Last Sunday, my husband and I took my daughter to church (our son was camping.)
Our church has a children’s moment worked into the service—a time for all the elementary-aged kids to come forward and listen to a homily by the youth pastor. The homily is usually themed, very short, and with a clear message.
Sunday’s lesson? I can’t remember exactly what it was. That’s because the youth minister asked the children what they were going to be for Halloween (as a sort of warm-up question), and my daughter loudly proclaimed she was going to be the devil.
It is true that she’s going to be a (cute) devil for Halloween. If I’d known the minister was going to ask such a question, though, I probably would have advised her not to pipe up that she was going to be Satan.
But then, this is a Presbyterian church (and a very laid-back one, at that) and the congregation burst out laughing both at what she said, where she said it, and the youth pastor’s Art Linkletter expression as he looked out at the crowd. My daughter, of course, was totally baffled at the reaction, not really seeing the good vs. evil implication. She just liked the costume.
Still…the devil wasn’t really the right casting for the minister’s homily.
It got me thinking about my own character casting. Because I do it, almost without thinking about what I’m doing.
If there’s not enough conflict, I add a character that grates on people’s nerves (and might end up being an additional victim.)
If the book seems too serious, I’ll cast a funny character to bring some humor in.
But sometimes I miscast, too. I’ll put a character in who is too strong of a character and he or she steals the spotlight too many times. I’ll have to change the character or tone him down. Sometimes a character just changes the whole dynamics of the story (like the devil in the pastor’s homily.) Then I completely jettison the character, if it doesn’t work out.
Because the protagonist can’t do it all. They can’t carry the whole book and all its elements. Well, I guess they can, but it’s difficult. Much easier to have a cast of characters to support the protagonist or trip him up. As long as they’ve been well-cast.
Have you ever had to rein a character in or pull one out completely because of miscasting? Or added a new character to the cast because something was lacking?
I like your description of how you pattern characters for your stories/novels. And I really like the story of your daughter. That is one story you will long remember with a smile. And I’ll bet your youth pastor will be telling that one for many years to come, too! Good post.
LOL! I’m going right back to my ms now and add a new character–a little devil!
Very funny.
I’m still working on just the right amount and makeup of characters. It’s still a struggle for me. Thanks for the post.
Elizabeth – What a funny story about your daughter! I’m glad everyone took it in, if you will, the right spirit.
Funny you’d mention that about casting characters, too. I’ve done that. In my WIP, for instance, I had a character who was trying to do double duty, you might say. What I needed to do, was allow that character to be cast in one way, and then add a character to do the other job. Once I did that, the story became much better, I think.
I wound up adding a new antagonist to a story because the first one was all right, but didn’t exactly do enough for me. The second antagonist? Blew my mind away.
Sometimes I have too much fun with secondary characters and have to remind myself that they also have to move the story forward.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I would have loved to have seen the minister’s face at your daughter’s response. Elizabeth, I love how you use life story to segue into writing lesson. IT works beautifully.
Karen
Now that’s funny!
A secondary character in my book provides lighthearted comic relief in the beginning of my book, when the main character is at his most unlikeable, but he leaves the story once that character has established himself.
You’ve given me a lot to think about. I do this automatically so I’ve never analyzed it, which can’t help but make the choices better!
Oh, those secondary characters that try to hog the spotlight! I’ve dealt with a few. My solution is let them do their thing in small bursts as they’re far too colourful to appear too often.
Yep I my WIP is told through the POVs of 2 women and 2 men and I nearly had a 4th POV subplot, then I realised she needed axing as she doesn’t appear enough. :O)
It great to start off the morning with a laugh! I’ve toned down a character but haven’t yanked one out of a story…yet.
Thanks for the tips on adding a character here and there to beef up the plot. I had never thought about doing that, but I can see where it could work when handled well.
I have had a character start to take over a book and had to rein him in. But I saved all the scenes I cut out of that ms, because he could make a good central character for another book.
LOL, that is too cute! Have a wonderful Halloween with your kids, Elizabeth!
Holy cow! Wow, we don’t even acknowledge halloween at our church. (So in asking, the minister had to be aware it might happen!)
Great post – I love the story about your daughter – so cute :)
I liked your lead into this posting. Your devilish little daughter must be adorable. As to characters, I often add a character to enhance my novels. However, I have often changed the “character” and behavior of a character to fit the plot.
Thanks for coming by today,everyone! Sounds like I’m not the only one doing character casting!
That’s a great answer by your daughter. A little bit of evil is just charming, if it’s good at heart.
After Jesus, Satan is the 2nd most important character for Christianity. He has kept the church in business for centuries, as threat to reluctant believers.
In Satan we trust >:)
Cold As Heaven
Yeah, that was definately an Art Linkletter moment LOL! I have not had to reign in characters. I developed them as I went along and, well, actually they kinda developed themselves, adapted to the situations and conflicts. Even surprised me from time to time. I just let them loose and watched what they did.
Stephen Tremp
Halloween is fun because *everyone* gets to pretend…not just the writers, who pretend all the time. :)
I definitely put my characters through the wringer–they have jobs to do…if they don’t do them, out they go!