Yesterday, a funny thing happened. Stuck wondering what to do with my novel, I thought back to another character I had abandoned years ago. She existed in another story with another set of lives.
But there are some characters that stay with you, that make you fall in love.
So I found a place for her, a small place, because she has always existed in small moments. And I was happy to have her because, my goodness, I needed her. It felt right that she changed everything, that she mended a little of what was broken.
Any abandoned characters you'd like to honor in the comments? Feel free. :)
I think this is so cool. I haven't used any abandoned characters yet, but I do have a huge file that contains discarded lines that I love. And dang it, I will use them someday!
ReplyDeleteI'm like Angie, have lots and lots of lines I had to chop, but I want to use them! There is one character that always comes creeping back to me, but I have yet to use him. He's just so perfect in his story, I'm not sure I see him anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteI've had to let go of plenty of characters, but hopefully some of them will get to live again someday. I just need to find the right project :)
ReplyDeleteI have a character whose name I changed after a few drafts and with the change his personality grew/expanded. So old character is just sorta floating in the universe somewhere...I always like to think of him "sacrificing" himself for the new guy :)
ReplyDeleteI'm resurrecting one right now.
ReplyDeleteA manuscript that I'd left in the dust almost a year ago.
She's a bit spoiled, and a bit funny, and just seeking for something DIFFERENT.
I love her :D
I have such a hard time abandoning characters. But I did send off one a few years back. She was a prissy steam-punk girl that I love. One day I'll find my way back to her.
ReplyDeleteI love this! I'll admit, I've done it before, too. It's just so hard to leave a character behind that you have grown to care about.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done this yet, but I've been working on a novel I wrote forever ago that I thought would end up being abandoned. But this character just screams for attention! I can't escape her. :)
ReplyDeleteFun!
ReplyDeleteI made a friend in my new draft the sister of a guy in my previous book. It never comes up, I just know it in my head. I thought it was kinda fun.