Charcters - Merging?

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*Pudge*

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In my current WIP, two characters one minor who is only really spoke of by other characters and another fairly major have merged into the same person. I have changed their names to one and the story makes much more sense and has an additional beefy sub plot.
How weird! Does this happen often?
 

ChaosTitan

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I don't know about often, but it's happened to me. Had a minor character I liked, but who was basically filler. I was halfway through writing that particular novel when I realized it, so I finished writing it as if the character had never existed. When I was done with the first draft, I went back and divided up his lines and actions among the other characters. You'd never know someone was missing, and it worked better in the long run. :)
 

SherriC

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I haven't had this happen to me yet. Usually I start out with too few characters and have to find ways to insert others to shake it up a bit.
 

Jill

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You just never know what your characters are going to get up to until you give them permission to live!
 

scheherazade

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Yes - if their roles or voices are distinct enough to differentiate them, or you can't justify why you would need to have two separate characters, then combine them. It's usually easier on the reader to have fewer characters to remember, and it's always nice to see minor characters pop in again later in the book (like seeing an old acquaintance again - you'll probably like them better the second time, if only because they're now familiar to you).

I read somewhere recently someone suggested that writers should try to do this more often. We're probably afraid to - because killing characters is another way of killing darlings - but anything that streamlines a story can't be a bad thing.
 

sassandgroove

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I realized on an early version of my old novel that I made up new people for my MC's to interact with far to often so started making some minor characters recur more often instead. It made the story tighter. It sounds like your merge made your story tighter, too. GOOD for you! :D
 

dirtsider

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At this point, I only have two characters and some characters so minor they're only walk-on parts. The two dead guys have a larger role than my "minor" characters. LOL. Of course, I'm still pretty much at the beginning of my story.
 

mkcbunny

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I did it, too. When I started the current W.i.P., I had too many supporting characters. Cut a couple, but two that I liked became one. What's funny now, about two years later, is that I'd really have to think hard about how this one person was once two. He is so clearly a single person now.
 
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