sythyry | Writing filter: minor characters

Originally published at Sythyry. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve been poking and poking at A Marriage of Insects,
and rewriting more than I thought I was going to, and
noticed… The minor characters (the ones who get to say
more than a word or two) never want to stay minor.
Orpine is a mopey girl whom Boragette (major char) will not
get to marry, but she wants to push her relationship with
zir in ways I refuse to let the book go.
Count Fressis,
yesterday’s new character, was supposed to come in, perform
a wedding, ask a rude question or two, and leave quietly,
by way of setting a bit of background… but in that time he
proved that he was a good-hearted henpecked scatterbrained
nobleman, and more sympathetic than the Herethroy.
If I don’t give them names they’re somewhat more
willing to stay minor, like “Oostmarine’s Uncle” and “The
Grooming-Girl”.

It’s a bit of a problem. Orpine and Count Fressis show up
in the first few chapters, which will be sent to editors and
whatnots. I’m trying to fix those chapters so that they
make the problems and conflicts of the book seem (1)
inevitable and (2) visible. These minor characters
sticking out are annoying, because they suggest other
directions that the book could be going, or at least other
plotlines it looks like it has.

But making a character less interesting doesn’t seem
like a good idea.

[Poll #371849]