Eliminating a character

[CaroGirl]

Has anyone eliminated a character by combining two characters? I think my ms might benefit from doing this but I wonder how much work it was for you. How much better was the story after you did it?

[Prawn]

I haven't, but I have one the reverse, created two from one.
P

[Devil Ledbetter]

My female MC's mother and brother served pretty much the same function, so I eliminated the mother by removing all of her scenes and moving her existence off stage (I didn't want my MC motherless). Of the two characters, the brother was more interesting and more fun to write.

[Billingsgate]

I've done exactly that (combine two characters), after seeing such advice in a book on screenwriting. The story is better, and one less character for the reader to keep track of. I advise any novelist to read a few books on screenwriting; it's all about how to make your story as tight as a bowstring.

[Stew21]

I have.
I got rid of two and added one new one that was a combination of them both (taking over their important dialogue for one thing). The character I added had a great deal more personality and a personal story that was more interesting than the other two characters combined. The new character served the same purpose alone as the others did on the whole. And she did it better.
The story was much better, and not that difficult to do.First I added the new character and then deleted the redundant ones. - and by scene attributed the dialogue to the new one.
It sounds more complicated than it was. It definitely streamlined the book.

[ALG71]

I haven't done it yet, but I've considered it for my main WIP if I find I'm way over an acceptable word limit. The three characters all have minor rolls until, if and when, there was a second book. The character would have a bigger role at that time. Either way, at least for me, it wouldn't effect the first book being stand-alone in the event I didn't get the opportunity to write the second book. My biggest drawback is that I'm in the 8th draft now and hope to start editing when I've finished this one. I would dread having to do another draft to make the changes now.

[Tracy]

If you think your story'll benefit from doing it, then you know the answer ...

It doesn't matter how much work it is.

[CaroGirl]

If you think your story'll benefit from doing it, then you know the answer ...

It doesn't matter how much work it is.
Ah, there's the rub. I'm not sure. I don't know if it would be worth the work to combine the characters if it wouldn't benefit the story. I might wait for beta read time and see what my readers think about combining the two characters. Or maybe it'll become clear to me while I'm working on this draft.

It's good to hear that others have done it and it hasn't been as difficult as I'm worried it'll be.

[PeeDee]

In one novel, I started it with a throwaway character who was supposed to introduce the main character. The throwaway character became more interesting, the main character never appeared...so I just gave the throwaway some of the MC's storylines and kept on going.

[JoniBGoode]

Has anyone eliminated a character by combining two characters? I think my ms might benefit from doing this but I wonder how much work it was for you. How much better was the story after you did it?

I haven't done this, but it's one of the techniques the agent Donald Maas recommends in his book on writing a bestseller, to make your novel stronger. I think the point is that you get more conflict, and stronger emotions, this way.

[Sassee]

I thought about it. Then I realized I needed to keep my characters separated because of what happens in the storyline. Combining the characters would have had a completely different outcome on the emotional well-being of my main character. (One dies, other does not)

[Gillhoughly]

I did that. I had twin brother and sister. She was the brains, he was the brawn who didn't talk.

A few pages in I figured out just how lame they were, then morphed them into a single, extremely smart, sociopathic unit the hero was attracted to in spite of himself. She became such a favorite with the beta readers I was told NOT to kill her off at the end. I kept her on for two books, then let her get away with the goods.

And dang--she was FUN to write! :D

[JoNightshade]

Nope, never done this. I eliminated a character entirely, though, for the first time in my WIP. That's big for me because my novels usually have a very small cast to begin with. :)

[ZannaPerry]

I had a problem with this before because I thought I had too many characters, and it would come off as confusing. But then I read this book I just finished last night where the author had introduced a lot of characters in the beginning, and I was a bit confused because they all had their own POVs, but then as the story progressed she killed off some of those POVs. That got me thinking, and a good way to limit your characters. Just kill them. If it serves in the type of story you're writing.

On another hand, I am having trouble with still. I want to combine my killer and my hero. Thinking of how to do that is hard, and it very well might not be done.

[Scrawler]

Has anyone eliminated a character by combining two characters? I think my ms might benefit from doing this but I wonder how much work it was for you. How much better was the story after you did it?
Yes I dropped 1-2 characters and combined 1-2 others. This gave me the extra "space" to better develop the existing characters.
How much work was it? I didn't really find it any more work that usual. It was just another revision. Combining made the characters much more interesting and gave them more depth.
It improved the story immensely.

[KTC]

Oh Christ. Never even ocurred to me. Sounds like a logistical nightmare. My characters seem to come to me prepackaged.

[Soccer Mom]

I've done it when I realized that I was trying to shoehorn in a character that didn't belong. Some I've removed completely and just handed their function over to another character. Other's I've blended into a single character.

You can do it, if you really want.

[RedScylla]

I've done it twice, and it was a good thing. In one instance, I had character A, who had a relatively important role in the story, and then toward the end, I had character B, who was just there to serve a function. In the end, I deleted B and simply went back and slipped in suggestions about A, to make his motivations fit with the function B previously held. Worked well and made A a more rounded character.

[Jean Marie]

I've not done it; mine tell me what to do. They show up when necessary. It's weird. It's a parallel universe thing.

[GerriB]

Follow your gut. If the characters can be combined, combine them. If they need to be bumped up in importance to the Story, bump them. If they need to be cut off at the knees and made minor, cut them. If they're not needed at all, get rid of them.

Good luck!

[NicoleMD]

I have two characters that share one body. Does that count?

There's something to say about group dynamics. What fun is it to have one-on-one conversations all the time? Striking a good balance is important. Sometimes the more the merrier. Sometimes the more the more confusing.

Nicole

[David I]

I did that. I had twin brother and sister. She was the brains, he was the brawn who didn't talk.

A few pages in I figured out just how lame they were, then morphed them into a single, extremely smart, sociopathic unit the hero was attracted to in spite of himself. She became such a favorite with the beta readers I was told NOT to kill her off at the end. I kept her on for two books, then let her get away with the goods.

And dang--she was FUN to write! :D

It sounds like ti would be a helluva lot of fun to read, too. Where can I find it?

[ChaosTitan]

Ah, there's the rub. I'm not sure. I don't know if it would be worth the work to combine the characters if it wouldn't benefit the story.

Take a good, hard look at Frick and Frack (your two characters for this exercise). Look at their importance to each scene they are in. Is one more often window dressing? Does one impart information that someone else could give? Do either one of them do anything unique that can easily be attributed to another character?

If you answered yes, Frick or Frack needs to go.

I was halfway through writing the first draft of a novel when I realized one of my supporting characters was kinda useless. And boring. He had a personal history and a neat backstory, but didn't do much to further the current novel. He was just an extra body in the room. His lines could be given away. I realized I could finish writing the novel without him and be none the worse for it.

So I did. I kept writing like he'd never existed. Once the first draft was complete, I went back to the beginning and cut him out. Gave away his lines. Made him disappear. It was kinda fun.

[sneakers145]

I've not done it; mine tell me what to do. They show up when necessary. It's weird. It's a parallel universe thing.

Exactly. And sometimes a character comes along who was not really supposed to have more than a walk-on part and takes over the place. I hate when that happens, though the story is usually better for it.

My characters come fully formed; unfortunately they don't tell me everything right up front. Sometimes they wait until I get it all wrong, then tell me the real deal. They frustrate me no end. And they're always going off and doing something I don't want them to do and create trouble.

[megan_d]

My character had a pet snake that I edited out, is that the same?

[Wolvel]

I've had two characters combine, but all I got out of the deal was their kid.:ROFL: