MISC: Do what extent do NON writer characters have free will?

[Martin Phipps]

On 6月4日, 上午10時32分, Scott Eiler <sei... at eilertech.com> wrote:
> On 6/2/2012 7:07 PM, Martin Phipps wrote:
>
> > Rob Rogers brought up an interesting point on the writers group.  How
> > does a character in a fictional reality not go insane?
>
> > I think a lot of it has to do with the writer.  Say for example the
> > writer has plotted the story out already.  I mean, if the story is
> > called The Death of Bad Timing Boy Part 1 then nothing Bad Timing Boy
> > does in the story is going to make a difference.  He might as well
> > blow his brains out at the end of Part 1 and save himself the torment
> > that is sure to come.
>
> It's not just a problem for characters who know they're fictional.

Indeed.  I hear people talk about "God's plan" for example.  People
say "God has a plan for all of us".  They also say that "God gave us
free will".  I find it impossible to reconcile those two statements.
If I, as a writer, have a definite plan then the characters in my
stories do not have free will.

I apologize for the mistake in the subject line.  I was going to write
"Do NON writer characters have free will?" but of course they don't so
I was going to change it to "To what extent do NON writer characters
have free will?"  I mean, if I knew that I was in a story would I see
myself as having free will?

> In my favorite storyline, I've had three characters (Ellipsis, Wyatt
> Ferguson, and Kristi the Animal Girl) who've been to the future

That's another problem.  If it is THE future and you cannot change it
then you don't have free will.  Nobody would have free will.  People
would only believe they had free will because they had not seen the
future.

Martin