Another unnecessary character vanishes...

Regan Leigh · Dec 29, 2009

I just realized that one of my side characters is too much of a side. As in, he can easily be removed.

*hits the delete button until the character is officially gone*

I liked him, too.

I didn't even realize I didn't need him until my... jeez, I guess this is my 4th draft. What the crap? Anyone else have a realization this obvious so far into edits?

*goes off to pout*

Steam&Ink · Dec 29, 2009

I feel your pain

. At this very moment I am putting off deleting a side character who I really like, but who is ultimately unnecessary to the plot. (I think I will recycle her in another book though.) This WIP is on it's second edit (so, third draft) - and up until now I didn't notice!

thewakingself · Dec 30, 2009

Oh, yeah. I can sympathize! In the current throes of my second draft, I combined two secondary characters. Alone, neither inspired any sort of emotional investment from my betas, but I loved them and the plot needed them... voila. Total headdesk moment.

And it was completely painful. Along the way I had to murder some very darling darlings, and deal with some serious logistical issues. But! My MS is much stronger for it, like I'm sure yours will be.

scarletpeaches · Dec 30, 2009

I've done that. Dumped a character and you couldn't see the join which just goes to show excising her was the right thing to do.

I have no doubts she'll pop up in another book.

Adam · Dec 30, 2009

I'm in the process of ripping a character out of a WIP (I'm on the first major edit). It's tricky, but the book will be better for it.

Lady Ice · Dec 30, 2009

I'm in two minds about whether to cut a character's part way down.

It came about because near the end of the plot, there's a scene where a professor with an obsessive crush on her (she's a university undergraduate, so she's between 18 and 21) talks about offering her money so she'll sleep with him. I'm not sure I could pull off the scene or justify his crush on her, so am wondering whether to have her mentioned a lot but never actually seen until the rather shocking end.

DeadlyAccurate · Dec 30, 2009

I deleted two red shirts in about edit 20 and reduced another to just a cameo.

ChaosTitan · Dec 30, 2009

About halfway through writing one WIP, I realized I had a useless character. So I kept writing as though he'd never existed. When I was finished with the first draft, I went back and cut him out.

underthecity · Dec 30, 2009

Regan Leigh said:
Anyone else have a realization this obvious so far into edits?

Try being completely done with the ms, and add about ten months and a pile of rejections.

I went back to make changes. I cut a secondary character's first appearance from the end of the first chapter.

When that character later showed up in the story, he and his partner had come out of nowhere, with no earlier reference.

I decided to cut them both from the story. A whole chapter, gone, plus all of their appearances and dialogue were excised. They played a somewhat key role during the conclusion, so I brought a stronger secondary character back into the story later on to take their place.

I think it works a lot better this way.

Sometimes we have to cut characters. It sucks, but it's part of the job.

fadeaccompli · Dec 30, 2009

I'm rolling up my sleeves to start a painful edit in which I'm going to remove two characters and the entire subplot associated with them. It means cutting some great lines; it even means cutting scenes that some people really liked.

But no line is worth the scene, and no scene is worth the novel. It's going to make the whole story better, so out those characters go, no matter how much I like them.

Regan Leigh · Dec 30, 2009

Seriously, thanks for the feedback! It makes me feel better.

This is my first attempt at polishing a WIP that I plan to query. I've been feeling really lost on how to do it. So, when I realized this far into edits that I had to delete a character? Man, I felt like I was failing big time.

It's good to know I'm not alone in this!

Tan · Dec 30, 2009

I wish more people WOULD delete side characters. There is nothing more that I cannot stand when I read--when there is an annoying side character that just "fills space." I have dealt with this type of thing before. I wrote in characters just to have more dialogue or what have you, but in the end, they really were not useful as far as the plot goes. I think it's an extremely good thing to weed out the characters that either A) confuse the plot B) doesn't move the plot along C) don't really have any emotional value D) worthless in general when you look at the big picture of your novel.

Good luck with your revisions

jasonleeward · Dec 30, 2009

Removing Characters

I've had to remove minor characters from my stories and each time I either knew it was necessary or found them again in another story. When they did vanish from the manuscript it strengthened the work and moved the story along. Just make sure that any characters you include in the story have an important part, even if it's a minor character with a couple of lines.

Maxinquaye · Dec 30, 2009

I tend to have the opposite problem. My WIPs tend to be pretty sparsely populated, when it comes to bi-characters. I've got lots of prop-people, and I've got an MC or two, but on the bi-character side my novels tend to be quite deserted.

Stunted · Dec 30, 2009

Yeah. That's happened to me a few times. It's a shame, because I really loved those characters.

Regan Leigh · Dec 30, 2009

Yeah, I almost want to go and look through books I love to see how many characters they have. (central vs side.)

ishtar'sgate · Dec 30, 2009

Regan Leigh said:
I just realized that one of my side characters is too much of a side. As in, he can easily be removed.

Anyone else have a realization this obvious so far into edits?

I usually spot them during the first draft. I'm pretty ruthless though. If they're hogging the limelight and don't really need to be there I either go back and cut them out or kill them off. Doesn't matter when you find them. It's just harder to remove them when they've been hanging around for awhile.

Ryeker · Dec 30, 2009

Anyone else have a realization this obvious so far into edits?

*goes off to pout*[/QUOTE]
yes absolutely. It happens to me all the time, and usually to characters I really love! However, it does usually make my story stronger, and you can always write a new story with that character!

Raphee · Dec 30, 2009

First draft had a character that I killed for Draft two.
Now in draft 3 the killed character has been reincarnated; the story, the plot all had to change. Sub-plots plus other characters had to go.

Lady Ice · Dec 31, 2009

Normally I'm not too bad about unnecessary characters; it's normally unnecessary scenes.

Garpy · Dec 31, 2009

My back garden is full of the graves of B characters I've quietly knocked off and buried. And the best part is...no one (apart from a few beta readers) knew they ever existed.

Ehab.Ahmed · Dec 31, 2009

Right now, I'm writing my first book. I have two characters whom I'm struggling to give important roles in my story. The thing is, I wouldn't know if, indeed, they were unnecessary for the plot. How would you even determine that? Anyway, those two characters are in danger of getting removed. So, in a sense, I'm getting to where you are now, Regan Leigh.

Another unnecessary character vanishes...

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