I had not one, but two characters that didn’t make the cut. One major and one minor. They just had to go. The good news is that there is no longer a love triangle in my book…yes, I know it’s over played anyway.
It’s strange to get rid of them, but it definitely makes the book flow better. Even so, I’m having trouble weeding out/rewriting all the references.
What about you guys? Ever have to sacrifice a character to the editing gods?
i recently sacrificed a fun scene with a minor character. It really wasn't doing anything to move the story along, so it had to go. But I have yet to cut a character. Good luck with edits!
ReplyDeleteNope. But that's interesting.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever get back to the rewrites of one book, then one character will be cut, a major character. It just wasn't working out, and either he had to go or another major character, so I think he'll be the one.
ReplyDeleteI bet it's not easy to cut out all the references to said character too. But if it's better for the book, it has to be done. :)
No, but then again, I write with minimal casts anyway. If I ever had to, I'd go the Battlestar Galactica route: get what you want out of them early, then kill 'em off to boost the drama quotient.
ReplyDelete-LupLun
Shooting for the Moon
Sacrificing a character is the worst! There's so much more editing than I realized there would be when I get rid of even a minor character. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteCool! I often sacrifice certain characters when I realize that they have the same purpose as another character and really they're just complicating things beyond understanding. So it's not really like killing them off so much as combining them with another character and simplifying things a little. I take the best of each and it ends ups making the character AND the story stronger.
ReplyDeleteYep! I lost four in my last ms. It hurt!
ReplyDeleteI contemplated adding one of my main character's mothers to the narrative, but felt it could wait until a future book.
ReplyDeleteI haven't removed a character but I did combine two characters who seemed to have roles that were too similar - good luck.
ReplyDeleteAnn
I used to have to do this a lot, especially with short stories. I've now got a bit better at not writing in characters I don't need and instead giving their role to an existing character.
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ReplyDelete