6 replies to this topic

[Ironbark]

So, I started my first novel and got about 5 chapters in before distraction set in.
Then a year later I started my second novel and am at about the same point.
For each of them I have a fairly good over all plan (I'm a plantser - I plan it and then pants it anyway).

Various things got in the way and I am now returning to work on number 2, which will surely be the first finished, but I'm also doing just a little refining to the plan for number 1. The two novels are not (well not really) related.

Nevertheless, both novels involve the main protagonist spending at least part of his school years in rural south-eastern Australia. And in both cases I have an auxiliary character who would play a formative role in the development of said protagonist, a little touch of Bildungsroman if you like. The character could most easily be the rural school teacher, and whilst the timing of the novels is such that there would be a good decade or two between the settings, I can't get the idea out of my head to use the same character in each novel. That is, Jack Teacher (no, that is not the name I am giving him!) is posted to different places and plays a key although brief role in the life of the protagonist in each novel. There will only be sparse biographical details of him provided, and enough character to explain why he plays that role. I guess he'll be two-and-a-half dimensional.

The novels should obviously stand completely on their own two feet. I don't even want to seriously think about a third novel that is the life and times of Jack Teacher. (Although now I think of it... no, no, discipline yourself Paul!)

I am reminded of Thomas Hardy's Wessex and of le Carré's George Smiley and of other authors who have done this with settings or worlds. I don't want to go that far, but it seems to me a logical and fun thing to do - and certainly no more irritating than the moments you can have reading Dickens or Austen (both authors that I love, btw) and recognising the same character transposed for a new novel. I have often wished that Jane Austen had re-used some of her figures by name.

What is the gut feeling of storyists about this concept?

[Thoth]

pjc, on 21 November 2011 - 12:05 AM, said:

...
... I have often wished that Jane Austen had re-used some of her figures by name.
...
What is the gut feeling of storyists about this concept?

Re-cycling protagonists is what makes a series. Re-cycling "minor" characters is rarer but I agree that it's fun to see them pop up in other stories, so long as they remain consistent. I think that most writers have a short list of character profiles that they use frequently, even though they often show up under different identities. And, yes, I too have often wished that Jane Austen had re-used some of her characters by name.

pjc, on 21 November 2011 - 12:05 AM, said:

(I'm a plantser - I plan it and then pants it anyway).

"Plantser" - Nice. Always good to expand the lexicon.
-T

[Marguerite]

To me, the same character recurring in different stories seems preferable to the same character repackaged with different names in each novel.

You may want to consider whether the reappearance of Jack Teacher will link the two books in readers' minds more than you would like. Also whether the need for Jack to play essentially the same role in both stories undercuts your belief that the stories are completely different.

But in general, I believe in following those insistent instincts. You may find yourself in an unanticipated and much more interesting place (and you want your characters to argue with one another, not with you!).
Best,
M

[Thoth]

Marguerite, on 22 November 2011 - 12:51 AM, said:

...You may find yourself in an unanticipated and much more interesting place (and you want your characters to argue with one another, not with you!).

Mine are constantly giving me lip. The little bastards.
Don't they know that I am their GOD!

-T

[Marguerite]

Mine, too. That's why I wrote that. They also dig in their little imaginary heels and refuse to budge. Some days I feel like a professional cat herder.

Take that, you uncooperative protagonist, you! (For whatever reason, my protagonists always give me a lot more lip than my antagonists. Go figure.)
The Divine Miss M

[Thoth]

Marguerite, on 22 November 2011 - 02:58 PM, said:

...
The Divine Miss M

I may have to start calling you "Bette".
-T

[Marguerite]

Thoth, on 22 November 2011 - 11:14 PM, said:

I may have to start calling you "Bette".
-T

Ah, but would I answer?

I knew you'd get the reference.
The Divine Lady M