.  She’s already dropped a hint as to what she wants–she wants to have a little more time to herself, so she can spend afternoons and evenings with the Ladies’ Beneficial Tea Society.  I have no idea where the conversation is going, or why Amelia cares about the Ladies’ Beneficial Tea Society, a do-gooders group.  Isn’t she tired of taking care of people?  I would be.

And so, out of the blue, Amelia thinks one word.  “Leather, thought Amelia.”  I write this on the page and stare.  And then:  “That’s what she’d ask her seamstress to create.  A gown made entirely of leather.  If she bribed her brother’s valet, perhaps she could make it gleam like her brother’s Hessians.  The Ladies’ Beneficial Tea Society would go mad.”  Within the space of a few paragraphs, my antagonist’s sister had metastasized into the real antagonist herself–and not just the antagonist, but a strong, intelligent, and even likable one.  The whole story shifted, and a number of question marks down the line filled in.  And the backstory–which, alas, will never make it into the story–just sort of fluttered down, and I understood everything.
I wonder what would have happened if I’d given her brother the viewpoint.  It’s hard for me to write weak characters.  The inevitable result is that her brother would undoubtedly have had the upper hand in the relationship, and the male head-bashing would have grown in importance.
Truthfully, I like it better this way.  I now have two antagonists: one male, one female.  They’re working at not-quite cross-purposes.  And they work in different ways.

I have far fewer question marks arising.  I’m guessing this is a good thing.  But we’ll see.  I’m not sure how my dominatrix antagonist will play in Peoria.