Do you ever reuse characters?

Yes...

All the time. The ones that stuck with me but ended up trunked or otherwise unpublishable got pulled from the wreckage and moved somewhere else. The great thing about stories is that anything good can be salvaged and made better.

I reuse characters all the time. I don't think anyone will really notice unless you've already written a popular novel with them in it, or you compile your shorts of the same-but-different-named character into a collection...

There's nothing at all wrong with reusing characters, and darned near every successful writer I know does so. I don't recommend renaming them, tough. No, that would not make them a new character. Just reuse them, old name and all. It's not only legitimate, it can draw in readers.

Simply renaming a character really makes no sense. If you want to keep that character, then keep his or her name. Change the name, and you will change the character. Or, worse, readers will wonder why you changed the name, and will think all your character are just going to be the same person with a new name. Believe me, you do not want readers and reviewers hanging this toe tag on you.

I definitely write multiple stories about the same characters. Plenty of writers do. I wouldn't change their names or try to make them into "different" characters. I don't see a need, and if your stories develop a readership, readers will probably want to be able to see the characters develop across multiple stories. I'm reading Junot Diaz's This is How You Lose Her right now, and part of the appeal is seeing more of Yunior and his family.

As long as the stories that are published as stand-alone stories really do work as stand-alone stories, I don't see any problem.

Like Derek, I write linked short stories where a secondary character in one story becomes the MC in the next. It works for me.

I enjoy reusing characters. I've been told.I have a talent for making my secondary characters come to life, and sometimes they demand their own stories.

The only wrinkle I've ever run into is the publisher of my novel claimed ownership of the characters and therefore I wasn't free to reusue them. I've heard this publisher is pretty generous with allowing the characters to appear in other stories, so I don't think it's a major problem for many people. And it seems to only apply to characters who appear in novels and not short stories. Just be sure to check your contracts.

Chris P said:

The only wrinkle I've ever run into is the publisher of my novel claimed ownership of the characters and therefore I wasn't free to reusue them. I've heard this publisher is pretty generous with allowing the characters to appear in other stories, so I don't think it's a major problem for many people. And it seems to only apply to characters who appear in novels and not short stories. Just be sure to check your contracts.

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How in the world did that happen? No good publisher claims the right to characters unless the writing is work for hire. I keep the copyright to everything I write, which means I also keep the characters, and every reputable publisher works this way.

A publisher like that is not being generous when they "let" you use your own characters.

Jamesaritchie said:

How in the world did that happen? No good publisher claims the right to characters unless the writing is work for hire. I keep the copyright to everything I write, which means I also keep the characters, and every reputable publisher works this way.

A publisher like that is not being generous when they "let" you use your own characters.

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I don't have my contract handy, but I think it was technically right of first refusal on stories using the same major characters. They for sure had right of first refusal on sequels and series.

I love reusing my favorite characters - my science fiction short story heroine, wisecracking shuttle pilot Cookie Sullivan, not only rode through the pages of several magazines, but eventually ended up in her own collection, SPACED OUT: Interplanetary Voyages of the Linda Rae. And now her new adventures get published in a variety of venues, including as stand-alone shorts on Amazon.

My cozy crime heroine, Kitty Morse, ended up in a three-book series, along with her doggy, Coco, another favorite "character" of mine.

It so helps to know them thoroughly and understand them. They cannot be real to a reader if they do not feel real to you.

Yes. I have reused characters and no, I haven't changed their name. My time traveler series has a 22 y/o named Sam and my fantasy has a 42 y/o named Sam--they are essentially the same character only at different ages and one is set on another world, but the personality is exactly the same. The setting or age is different enough that it could pass as a different character to readers, however it's the same one to me.

"Characters" is just a more mature way of saying "imaginary friends". And how can I break off a relationship with the best imaginary friends I've ever had? I have to reuse them!

Yes. Many stories and both novels in my sig are set in the same southern English commuter town, inspired by bits of the Hampshire towns of Fleet/Church Crookham (where I grew up) and Aldershot (where I've lived for twenty-five years). I figured that I'd gone to the effort of making up such a setting, I might as well reuse it.

That does mean you can have character overlaps. The protagonist of both novels makes a brief appearance (a few years older) in my novella "Mourning Becomes Me", which I wrote last year and which will be in the forthcoming collection in my sig. Characters go to the same Catholic girls' school in both novels and the novella. The novella and the novels both stand alone, but this is a small Easter Egg if they all get published and if anyone reads them all.

All. The. Time.

My role play characters get cycled into my fiction a lot. It's like having a bowl of cereal. The character (cereal) is already made up, just add milk and a sliced banana (story)...

Yes, but more so particular traits or a certain sort of personality that just happens to play out well. So I reuse it when opportunity arises.

Absolutely. Particularly allowing the previously minor, obscure characters to take the spotlight.

As someone whose had a great deal more experience as a fan of fiction rather than a writer of it, one of my favorite things to see is a well written character come back time and times gain throughout stories that otherwise might not share any real connection at all. I know there are better examples out there, but since I'm a huge Stephen King fan, the big one that always comes to mind is a lone wanderer named Randall Flagg.

When I first read The Stand he was the one thing that really stood out about the story and grabbed hold of my attention. I wanted to know more about him, but alas there was nothing more to know. So a few years passed and I picked up another King book called Eyes of the Dragon. Totally different setting, time period, and world, but guess who just happened to show up as the main antagonist! Some more years passed and I got into the Dark Tower series, only to find that Flagg is one off her primary antagonists AND just happens to have a plethora of other names he goes by in other books as well.

Again, I'm sure there are better examples, but if you can make a character who is interesting and leads people to want to know more about them, by all means keep bringing them back and revealing more and more facets of their character.

dpaterso said:

Sure, I'm doing it now. Supporting characters in one story sometimes get their shot at being MC in another story, too.

-Derek

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Yep, this is how my series works. If someone interesting shows up somewhere, they'll probably get 20,000 words of their own.

I, like James, also own my stories, my characters, any rights to series, sequels and prequels. However...

If I get offered a major deal to turn them into a TV series, or movie, the publisher gets to make an equal or better offer, in which case, the publisher gets to pay me.

I have two series with reoccurring characters, plus a bunch which are stand-alones. I also pluck out secondary characters and give them their own story, sometimes. And the two series MC's often make 'cameos' in each other's series. (If that makes sense.) I think a lot of short fiction writers do this.

Oh yeah.

Minor characters are a gold mine for untold stories.

Bonus: world building is, if not already done, at least already started.

I tend to get attached, so yes.

Chris P said:

I don't have my contract handy, but I think it was technically right of first refusal on stories using the same major characters. They for sure had right of first refusal on sequels and series.

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That's fairly normal, but it's best if what they really have is the right to match any offer from another publisher. If my primary publish is willing to match the offer I get from another publisher, my primary publisher gets the story. If the other publisher is willing to offer more than my primary publisher is willing to match, the other publisher gets the story. In essence, it's a mini auction.

I use the secondary in one novel as the MC in another - especially as I'm writing a series of prequels within one family, going back generations each time. That way, characteristics that work can be recycled... i.e., Caitriona's fiery Irish temper comes through in her granddaughter, Eithne.

There's a project I put on permanent hiatus for political reasons, but I rescued some of the characters for a different project, which I also put on permanent hiatus. But I'm doing something with these three people, dammit!