I just had to share that I started editing my novel yesterday and it went well. I rounded out a scene. I did some research. I read up on plot versus character and I mapped out my plot on a large sheet of sketching paper.

Mapping out my plot was very revealing. I saw that a lot of things happened to my main character, but she was not really defined by what she did. I saw that I had left two characters dangling. I saw that my story is a story with a lot of medium-sized peaks and that I need at least one large peak. I also saw the possibility that one of my dangling characters could do this for me.

I read a bestseller recently in which the main character re-made herself. It was a good read. But what set her on this path was a bad experience with a man in her life. Throughout the story I kept thinking how satisfying it would be for her to meet up with this man as a changed woman. But it never happened. This made me think that when we get our audience to bond with someone early in the story, even if it is a villain, it  would probably be good not to drop that character.

Every character has to have a purpose and needs to further the plot in some way. I think it’s best to have as few characters as possible. My story has a lot of characters because the setting requires it, but I will take another look and see if anyone is dispensable.