When Characters Take Control: Writing and the Internal Family System

WHEN CHARACTERS TAKE CONTROL:Writing and the Internal Family System — a podcast episode — Why do some characters take control of your story?Some characters seem to “take over” your story because they may represent parts of your own mind. According to Internal Family Systems (IFS) theory, the human psyche is made up of different internal parts—each with its own voice, perspective, and motivation. When writing, these parts can emerge as characters, expressing thoughts or emotions you might not consciously recognize. Letting characters lead can reveal deeper truths and add emotional depth to your story. Helping writers craft authentic, immersive stories.Find out more about us here. Inside Creative Writing Email this Page Share on Bluesky Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Threads Share on Facebook Table Of Contents Formatted and Edited Transcript When Characters Take Over What Is Internal Family Systems? What If Your Characters Are Parts of You? How to Work with These Character-Parts Two Ways to Talk to These Parts When a Character Takes Over Wise Words Weekly Challenge Talk to Us! Share This Resource Why do our characters sometimes refuse to do what we planned? In this episode of Inside Creative Writing, Brad dives deep into the phenomenon of characters “talking back,” saying things we didn’t expect, steering the story in new directions, or developing voices of their own. It turns out, there might be a psychological explanation. Drawing from Internal Family Systems (IFS), a therapeutic model that sees the mind as a system of parts, Brad explores what might be happening when characters come alive on the page. Are they just echoes of other stories? Or could they be voices from within ourselves, trying to speak through our fiction? Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or somewhere in between, this episode offers practical techniques and surprising insights to help you tap into character voice, deepen emotional authenticity, and maybe even understand yourself a little better. Includes: A quick intro to IFS theory How to “interview” your characters like internal parts When to let characters lead—and when to pull back Formatted and Edited Transcript Episode 43. Today we get weird. What exactly is happening when our characters seem to start taking control of the story we’re writing? Doing and saying things we didn’t expect? Let’s dive in. Almost every writer has had the experience of a character who keeps doing things you didn’t plan for. Or maybe they say something that makes you kind of blink and ask, wait, where did that come from? It’s a strange moment, for sure, but what exactly is happening? You’re not alone in this. Today we’re talking about what might be happening when those characters start surprising us, and what that might have to do with a therapeutic model of the mind called Internal Family Systems. So we’re really living up to the name Inside Creative Writing today, because we’re going deep inside the creative writing mind. The episode might get a little weird, but in the best way. When Characters Take Over So we’ve all heard the stories, right? If they haven’t happened to us ourselves. An author says their characters “took over” the story. Or they didn’t intend for a plot twist, but a character insisted that it happened. Maybe you’re writing along and suddenly a side character starts just dominating the story. Or your protagonist refuses to follow your outline. What is going on here? Now, I’ve been curious about this for years. And for years I chalked it up to cliché, like maybe the words come easy because we’ve just heard them before, not because they’re especially meaningful. But lately I’ve been exploring somethin...