Send in a ghoul with a gun.
Jan. 23rd, 2012 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I've been bitching to my writing chat about this problem for a couple weeks now, and still have not solved it, so now I will bring out the big guns and bitch to LJ.
When I first wrote Dreams, I threw in a secondary character I'd had in my head (and RPGs) for a while, who came with a backstory that tied into the greater metaplot (read: things that had nothing to do with the book at hand). This seemed like a good idea at the time. When I started this latest revision, I realized it was not a very good idea after all; the tangents this character brought with him were doing nothing to help the pacing in the last quarter. But, the role itself--which provides exposition, conflict, eleventh hour rescues, and a romantic entanglement--was still useful and viable.
For several weeks now I've been trying to fill that role. Using the same character with a backstoryectomy seemed cheap. Then I asked myself does this character need to be a man? and the answer was not particularly. This opened up so many new possibilities.
And now I'm completely stalled. I don't have any handy preexisting characters I could plug into the role, and my initial attempts at creating a new one have not been satisfactory.
Anyone have any stray characters lying around who'd like to audition? I can provide guns, fast cars, and a snazzy wardrobe.
When I first wrote Dreams, I threw in a secondary character I'd had in my head (and RPGs) for a while, who came with a backstory that tied into the greater metaplot (read: things that had nothing to do with the book at hand). This seemed like a good idea at the time. When I started this latest revision, I realized it was not a very good idea after all; the tangents this character brought with him were doing nothing to help the pacing in the last quarter. But, the role itself--which provides exposition, conflict, eleventh hour rescues, and a romantic entanglement--was still useful and viable.
For several weeks now I've been trying to fill that role. Using the same character with a backstoryectomy seemed cheap. Then I asked myself does this character need to be a man? and the answer was not particularly. This opened up so many new possibilities.
And now I'm completely stalled. I don't have any handy preexisting characters I could plug into the role, and my initial attempts at creating a new one have not been satisfactory.
Anyone have any stray characters lying around who'd like to audition? I can provide guns, fast cars, and a snazzy wardrobe.