Sketch by Jason Pedersen
I’m getting some mileage out of these sketches. Now I’m going to be trying to connect the Questions 3 to whatever I do for the Tuesday post. Not easy for the first one that told the origin of The Mercenary Prince. It does bring up the topic of unexpected stories and surprises though. Let’s see how this goes.
- Have you ever come across a character you feel was underutilized in a story and who?
- Is there a side character whose popularity and story baffles you?
- How big a factor do you think public opinion should be for an author who is writing a lengthy series? At least in terms of character popularity and usage. Basically, should it be ignored completely, considered, pandered to, etc.? (Those who copy and past the questions into their comment might want to only use the first sentence of this question.)
Legends of Windemere 
I don’t quite know how to answer these. I’ll take through my writer’s lens.
1. I try to write engaging support characters. Several of them could have a tale of their own. Their job is to bring a different point of view, sometimes contrary. It’s hard not to let them take over, because they usually are less broody than my main characters.
2. I never look at it this way. The supporting job is to support. I just recognize them as good characters.
3. I don’t think public opinion should play into the stories. The author has something to say, and the characters are a delivery mechanism. I think there is a trend to letting the public decide, or at least it’s starting to feel that way. The whole Glenn thing on Waking Dead, and John Snow from GOT is starting to feel that way. If the author decides a supporting character deserves more, even a different story, that should be the author’s choice. I’m dabbling with short stories for some of mine.
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These were tough ones and I wrote them early in the morning. I think I was aiming more for the reader side of things than authors this time. With Glenn and John Snow, I wonder if that’s more because their fates in the source material. I know Snow is still alive in the books and I can’t mention the stuff about Glenn without extreme spoilers. Those types of stories get tough because there is another story going along side them in the source material.
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People who’ve read TWD or GOT know those stories. I smell a little polling going on about whether they should change the storyline on the television. I’m not in favor of that.
To address one of the other questions, I think what they did with Legolas in the Hobbit movies was absurd. He is a supporting character that people liked. I don’t understand why he had to be in a story he was never in originally.
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GoT has already been altered a ton from the books. Just hard to go after the main characters if you want certain things to continue. As far as TWD, I think it’s the same, but not as severe outside of Daryl who doesn’t exist in the comics. With Glenn, it was probably a feint regardless of the fan reaction. Too much evidence that he wasn’t dead.
Fully agree with Legolas in the Hobbit. A cameo would have been one thing, but that was overkill. One could see it even created issues with the originals too.
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My thoughts:
1. Have you ever come across a character you feel was underutilized in a story and who?
Since I just finished watching season 2 of Sleepy Hollow (thank you, Netflix), I have to say that the character who was underutilized this season is Jenny Mills (played by Lyndie Greenwood). She was so interesting in season 1—a truly well-rounded character. Instead the show that season focused on blander characters.
2. Is there a side character whose popularity and story baffles you?
I can’t think of anyone in a fiction series that I’m baffled about. I would say Katrina in Sleepy Hollow. But many people disliked her character, so I can’t vouch for her popularity. As for novels, I can’t think of anyone. Even Anakin Skywalker is greatly disliked, so I can’t point to him either. He’s probably considered the main character, since the prequels were about his downfall.
3. How big a factor do you think public opinion should be for an author who is writing a lengthy series? At least in terms of character popularity and usage. Basically, should it be ignored completely, considered, pandered to, etc.? (Those who copy and past the questions into their comment might want to only use the first sentence of this question.)
I think an author has to be true to the story. I’ve seen the effectiveness of a book weakened when an author caters to the crowd. As J. K. Rowling proved, you can write an effective series without letting the public control what you do. Still, I have hated the endings of some books that the author felt were “true.” So there’s something to be said for really knowing how to write an effective ending.
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1. I’ve wondered if a lot of Season 2’s run into this problem. Characters who are interesting in the first season are put aside for others that the writers want to flush out, but the audience has already made up its mind.
2. We don’t speak about the prequels. 😛
3. I’m thinking of the Dragonball Z rumor that Gohan was going to take the lead after Goku died fighting Frieza or something. Fans didn’t like it, so Goku was revived and it made a lot of the other characters fade away. Rowling is an odd one at times. Some of the stuff she’s done after the series ended have apparently weakened the opinions of some people. Makes one wonder if an author should simply leave their stuff alone after they finish.
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I heard about that rumor. And I can’t help recalling Jason Todd. 😦 Fans can make or break a series. But fans really should not dictate what an author does with his or her characters.
The tinkering after the fact is what drives fans mad. Though I can understand if an author has rushed a book out and then wants to go back and set the record straight. Like Stephen King did for The Stand. I think he was high at the time and wanted to produce a book he could now be proud of.
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President Lex Luthor is another one. Sad thing with Jason Todd is that he came back anyway. What happened with Stephen King and The Stand?
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It was actually Cujo that he can’t remember writing. But The Stand was cut by 400 pages because the publisher didn’t think the fans would go for a novel well over 1000 pages.
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A novel that big is pretty hard to sell without a pre-existing, amazing reputation. Odd history of Cujo since it seems like a very specific story.
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Have you ever come across a character you feel was underutilized in a story and who? I can’t think of one. I know you pointed out Ned Tranes (the police chief) in My GRL.
Is there a side character whose popularity and story baffles you? No
How big a factor do you think public opinion should be for an author who is writing a lengthy series? Should not be a factor. I really don’t understand authors catering to public whim.
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I can slightly understand the catering part, especially in a series. Some may think the change is a sacrifice worth making to keep everything going. The problem is that many times you change for the vocal fans and suddenly realize there was a quiet group who were happy with how things were going. It’s all about author priorities.
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Yes. I think the author need to set the priorities.
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Have you ever come across a character you feel was underutilized in a story and who?
Lots of them actually. In epic fantasy, there are so many different points of view characters I’d categorize them all as main characters, so, yeah, I’ve read series where I thought one point of view character wasn’t given as much love as another. Adare in “The Emperor’s Blades comes to mind right this second.
Is there a side character whose popularity and story baffles you?
Again — lots of them actually. I feel that boils down to personal preference though. I mean, Jon Snow was never my favorite character in the written series, so I always dreaded reading his sections. I actually like him much more in the tv series for whatever reason, which just goes to show there is no rhyme or reason to my likes and dislikes.
How big a factor do you think public opinion should be for an author who is writing a lengthy series?
I’m a little tired of every decision in our society being made by polls. Do we really need that in tv series and books now too? I mean, we tried that in Batman years ago and Robin got killed off. Didn’t work, because we just got another one. 🙂
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1. Epic fantasy definitely seems to have a lot of underutilized characters. I’ve seen it in my stories too and try to give them a boost. Sometimes you simply can’t get them any higher than they are because they fall apart in more direct sunlight.
2. I wonder if things change a lot when a character is ‘before you in the flesh’. You no longer have only your imagination to direct you, so there’s an added dimension.
3. There was always going to be another Robin, but I think it took a while. Something tells me that poll backfired and DC never expected people to almost universally condemn Jason Todd to death. Honestly, I’d forgotten about the poll stuff when I wrote the question. I was thinking more about people sending letters and demanding stuff on forums. Seems harder for an author to avoid audience opinions these days.
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