NaNo Day 18, Characters Come and Characters Go

On NaNo Day 18 I said good-bye to two characters that I'd been clinging to through the changes I'd been making to the story. I realized that they were completely superfluous to the plot and would only serve to distract me. Eventually, I knew I'd end up cutting them anyway, so why wait?

Honestly, it wasn't too hard to bid adieu to Howard Alcott. Poor old Howard didn't have much of a presence in the first version of the story as it was. He was there to provide financial backing for the family business (and, okay, he was the heroine's step-father), but he wasn't going to get much more than a mention here and there. He certainly had no POV scenes that I needed to worry about. So long, Howard, you shadowy-figure-at-best, you.

The second character was harder to delete. Lily Palmer was my original antagonist. Not so much a villain, as the (remote) villain's henchwoman with the power to make her own decisions. She's a morally ambiguous character with a lot of charisma and a sense of humor, but not, ultimately, a heart of gold. Lily is out for Lily, period. If what she wants happens to coincide with something you're after, she'd have no problem teaming up with you--just watch out for the time when your goals diverge and be ready to duck if you actively get in her way.

Lily has great potential, just not for this story. Not the new direction the story's taken, anyway. I have faith that Lily will eventually get her story. Who knows? Maybe she'll end up being the heroine. With Lily, you never can tell. And that's exactly the way I like it.

I may have said good-bye to Howard and Lily (at least temporarily), but I also said hello to three new characters. Well, maybe it's more acurate to say it's one new character and two changed characters. The new character is the alternate universe (AU) version of my heroine's father. The two morphed characters are the AU versions of my heroine's mother and maternal grandfather (who are now deceased in her world). They play significantly larger roles in their new (improved!) versions and I'm enjoying getting to know them.

Ah, the strange peoples inhabiting my head, let me show you them!


NaNo Day 18 Words:  300
Total NaNo Words:  12,521