Cutting out a Character

Four years ago I had a dream. A dream where I escaped from a village by crossing a river on horseback with a handsome blond standing on the shore, waiting for me. A month later, this dream had developed into a full-blown story where the blond, Ayden, was the hero who was important to the whole group that accompanied him.

However, after a while my interest in this story waned and I moved on to other things. I would keep coming back to this story and tweaking it a bit, only to leave it again. After rolling the story around in my head for so long, I have finally decided to try writing it as my NaNoWriMoNo (I love that acronym, its like Japanese! ).

But there's a problem. I now find myself wondering about the Ayden's importance in the story and if he's anything more than a flat character. He used to a central member of the group and the integral (not to be confused with the Calculus term 'integral' ) part of the story. Now the story has shifted so the plot is carried/started by Seira, not Ayden. He's also lost his drive and both of his romantic interests. I think I've turned him into the righteous character who gets all emo/depressed and ends up being hated, disliked, not preferred, or ignored by the reader. Kinda like people are of Harry Potter in the fifth book (and possibly onwards).

My solution? I think I'll have to let him go. No, not kill him off, but get rid of him completely and leave no trace he ever existed in the story. Rammstein can easliy take up the hero aspects of Ayden's character (which are mainly some things he does, not who he is) and is a more interesting and driven character in general. It's hard, though, because Ayden's been in it since the beginning. He was even a part of my inspiration. Also, this cements Seira's role as the central character. Her job to "save the kingdom" is no longer split between her and Ayden, which I feel may create problems in my attempts to have an ensemble cast. But the story would probably be better without him as long as I can't fix him and make him actually matter.


Have you ever had to cut a character out of a story? Come close? When do you know it's time to let a character go? Have any pointers for fixing or taking out characters?

Please and thank you!

You have a character named Rammstein? I think I love you..


Well, I've never had to cut characters out entirely, I tend to work 'round them. You can always change them, I suppose? My casts tend to be very small, in any case, so that no one needs to be kicked out.

I'd say try to make him more of a minor character and fix him, rather than pull him out all together. Pulling him out sounds like more work than making him be a good character.

I'll need to know more about the character, though, before I can go about rambling on him. Does he have a goal? What is his "point" in the story? (if he even has one?) Does he help move scenes forward?

I suppose if it is no, no, and no, then you should cut him. But cutting him may only work if you haven't twisted him too deeply into the story yet, you know? Er. I do not think any of this helped.

I cut and change and revive and cut again sometimes, especially in my head. I think that is a positive sign, being able to let go.

*cries* I had to cut out a whole character in one of my earliest stories. But it was so sad because he was such a nice character, and a nice person, but he didn't really have that intense a role in the story that it wasn't already covered by other people. So I went through my story and erased his existence: everywhere his name was mentioned, everywhere things would become singular instead of plural.

I don't know if I have any tips, per se, but maybe that's one of the ways you can tell when it's time for a character to go: if you really can go through and delete them with little to no problem (story-wise). Though generally, it's best to catch these characters early before they get too out of hand.

For FREAK, I cut out this guy named Michael because he was basically stupid and irrelevant and horrible in twelve different ways. Then I put in Daniel, who served the same role as Michael, except strangely enough, it wasn't as horrible.

So yeah. Cut him out and put all of his GOOD characteristics in the other guys.

I have had this problem before. A few characters in my up coming book have a point, but it ends. I guess you have to decide if you can put the character some where else or not. Dane served his purpose so I had him killed off as well as his girlfriend Marry. It sounds harsh, but there was no point in having them at all after that.

As for Keven, i just couldn't let him go. He was Jason's (Main Character) best friend, so i tweaked it. Made it so he would go away, but come back later.

If you feel he was important to the story keep him, but change his role, actions, and placement. Just an idea.

Yeah I know how that is.. I had these two great characters-- they were siblings. The only thing that was horrible was they didn't fit into the story, at least where I put them. They took away from another set of siblings that where slightly more important. So I had to take them out and put them in my little collection of great characters that I want to use but not at the moment they were thought up...

So my point is that, if you fell like he is taking away from the story take him out. Maybe put him in at a later point, as a slightly different character if he's really important to you. But don't let him be just an empty character. It wouldn't be fair to the character.

Suzanne wrote:You have a character named Rammstein? I think I love you..

lols. I loves the Rammstein! I tortures and tortures him until his just a wittle tortured soul and then I huggles him and give him some happiness before taking it away again. =D (Rammstein, aka: proof Perra's a terrible, sadistic writer and should never be left alone with a character. XD)

Suzanne wrote:I'll need to know more about the character, though, before I can go about rambling on him. Does he have a goal? What is his "point" in the story? (if he even has one?) Does he help move scenes forward?

His goal is "To restore honour to his family name and become a real person." (that last part sounds more Pinocchio than it really is)
His "point" is to be the hero (not much of a point), but he doesn't really move the story along now that he doesn't have crucial relationships with any of the others. And his motivation is basically his duty to people. This is why I think I may have to remove him from the story. Everyone else's goal, motivation, or conflict changes or evolves in some way. Ayden's, however, is pretty static or just dull.

Now that I've thought more about just moving him around and trying to change him some more, I may have another role for him to play. Bringing him in at another time and giving him a different role may make his story work. It's getting a little late to change him, considering NaNoWriMo starts in 11 days, but I think I can find the time to thoroughly figure Ayden and his role out now.

I'd go into more detail about him, but I don't like to thoroughly explain my stuff in public. >.> *is paranoid*


Thanks for the tips! Keep 'em coming!

hehe, paranoia! And, being sadistic is fun..Any reason why you named him Rammstein? (I'm a huge Rammstein fan.)

Sounds like you've got it figured out! Your character does sound kind of... usless. But if you can find a place for him in the novel and work it out, even better.


People keep saying there are eleven days until NaNo and it's scaring me! I need to finish my outline... *hides*

Well, when I first came up with my story I made up all these names for my characters, and Rammstein was Romshon. Then, one day last spring I was chatting with a friend about drawing our characters and I mentioned Romshon and she went "Rammstein! :3", I went "XD", and Romshon laughed. I looked the band up on Wiki to see what their name meant (battering ram/ramming stone) and decided it suited Romshon and thus he was reborn Rammstein! =D Unfortunately for him, only his name changed. XD But he's named after an awesome band, so he can get over it! Unfortunately, I only have one Rammstein song and didn't get any of their music from my friends when I had the chance. >.< As a result, I haven't heard a lot of their music. *sadness*



He hasn't always been useless. Although, I guess he has always been a little flat or stereotypical. Poor guy. *pats Ayden's begrudged/resent-filled head* He used to have two girls fighting over him and he was kinda cool and stuff. *sigh* But he can have his revenge now, if his new role works out.

Good grief, it's less than eleven days now! XD *twitch* Must work, work, work! I haven't even thought about outlines, other than for the characters...Eep!

I have had to cut out many characters in my short writing career.

I recently cut out something like four characters out of my book and actually it was a liberating feeling. Suddenly my focus was so much sharper and I had to worry about fewer characters.

There have also been times when I have had to cut a character out and just been heartbroken. I actually cheated this time by giving that character a cameo appearance, just to make myself feel better.

And hey, the character can always be used in another work if you really like them but they don't work in the particular piece they were born in.

~GryphonFledgling

In "The Elements", I was going to give everybody an animal familar. I was even planning to have them go on a mini adventure on their own, like a 1.5 sequel. But I soon found that they didn't play much of a role at all, and the mini adventure had nothing to do with the overall plot of the trilogy. I placed them into a little pile like the one mentioned above. "Characters that don't fit where I put them, but I would like to use at a better time". It wasn't hard for me to cut them out, as they were so detached from the story that it didn't matter. They were, say, the equivalent of Hedwig from "Harry Potter". No real role, just kind of...there.

I hate giving up on anyone, even if they're imaginary.

It's more fun to re-figure them, re-create them, and make them entirely new people. Ayden's got some good qualities because he came from your brain, and no doubt you have a good imagination. So, my advice would be to re-work him into a real person. Then you'll feel better about him and yourself.