Culling Baggage
Last week, I talked about how my protagonist’s motivations for Chronicles 3 had crystalized, allowing me to clearly see why she’s doing what she’s doing and what she’s got to overcome to get where she’s going, or fail. This week has been about sharpening that crystal into the character I need my protagonist to be. As you can imagine, that process leaves chunks of crystal on the table.
So let’s talk about culling baggage, or when you know too much about your character.
Have I mentioned that the lore embedded into my protagonist’s character could fill a mountain? Well, it’s true, and now that I have a baseline for what my protagonist needs to have and I have a better idea what, by contrast, can be discarded.
I am a believer that, if it’s written on the page it must matter. More importantly, it needs to matter in this story. I love re-reading a book and discovering all the easter eggs left behind, but unless it’s a small, one-time name drop, it had better be relevant to the story I’m reading right now.
But I’ll step off that particular soap-box now.
When do you know too much about your character? When what you know gets in the way of the story you’re trying to tell.
For my protagonist, the first bit of baggage I jettisoned was an experimental power I had given her. Once that was gone, I found myself reviewing other skills and abilities with a very critical eye, because now I’ve discovered another important facet of her character. You might even call it her overarching character arc...
Culling is always a painful process, though. There’s always a part of my brain screaming, “But we NEED that! It does this and this and this.” Thankfully, this isn’t my first rodeo, and I’ve learned 90% of the time, whatever’s on the chopping block isn’t absolutely necessary for the story you’re trying to tell. In fact, chances are good if you cut it, you’ll either realize you never needed it to begin with, or you’re going to come up with something even more awesome to take its place.
Culling, like character deaths, forces the writer to get creative.
Do you have any horror stories about over-bloated characters you had to trim down to size? Share it in the comments, and let’s commiserate.
