Creating new characters, or revisiting existing ones?

[BobbyBrandt]

I'm more inclined to create new. I've tried series, and they just don't work for me. having said that, I do reuse some locations and characters as sub characters, and my readers seem to appreciate the occasional nods; Ricki and the Halftime bar are an example. They appear in a few of my other stories, but not as the amin character.

I think that this is an important distinction.

I have one series where the common theme is the correlating factor tying them together, with none of the characters shared among the other episodes. I have another series where the characters remain constant and the plots for each episode differ.

Then, I have a "universe" of stories where characters appear and reappear as circumstances dictate (some are members of the same family and some are associates). There are also "satellite" stories where characters from the universe play minor roles intended simply to establish the "orbit".

And finally, I have stories totally divergent from all the others where a character with specific traits or skills can play a role. If I have already developed that character for another story, I will frequently introduce them, often with little or no backstory that would indicate them having existed elsewhere. My loyal readers recognize them, but someone reading just that one story would not have any idea.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

As far as on Lit, not counting what I wrote for the Amorous Goods challenge; no. When I can get at it, I do have a story where two of the cast from Babalon's Curse return. One as a guest, the other a main character.

Some novels I wrote many years ago did have a shared universe. Only two have full published first drafts.

 

[Yogma]

I've not yet had a story that featured a fully developed character returning in a different story, although I have a half written story (may or may not ever get finished), that combines four characters from two very different stories in one setting.

That said, my next story (after the one I currently have pending), features a minor cameo from a character that had an extremely minor part in another story. She is included as a bit of an easter egg, as the stories are very different and set in different eras. It will be interesting to see if a reader notices her reappearance.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

As a writer, I love both. I love the potential continuation of a known character and the and the creation of new ones.

I like to take the known character to new places or add different developments almost to a point of a culmination.

I use Frances Daugherty as an example, I am now writing a third series of her as the protagonist, she started as a young high school graduate with no focus in The Coffee Shop. I then took her into college and into her internship with The Civic Light Opera - Internship. Now as mature woman, a professional I have her moving forward with My Show Must Go On. I think I know where the new twists and turns will take her but one never knws.

Likewise, I do enjoy building, creating and seeing where I can take a new character in the story.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Then, I have a "universe" of stories where characters appear and reappear as circumstances dictate

I also have a “universe” of supporting characters who appear in stories, although the main characters in each story are new. The recurring characters are mostly for my amusement, but a few readers have commented that they noticed.

 

[Writer61]

I do both. I have one (unpublished) character, with associated friends, who will be in several group sex stories, all inprogress. But I like the MC a lot. I find that I have to resist overusing him.

But I like to create new characters too. I have an Excel spreadsheet, each story its own worksheet, to store character names, attributes etc.

I do something similar, except all my characters are on the same Excel sheet. The primary reason for this is that it is easier to check for repeated names (using a simple conditional format rule), plus it helps check key details about a character who pops up again.

I experimented with tracking every story that a character appears, but that was a bit unwieldy. At the moment, I only track the first one in which they appear, which has been good enough.

 

[Writer61]

Which is your preference, or do you like both?

It’s fun to shape someone new, to figure out what they think about the world, how they act, their strengths and weaknesses, how they interact with others, what their social circle is like. It’s new and exciting. It can be almost breathtaking.

But going back to established characters is sometimes just so deliciously comforting and warm. You know them, the writing flows, you can have fun putting them in novel situations, but it’s just so easy and pleasant sometimes. The word kinda write themselves, because you know these people inside and out.

How about you?

Most of my stories so far have been in a series that featured one MC, with supporting characters that may/not recur. I have used my MCs (and a few of the supporting characters) in other series.

One of my MCs started life as a supporting character in a one-off piece. I am now working on the 8th part of her backstory! Wondering 'How did she get here?' also sparked my interest in writing in a universe. In turn, that led to my first MC playing a supporting part in her story.

Even my only stand-alone story published here gives a larger role to a supporting character in a story that is in draft (and will be for a while if I am disciplined about completing things in sequence.

In short, I like reusing characters, major and minor. So, be warned, if you have wormed your way into one of my stories, you may appear again.

 

[HelenL]

Which is your preference, or do you like both?

It’s fun to shape someone new, to figure out what they think about the world, how they act, their strengths and weaknesses, how they interact with others, what their social circle is like. It’s new and exciting. It can be almost breathtaking.

But going back to established characters is sometimes just so deliciously comforting and warm. You know them, the writing flows, you can have fun putting them in novel situations, but it’s just so easy and pleasant sometimes. The word kinda write themselves, because you know these people inside and out.

How about you?

Every one of my stories here is set in the same fictional universe and drags characters in from other stories. Mostly it's as @THBGato says. I want to show the progression of their story without writing a sequel. They're all romances, at least after a fashion, and sequels to romances suck in general. Once the couple has fallen into bed and into love, in some order, there's not much interesting to say about them without breaking them up or imposing drama that the relationship doesn't need. But for a reader who's invested in a couple's relationship, bringing them back as side characters lets them see that the romantic outcome is progressing. (Faye&Erin of "Bonds of Friendship" are up to 3 kids, the wedding of Kayla&Anita of "Mentor" is the backdrop for 5 additional stories.) And sometimes someone who was a side character seems too interesting to abandon to that role, so they'll become a protag.

I'm currently working on my first sequel in this shared universe and it's not been as hard to find character motivations as I'd expected, but then I'd planned it while writing the original, so I don't think it's something that would work again.

I always try to make a story stand-alone. You don't need the backstory of the side characters. It's impossible to do that cleanly, though, and I'm certain that often when a story pops up in the new list readers will click on it out of interest and decide they're lost among characters whom they've never met but who they seem to be expected to know. I don't want to be the person @IWroteThis mentions - I do at least give re-used characters an appropriate role - but it's a risk that I'm very much aware of and may be failing.

(I have wished before that I'd created a spreadsheet of names, appearances and habits, but the one I have with only birthdates and relative ages in overlapping stories is already too complex to manage.)

 

[Djmac1031]

Stephen King has made a career of telling new stories while simultaneously interweaving previous characters, locations etc.

Ive tried to do that myself albeit on a much smaller scale of course.

Just a few examples:
Characters from my series The Jenna Arrangement crossed over into my 3 part mini series Caring For Carrie, and vice versa.

Also, Brenda and Millie from Brenda's Nude Night Out made an appearance in the final chapter of The Jenna Arrangement.

There's a tavern called Sharkey's that's appeared in several stories directly and mentioned in several others, hinting that many of them all take place in the same world.

Then of course there's our shared Angels And Demons Saga, were we've swapped characters around all over between multiple stories.

 

[Djmac1031]

Stephen King has made a career of telling new stories while simultaneously interweaving previous characters, locations etc.

Ive tried to do that myself albeit on a much smaller scale of course.

Just a few examples:
Characters from my series The Jenna Arrangement crossed over into my 3 part mini series Caring For Carrie, and vice versa.

Also, Brenda and Millie from Brenda's Nude Night Out made an appearance in the final chapter of The Jenna Arrangement.

There's a tavern called Sharkey's that's appeared in several stories directly and mentioned in several others, hinting that many of them all take place in the same world.

Then of course there's our shared Angels And Demons Saga, were we've swapped characters around all over between multiple stories.

I guess all that didn't really answer the question, though.

I suppose my answer is: Both.

Although I tried not to do sequels or chaptered series as much as I used to anymore. There were a couple of one shot stories I considered doing sequels to but never got to them.

Even with my end of the Angels And Demons stories, my goal is to write any future tales featuring these characters in a way that allows for new readers to immediately grasp whats going on without having to read a dozen or more previous stories.

 

[MillieDynamite]

A lot of the characters I use are, in some way or another, recycled ones. You take a bit from column A, mix in a triate from C, and sprinkle a generous helping from B. And there you have him/her an all new version of ole what's her/his name.

 

[Noctavya]

Personally... i used the same character maybe 2 or maximum 3 times. With the fetish I'm using it'll be non logical to use them over and over again, as much as I fell in love with the character I created.

Reminisce of Batman and Wonder Woman TV series, they always got captured, by the same trick, enduring the same peril, it's becoming a parody.

And... i enjoy travelling the world, from the busy nites at Seoul, the mountaineous region of Afghanistan, the busy streets of Karachi, the middle ages Normandy, and many other. I also love to create new characters, building up her own world, her skills set, etc.

But off course, the more I write, there's always something repetitive if you read my works long enough. It's just my imprint I guess

 

[EmilyMiller]

Personally... i used the same character maybe 2 or maximum 3 times. With the fetish I'm using it'll be non logical to use them over and over again, as much as I fell in love with the character I created.

Reminisce of Batman and Wonder Woman TV series, they always got captured, by the same trick, enduring the same peril, it's becoming a parody.

And... i enjoy travelling the world, from the busy nites at Seoul, the mountaineous region of Afghanistan, the busy streets of Karachi, the middle ages Normandy, and many other. I also love to create new characters, building up her own world, her skills set, etc.

But off course, the more I write, there's always something repetitive if you read my works long enough. It's just my imprint I guess

You don’t seem to have any stories here

 

[Statius]

You don’t seem to have any stories here

You're probably the only one to check that! Funny making posts when you don't publish. Very curious indeed.

 

[EmilyMiller]

You're probably the only one to check that! Funny making posts when you don't publish. Very curious indeed.

Trust an anally-retentive autistic gal to check

 

[Statius]

Trust an anally-retentive autistic gal to check

Better than a ADHD brain that 'skips' lol.

 

[Nightaelf]

I really enjoy developing new characters. And writing a sort of biography for them, so I can build stories around them. But I also like writing series, because then I can hold on to my characters for longer. It gives me the chance to do more with them.

Right now, I’m working on a story with completely new characters. But I’m also writing another one where a character from an earlier story returns. That actually feels quite exciting, because that character has already made an entrance in a previous story, and now they’re getting one of their own. If I ever get around to finishing it, that is.

I think creating characters is the most fascinating part. Building a world around them afterward comes naturally. When I finished the Life of Anne series, it honestly felt a bit like saying goodbye. The same goes for Between Needles and Need. It gives me that same feeling of: alright, now it’s time to let go. And maybe, someday in the future, I’ll return to them. I don’t know. But I find creating characters endlessly interesting.

 

[Nightaelf]

But I like to create new characters too. I have an Excel spreadsheet, each story its own worksheet, to store character names, attributes etc.

I also use Excel sheets for my stories. For Life of Anne, it was because I kept having to calculate how old my characters were at certain points in the story. For the story I’m working on now, it’s simply impossible without one, because it’s about a time traveler. It’ll all make sense to the reader in the end, but only if I, as the writer, don’t turn it into a complete mess!

 

[SimonDoom]

My preference is to start over with new characters.

It comes down to what you're trying to do with your fiction. If your focus is on showing how a character develops over time then it makes sense to reuse a character. My focus is on stories that explore fun, kinky subjects. Character is secondary. Once the kinky subject has been explored, I have no interest in recycling the character to explore another subject. It works better to come up with a new character.

 

[Writer61]

I also use Excel sheets for my stories. For Life of Anne, it was because I kept having to calculate how old my characters were at certain points in the story.

Me, too. It is especially necessary with overlapping series and a few references to RL events.

It’ll all make sense to the reader in the end, but only if I, as the writer, don’t turn it into a complete mess!

Good luck avoiding that.

 

[old_prof]

My preference is to start over with new characters.

It comes down to what you're trying to do with your fiction. If your focus is on showing how a character develops over time then it makes sense to reuse a character. My focus is on stories that explore fun, kinky subjects. Character is secondary. Once the kinky subject has been explored, I have no interest in recycling the character to explore another subject. It works better to come up with a new character.

Which is why I so often want to re-use characters.

 

[dirk2024]

I also use Excel sheets for my stories. For Life of Anne, it was because I kept having to calculate how old my characters were at certain points in the story. For the story I’m working on now, it’s simply impossible without one, because it’s about a time traveler. It’ll all make sense to the reader in the end, but only if I, as the writer, don’t turn it into a complete mess!

I can see how that would be critical to track.

 

[IWroteThis]

I also use Excel sheets for my stories. For Life of Anne, it was because I kept having to calculate how old my characters were at certain points in the story. For the story I’m working on now, it’s simply impossible without one, because it’s about a time traveler. It’ll all make sense to the reader in the end, but only if I, as the writer, don’t turn it into a complete mess!

I use yWriter (free/optional registration to support it) and one of the things I really like is that I can put all of that information in the character object within the software.

I use an Excel spreadsheet as well, but just to keep an exhaustive list of all the character names I've created. Mostly it's to prevent overusing any specific first or last name, but it's also helped me to catch myself trying to use the same combination a couple of times.

 

[IWroteThis]

You don’t seem to have any stories here

You assume they only have one account.

You're probably the only one to check that! Funny making posts when you don't publish. Very curious indeed.

Why is that curious? Nothing actually says that you have to publish stories to participate in this forum. In fact, the description for "Authors' Hangout" is: "A place for writers and readers to socialize and discuss the craft of writing."

 

[EmilyMiller]

You assume they only have one account.

Why refer to your work without anyone being able to access it?

Why is that curious? Nothing actually says that you have to publish stories to participate in this forum. In fact, the description for "Authors' Hangout" is: "A place for writers and readers to socialize and discuss the craft of writing."

Agreed, but this is specifically a question to authors.