Wednesday's Writer's Tip - The Intrusive Character

I've had this happen several times. A secondary character begins to take a bitter role in the story than was in the plans for that person. Then what can be done to prevent this character from taking over for the hero or heroine in the story you're working on. Now if this character is the villain, it may not matter because you know he or she will get their just deserts in the end. But what do you do when this character is a friend of the hero or heroine?

What to do is up to the author and not the character. One thing I do is in my head promise this character his or her own story. I know this character is a product of my imagination and as the author I'm in control so this generally works and I'm able to tone him or her down. What has happened is something about this intrusive character has fascinated me and I want to know more about the person but the current book isn't the place for the character to intrude. Words are cut and the character resumes his or her minor and supporting role for the hero or heroine. The good that comes out of this is that I have the character for the next story.

This happened to me when I was working on Shattered Dreams and again when working on Rekindled Dreams. Jay, the music composer is not staring in his own book Melodic Dreams and the one character I wanted to give a larger role than needed in Rekindled Dreams will have his own story somewhere along the line.

The thing to remember is you are the author and allowing a supporting character too large of a role can and usually does make a muddle out of your WIP. So tame this character and promise him or her a story of their own.