Young Writers Society

So I am in the process of writing what hopefully will become a book at some point. But alas, I'm a bit stuck. So I paused and decided to return to base - to sit down and build the skeleton of the plot from scratch, so I know where I'm going from here.
When I started writing I didn't think I'd get so far, so I haven't really planned too much, so it actually did a lot of good thing for my plot, and I managed to close a lot of plot holes.
However, one of the problems it caused me is that my favorite character is now dead. Well, not dead dead, but I just don't know what to do with it.
I'll explain - The aforementioned character is basically the "bad guy" of the story, but when he is introduced basically nothing is known about him. He is very rich and very powerful, kind of a "Shadow Man", pulling the strings behind the curtain, but besides that he is extremely mysterious. Even his name is very obviously a pseudonym. He is a very important character in the story, since he is basically the catalyst that makes everything happen.
When I started writing, I planned for him to be a businessman who is driven by his greed to do whatever it is he is doing. But now, after my re-planning, this rational is not good enough. It's just not appropriate. Now, as I mentioned, I really love this character (it actually preceded the story in a few years. I had it in my head for a few years and I always wanted to do something with it), so I want it to be something really cool and interesting. So, what I was thinking is to make it a recurring character in all my stories and eventually write a story that revolves around solely around it - something big and epic about gods and parallel dimensions etc.
This idea, though, gives me 2 problems:
1. Brandon Sanderson does something very similar to this, and after reading all his books lately, I kind of feel bad about it. If this book ever gets published, I don't want it to be said that I plagiarized it from him.
2. More importantly - this plan requires me to actually write and publish more than one book. My current story actually has a chance to become a book eventually, but I'm not sure I'll be able to repeat this achievement, so it means I'll finish the book with this very important character that has absolutely no background or reasoning.

So, what do I do? any ideas?

Well, right now there is a pre-planning event here which you could use to plan out multiple stories, or just an overarching story for this character.

We'll be working on things like plot, setting, style, and giving a lot of information about how these things are related to pre-writing and how they affect novels if they're pre-written well. The key thing for you, I think, is that we'll be giving you a lot of tools you can try to figure out the best strategy for you to write.

1) I wouldn't worry too much about people thinking that you plagiarized the idea of a reoccurring character from him because it is actually an idea that could be seen as rather common. For instance in movies they have the same actor, or the creator sit in on a scene or even have talking lines like the guy who made Vertigo or Iron Man and those movies. There's also the fact that you're not copying the character. Plus, if you're using the same arc or the same world, you might just be running into the same character because of that. If you're using the same world, but not the same story, then you could, again just be running into literally the same character. There are also some series that weave together over the course of ten or twelve novels that are all in different dimensions of the same world systems.

Honestly, I think you should really sit down and take some time to plan. Think about what will motivate you to write, and then start thinking about the rules of each particular novel, or just one of them, and start to flesh out the area in your mind. One way is to read about things that other people have made. Another is to just write and create and think for a while about what you want to do.

If you just want to jump into it, and get something out there, then go backwards, you can do that too, but it's going to probably take a lot of editing, like I'm having to do with the novel I'm using as my pre-writing novel for this event I mentioned earlier.

It sounds to me like you've got a really good start. You're beginning to consider and really think about the overall questions, but now you have to know things for yourself, even if you don't let the character or the readers of the novels know things. You might just want to make this character an Easter Egg, or a thing that people who love the show/novel/series catch onto (Like a pineapple in every episode of Psyche) but the average reader doesn't, and it becomes unimportant to the overall plot.

Hey, my idea would be to write the story that he is directly involved in and focus on that. I think that it is more helpful to have a good story and then write in the sidetories later.

You could also make the other stories shorter, such as novellas or short stories. That would allow you to circumvent the problem of writing multiple books. If you want to you could compile then into a series/book, thought hey could also be freestanding.

Finally, I wouldn't be too worried by copying that one author because this character seems to be sort of mysterious, hence the reader wouldn't know who he really is. That is an advantage you have that goes along with this character.

Making him a recurring character doesn't solve your problem of him not having a motive for doing what he does. So the question your asking is basically moot, because you're not asking the right question.

The questions you're asking relate to wanting to use the character and whether or not it's acceptable to use the same character in multiple stories. This is actually a surprisingly common trope, so the answer is yes. For another example, take Tamora Pierce. Or comic books. Comic books are utterly terrible at this, with dozens of characters starting off as mysterious and eventually getting backstories later. Sometimes it's done well, sometimes it's done terribly. However, these questions have nothing to do with your actual problem: the character has no motive.

That is a completely different issue that will not be solved by making him a recurring character— in fact, he'll become even flatter because you haven't solidified his personality to the point that you'll be able to predict how he behaves in different situations, making him more likely to turn into rubber. What I mean by that is, he'll adapt to the story and become whatever you need him to be for that particular story, instead of him being his own person who has his general character stay the same throughout multiple incarnations so you can go "yes, this is the same person."

If you do want to make him rubber, you have to build that into him from the very start and figure out why he's going to suit whatever role you want. Even then, he still probably can't fit all roles, and he'll have some limits. Black Widow is a character that comes to mind, who's been built to be whatever people need her to be. However, she still has the same general gist throughout— she just knows how to adapt more than most people. Still, she relies on emotional manipulation, meaning she's effectively powerless against The Hulk who is nothing but rage.

Recurring characters need to be ten times stronger than characters who show up in one book only. Because you need to know so much more about recurring characters and need to make their lives so much more solid, to the point you can tell how they'll react to hundreds or thousands of situations instead of just dozens. You need to know how they'll adapt to different support groups, allies, enemies, and even worlds if you're doing a multiverse story. You can't just build them for one plot. You have to build full out people, and you have to know these people till they're your best friends and you can predict exactly how they'll react no matter where you put them.

I would also caution you on "I need something cooler". I've run into many authors so obsessed with creating epics that they effectively hamstring themselves by obsessing over greatness and making the best thing ever instead of actually focusing on getting words out and making sure foundation elements— character motive, setting, social structure, politics— are in order.

Don't worry about making something "cooler". Make something good and solid that can stand up to the weight of a story.

Thanks fellows!

I guess I panicked a little when I looked at my outline and realized I don't know what to do next. I needed a little kick in the head, and you supplied that, so thanks.
In case you were wondering, I found his motive for this story, I finally know what he's after. It took me a while, but I found it. Don't know if I'll use him in another story, though, but oh well, you can't win them all...