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SFReader Forums > Writing > On Writing > Firing the main character

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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4420

Posted 5/12/2008 2:28 AM (GMT -4)

I sat down the other day, roughed out a plot for a short story and mentally did a rough character sketch of the MC. But when I started writing I discovered that somehow I'd hired the wrong actor! Instead of a bright, enthusiastic clueless kid, I got a middle-aged depressed wimp. I made the mistake of going ahead and trying to write the first few pages anyway and wound up with a horrible mess.

So, much as I dislike firing my characters, he's out of a job and I'm starting over.

My question to you is:

How often do you wind up with the wrong actor cast in the lead role of your story and how often do you just try to muddle through anyway?

darkbow
Rabbit lord

Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1500

Posted 5/12/2008 2:34 AM (GMT -4)

I'd say about a third of the time. That might sound like a lot, but I generally start with plot ideas before coming up with characters. Sometimes I have to sit back and take stock of all the characters involved in a tale, then work out who should really be the focus of the story. Most times I can figure this out within the first few graphs of a tale, but on occassion I've gone through three or four drafts of a story before getting it right.

"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology

"The Death of Lester Williams" upcoming in Crimson Highway.

"Steven Spielberg and The Magic Box" upcoming at The Ranfurly Review.
"Peter Piker the Pankin Man" upcoming at Big Pulp

"The Note" at Every Day Fiction
"Zombie Tears" at Tales of the Zombie War.
"Walking Between the Rain" at Every Day Fiction
"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology
"Hot Off the Press" Ray Gun Revival #25, 2007

www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com
http://radiodarkbow.blogspot.com Two songs a day, every day.

tchernabyelo
Acolyte

Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 394

Posted 5/12/2008 5:54 AM (GMT -4)

Very raerly, for me, but then a lot of the time I'm writing about serial characters.

I do have one novel (30k written - about a third) where on eof the main supporting cast turned out to be far more interesting than the intended pair of main characters. When I replot and rewrite I shall address the issue. In the meantime, said member of the supporting cast has featured in other stories, including the one in FS#9...

Brian Dolton

http://tchernabyelo.livejournal.com

Land Of Wind And Ghosts stories:

"The Box Of Beautiful Things" - IGMS#3

"The Man Who Was Never Afraid" - Abyss and Apex #20

"At Blue Crane Falls" - Abyss and Apex #25

"Where No Wind Blows" - Staffs & Starships #2

"What The Sea Refuses" - Black Gate (forthcoming)

"What The Heart Bears" - Black Gate (forthcoming)

"Above The Clouds" - Paper Blossoms, Sharpened Steel (forthcoming)

"The Gray World" - Every Day Fiction (forthcoming)

"Three Out Of Four" - Sorcerous Signals Feb-Apr 08

"The Dragon Path" - Fictitious Force #5

"The Last Arrow Of Liang Xi" - Darwin's Evolutions (forthcoming)

Stories in other settings:

"The Unicorn Hunter" - OG's Speculative Fiction #8

"Call Centre" - Necrotic Tissue #1

"When Winter Came" - ASIM #32

"Cold Fire" - Flashing Swords #9

"St. Saviour And The Devil's Dandy" - Flashing Swords (forthcoming)

"In This City" - Fantasy Magazine (forthcoming)

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4420

Posted 5/12/2008 5:57 AM (GMT -4)

tchernabyelo said...
In the meantime, said member of the supporting cast has featured in other stories, including the one in FS#9...

Which it would be good for you to give a link to...

DAWaverly
Quirky Weirdness

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 190

Posted 5/12/2008 9:24 AM (GMT -4)

This has happened to me and in each case (so far) the original MC slid into a minor/secondary character role. I have have yet to replace a character totally. So, while not muddling through, I do use what existed before and just change the POV to the better character. I discovered that it is not so much that the character needs fired, it is just that they are better at another job. I am still struggling with things like POV and voice. Like Ty, I sometimes need to sit back and figure these things out.

- Deven
Blogtide Rising

published
"The Journey" at Every Day Fiction

forthcoming
"An Awakening of Shadows" in The Infinity Swords anthology from Carnivah House
"All That Glitters" at Every Day Fiction arriving 30 May 2008.

MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva

Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1528

Posted 5/12/2008 1:05 PM (GMT -4)

I've had it happen a couple of times. I cut 30K from my second novel for that reason, and gave the job to a ten-year-old girl. She was remarkable! The previous became a supporting character and caught a lot of grief. In another instance, I began with one who got himself killed and left the MC position to his sidekick. It's usually the sidekick that buys it, though.

Read me in The Return of the Sword!
Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com
Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org
Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com

"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell

SJHigbee
Neophyte

Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 70

Posted 5/12/2008 1:47 PM (GMT -4)

It's sometimes hard to distinguish between getting to know a character - and having to go back & rewrite bits you got wrong before you thoroughly nailed him - and when a character is just WRONG. My instinct is to persevere, which can lead to quite a lot of rewriting... Or re-editing...

www.sjhigbee.com

Greybeard
Stablehand

Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 28

Posted 5/12/2008 10:18 PM (GMT -4)

I suspect I'd be a better writer if I fired more protagonists.

Edwin

MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva

Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1528

Posted 5/13/2008 2:25 PM (GMT -4)

You can evolve a character, too. Just get him beat senseless by something or another that changes his perspective of himself in relation to the world. I've done that to a couple of characters. My all-time-favorite supporting character (deus ex machina) tends to botch things and redirect all the time - usually taking a great deal of pain and trauma on himself to protect the MC from his misdirections or from consequences he foresaw but was powerless to prevent. He's constantly evolving in both directions, situationally Machiavellian at times and other times more Apollonian/Socratic/passive. He's very consistent, but it's not at all obvious in what way; on the contrary, he comes off as a bit of a crackpot most of the time. And the situations he gets himself into . . . I do a lot of work figuring how to extricate him from it. And that is where I truly live!

Read me in The Return of the Sword!
Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com
Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org
Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com

"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell

Greybeard
Stablehand

Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 28

Posted 5/13/2008 7:23 PM (GMT -4)

MysticWino said...
I do a lot of work figuring how to extricate him from it. And that is where I truly live!

Everyone needs a hobby.

Edwin

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