I knew you once . . .

Sometimes characters slip away.

I don't know why it happens. I'm sure, when I wrote this character, I understood him and he served a purpose. But now he is falling flat. His lines are dull, uninteresting, and I have absolutely no idea why he won't talk to me.

His time has come. He is either off to the scrap folder (to live until needed--if I ever trust him again) or he has to get his act together and shed the moping puppet routine. There is no time left to be soft. I have thirty days left until I must turn in the book, so he must either pull his weight or go.

Ever write a character you remember loving in an early draft, but in subsequent drafts discover he/she just doesn't work in the story anymore?

Comments

Marcia Colette said…
Yes. But I usually resurrect them by destroying their world/comfort zone. Just ask yourself "What's the worse thing that could happen to this character?" and they'll either sink or swim from that moment on.

Good luck with finishing the second book. Once Bitten absolutely rocks!
August 31, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Kalayna Price said…
Hey Marcia! Yes that does work usually. I may have to try throwing him in deep and seeing if that gets him talking again.

Thanks! ^_^
September 1, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GRAVE WAR is here!

Image
 Today is the day! Grave War is out in the wild!  I hope you love this story. I'm thrilled to share it. Thanks for reading!  (Note: The print and ebook should be available. The audio book will be coming. I'm not sure of the release date, but I approved a cover for it, so it is coming.) 
Read more

The Revision Game, Part one--2nd drafts: The Big Picture

Last month Cher asked me to go into more specifics about how I revise novels. I didn't get a chance to post on the topic during the NaNo challenge, so I thought I'd delve into it now. In parts. Yes, I'm breaking it down that much. Those of you who won NaNo last month are hopefully still racing toward those magical words "The End" (or maybe some of you have hit them already). But what do you do after you reach those words? Personally, I close the file. Then I don't open it again for at least two weeks (if at all possible). During that down time I work on other projects, write a short story, talk to my neglected husband, read as many books as I can without my eyes rolling out of my head, whatever--the point is to let the dust settle on the story I just finished. (**Note: I highly recommend still writing something while letting a first draft sit. It takes about 3 weeks to form a habit, so if you slip out of the habit of writing, you have to force yourself to
Read more

What's Next?

A lot of people are writing to ask if Grave Destiny is the final book in the series. I'm very happy to report that no, this is not the end! Ace has contracted one final Alex Craft novel so that I can finish up the story. I'm currently writing the first draft, and while it has a tentative title, I'm not free to share it quite yet. I'll be turning in the 7th Alex Craft novel this September, so I anticipate it will be released late 2020 or early 2021 but will update you when I have more information. So, for those of you worried that this might be the end, worry not. There is more. I hope you are enjoying Grave Destiny!
Read more