Young Adult Fiction for Adults discussion
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Changing characters
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Personally, I like change. It brings out he best and worst in people and therefore can make good stories but I know some people really get UPSET when their series character's change
Interesting question Eric.I do think it's difficult to totally get rid of characters once they've been established (like Terri said, if it's a favorite, readers do tend to get upset I think). That said, it could be an interesting "twist" to make your story unique. I suppose it's akin to when a favorite character gets killed off. It happens a lot, so readers are accepting (if unhappily so). And hey, if people love those characters enough, now you've built in your spin-off series! lol!! :D Either way, best of luck to you and your written worlds:)
Eric,One question: if you want to change all the main character's friends AND the setting, why don't you change his/her name also and start with a new protagonist?
I think the key is that it can't be gratuitous. If it feels organic to the story, readers will accept it. I've never read him, but my husband complains bitterly about George R.R. Martin killing characters just to prove he's ruthless.I wonder if you could do it to keep open a "link" to the relationships the reader formed with the old set of friends. E.g., the new set of friends are similar (gender, number, personality). Or the new set of friends is related somehow and also knew and loved the old set?
Oh, and you might have something like this in a picaresque novel. In Taran Wanderer (Lloyd Alexander), Taran is on a quest and makes a string of new friends. Many of them return in the final book of the series, The High King, to help in the grand battle between good and evil, of course. And some of them get killed at that point.
It is a very difficult question. I mean if it is some questionalbe friends, and they just disapear, they will forever be suspects throught the story, and if it is a friend you expect them to come back. If they have served their purpose and that comes out clear, it is okay for them to go away, but otherwise I always expect them to come back in a critical point of the story, or to the rescue. Good luck ;)
Looks like I'm digging way deep to bump this thread, but I haven't thought about this and am interested in a few more opinions.While making new friends and completely disconnecting old ones from a storyline might be difficult, my head has been flirting with the idea of eliminating a protagonist part way through, leaving room for someone else to take over the story.
Just from the title of this thread, I thought it would be about characters and how they develop and if we really like that. As much as I love Harry Potter, I see his character as largely static except for a period of teen angst in which he yells at his friends in book 5. Do we want our lead characters to change? Can we have a lead character become something of a villain for a period of time? These are questions I pursue in my own writing. What do you think?
I think change is awesome. When the protagonist and their relationships remain static, there is no growth. I like to see people make real life decision and think, "What would I do in there place?"There are all sorts of things that can naturally lead to a new group of friends like ruptures in relationships, moving (but staying in touch with old friends through letters, phone calls, etc.), death, and growing up. Look at your own relationships as an example. If you want to make the story real and relatable to your readers, you need to make sure the choices your protaginist is making are true to the character you have expressed to your readers.
If the MC doesn't change, then I think it's OK to eliminate him/her. But, if I've spent the first half of a book commiserating and rooting for the MC, then i'd be pissed.A villanous stint is fine for MC or secondary characters and can add needed roadblocks.
Jason wrote: "Looks like I'm digging way deep to bump this thread, but I haven't thought about this and am interested in a few more opinions.While making new friends and completely disconnecting old ones from ..."
Do we want our MCs to change? I think in character growth we want change, but switching MCs in the middle of the story could get confusing. Lately I've been reading books with multiple characters narrating. I think a story that already establishes multiple main characters can really progress with one of the MCs getting bumped off or leaving for a short time. It creates conflict and heightens drama. Now if it's only a single narrator that gets killed off and the story is taken over by a different narrator, it might lead to confusion or even become too choppy. Most stories like this are broken into two books to help the reader adjust to the change in voice.
Even with a main character becoming "evil" for a period of time would be interesting, so long as the MC finds a way back to being the hero. This effect adds depth to the character and even makes those important life-changing decisions more interesting if the MC has some understanding of the dark side. Remember, even Darth Vader found his way back to the light in the end.
And regarding Harry Potter being a typical angsty teen in book 5: I really love Rowling for going there and making me hate the hero for just a little bit. It makes me like him all that much more.
Perhaps it was just me, but I thought Harry grew throughout the series.
See I figure that it happens in life all the time, we have friends then we have to move and or something happens and we arent friends anymore. But new friends come along.
I was thinking about applying this to a fantasy story Im writing but Im not sure how people would react to me Offing characters, to make room for new ones, or changing settings lol.