I
read this great blog post the other day about how to bring minor
characters to life. Minor characters can be fantastic, and no less
loved or intriguing for not being top of the bill. In editng my
current novel I have found, however, that I am guilty of writing in
minor characters that may not need to be there at all.
In
the first draft, my protagonist has a best friend. I called her Deb.
Deb had a few interesting personality quirks, was amusing enough, and
ticked the “My Main Character Must Have Relationships and Friends”
box. To be honest, I didn't really care much about her one way or
another (sorry, Deb) but she was, I was certain, the sort of
character who was Necessary. It's all right, I thought, as I wrote
several banal scenes that were supposed to somehow shed light on my
main character and her story. I can flesh this out when I come to
edit.
Elsewhere
in the novel, a good long while after we meet Deb, I have two other
characters. Twins, Jamie and Beth Kennedy are rich, somewhat
entitled, and, most importantly, vital to the plot. That fact has
never been in any doubt. I know those two inside out, and they are
the sort of characters that you fully suspect are off doing their own
thing the moment your back is turned. And yet, they don't show up
until a good 10,000 words in, whereas Deb, uninspiring,
one-dimensional Deb, had her debut at least 5,000 words before them,
despite doing nothing to advance the plot whatsoever.
Something
just wasn't right.
As
a result, when I came to look at the first 20K at edit time, I was
brave. Taking the literary bull by the horns, I had Jamie nearly mow
my protagonist down in his bright orange monstrosity of a car within
the first chapter. Then, with some re-writing and judicious use of
the delete key, Beth accompanied her on a pivotal shopping trip in
chapter three. Lo and behold, the need for Deb was removed just like
that. Yes, my protagonist may have a best friend, but she apparently
doesn't feature very highly in this particular story, or at least not
in the way I tried to make her. By being fixed on where the story
needed to go and who actually needed to be there, I removed one
character but improved two by bringing them into the story early on
where they needed to be.
It
got me thinking over whether I would find the same with other
characters along the way. I strongly suspect that one of the random
maids may have to go or be reduced to a non-speaking, right in the
background role. My historian-cum-psychic is, at present, something
of a cardboard cut out, but I can see though what needs to be
done with her, how to save her from the same fate as poor old Deb.
The same goes for the loveable (and, if you listen to some people,
potentially psychotic) village Vicar. They aren't fully drawn at the
moment, but they can and will be. The difference between these two
and Deb? They have a purpose. They have a place in the story that
cannot be filled by anyone else. They advance the plot and my
protagonist's understanding of her situation, and, hopefully, can be
seen as having their own stories and lives, even if only a brief part
of that comes into this particular novel.
As
with any aspect of writing, being too precious over words, concepts,
or even characters, can have a detrimental and even fatal impact on a
story. With all the fleshing out in the world, there just wasn't
going to be a place for Deb, and so, with the greater good of the
novel and hopeful enjoyment of my readers, she had to go.
Will
I even recognise my own novel when I get to the end of editing it?
Probably not, but one thing I am certain of – this isn't going to
be a bad thing.
