Cutting a Character From a Complete/Nearly Complete Story

[RetroFan]

Earlier this year I published a story and received much negative feedback about one of the characters. Nothing so strange there, but one commenter went so far as to suggest that I should take down the story, remove this character and re-post it without him. Um, okay - the only problem is that this character was the main character and narrator, so that would be kind of difficult...

Obviously I didn't follow the advice, but have you ever had a completed or near complete story, and either by your own decision or by suggestion of an editor removed a character for one reason or another before you posted it? Or do you know of any cases of well-known mainstream fiction where a character or characters were cut from the original manuscript before publication?

I can name one example from mainstream fiction, that of the late Roald Dahl's 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory'. Initially Dahl was to have six children tour Willy Wonka's candy factory with a parent/grandparent - three boys Charlie, Mike and Augustus, and three girls, Veruca, Violet and Miranda. However, it was decided before the finished manuscript was published (I'm not sure if it was the decision of Roald Dahl himself or the publishers) that Miranda - an annoying teacher's pet type - was somewhat superfluous to the plot and thus she and her parents were accordingly removed from the book before it was published. This would be a very difficult task today even with Word, but given this was in 1963 and the manuscript would have been manually typed, imagine how difficult this would have been back then.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Actually, I just removed a character from a WIP last week, but I did it because he was mostly there as a weird narrative device (the protagonist tells him the story) that didn't end up making sense or making the story better.

-Annie

 

[alohadave]

This would be a very difficult task today even with Word, but given this was in 1963 and the manuscript would have been manually typed, imagine how difficult this would have been back then.

The book is only 30k words. It wouldn't take that long to redact one of the side characters.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Yep, one of my novels included a pair of sisters as part of its main cast. After several full drafts and countless discussions with my editor, I cut one of the sisters out and had the surviving one take up all the vacated responsibilities. It was tough, but it was worth it in the end. In place of two fairly boring characters, I got one much more interesting and multidimensional character to work with. Sometimes the best changes to narratives are big ones.

Though I'm not sure this applies in your case, and you probably did well to keep your main character. A bunch of random comments from people you don't know/trust shouldn't be enough to make you do all that work, unless you personally agree that there's genuine literary merit to the idea.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I just removed several characters from a story last week, it was rather quickly done but you do have to be careful not to leave any scraps behind.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yes. More often, I've decided to merge a couple or more supporting characters into one, to make the story clearer. A current draft has a female narrator and a bunch of male college friends, say 8 of them. But for the story we just need the male body of interest, and then two supporting mates: one who is her ex and the other can take on all other characteristics as needed.

One series had lots of scenes with MMC chatting to his best mate, showing both how MMC was thinking, then any illusions being punctured by someone who knew him so well. I got rid of most of them as there were simpler ways to make the point. Currently trying to write the story of said mate.

 

[Plathfan]

I would never give up on a character, no matter how unpleasant or how little influence they have on the story. It would be like throwing an old dog out into the street. I have, however, changed a character’s role or personality on the fly before, but that's a discussion for an entirely different thread.

ETA: As my creative process isn’t linear but unfolds at a certain point in time and spreads in all directions, removing a particular character could damage the very structure of the story itself. As someone with a minimalist mindset, if a character has a negligible role and adds nothing, they wouldn’t appear in the first place.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not all characters are supposed to be liked. It doesn't hurt a story to have someone who is disliked by the audience (and the other characters).

 

[Yogma]

I write primarily for myself, so, No, I wouldn't remove a character from a finished piece. I might however review why they didn't like the character and if I felt their criticism had merit, I "might" use their feedback in future projects.

That said, there are many characters I have culled after the first draft. I know my first drafts are extremely sloppy and rambling, so often quite a bit needs to get trimmed or changed. Sometimes it is a character or situation that I really liked that I need to trim, but sometimes they just don't fit the flow of the story as much as I had hoped.

 

[THBGato]

Obviously I didn't follow the advice, but have you ever had a completed or near complete story, and either by your own decision or by suggestion of an editor removed a character for one reason or another before you posted it?

Yes, I did. In my original draft of Thirty, my narrator had a boyfriend. He was a dickhead and she ended up dumping him pretty quickly while they are on holiday in Spain.

My editor suggested this made her seem too unsympathetic (especially as he was paying for the holiday), so I cut him from the story. That did take quite a re-write, but I think it's a better story as a result. It's my second most viewed, second most favourited and was (briefly) number 1 in category with a ridiculous 4.97, so I think readers agreed!

 

[JGittes]

I write long stories using only a vague outline to guide my writing, and I deliberately start with more characters than I'll have at the finish to have someone at hand as I think of new plot points. The extraneous characters are easier to erase and spackle over than creating an entirely new character halfway through a long story. Unlike many, or maybe even most, authors here, I find my story through editing. Making a film analogy, my process is more like Kubrick's than Eastwood's, although both directors plan everything out more than I could.

 

[RetroFan]

The book is only 30k words. It wouldn't take that long to redact one of the side characters.

I think it would still take a lot of effort despite being not an overly long novel, especially doing it manually. Not only would Roald Dahl have to remove Miranda from the story, but any characters directly connected to her too (i.e. her parents). He would have had to change any dialogue and character interactions with her before and during the factory trip, and change the beginning of the book from six to five golden tickets. And any further references to the character after she departs the story in the original manuscript would have to be removed too.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Ronald Dahl is a freaking genius. Apropos of nothing, but yeah, he's a genius.

I think it would still take a lot of effort despite being not an overly long novel, especially doing it manually. Not only would Roald Dahl have to remove Miranda from the story, but any characters directly connected to her too (i.e. her parents). He would have had to change any dialogue and character interactions with her before and during the factory trip, and change the beginning of the book from six to five golden tickets. And any further references to the character after she departs the story in the original manuscript would have to be removed too.