...huh.

[jethrien]

Completely random thought that has come to me from pretty much nowhere. I'd intended to add a fourth character to my novel, to help flesh out a sequence that currently happens off-screen. But it has suddenly occurred to me that perhaps what I need to do is remove the protagonist entirely as a viewpoint character and switch to only her proteges.

Which of course necessitates completely rewriting 75% of the book.

Must ponder.

Comments

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

You're nuts!

Or possibly brilliant.

Question though: if your protagonist isn't important enough to keep as a POV character, why is she the protagonist?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I'm coming to the realization that maybe she isn't.

I'm not positive about this yet - there's still a section that no one is there to witness. But if I fiddle with the timeline...and have character C overhear a critical conversation...

(There are actually three viewpoint characters - I'm thinking of downgrading to two, and rewriting all of the third's chapters. And, well, the other two's as well, of course, to compensate.)

Clearly there are some serious structure issues that need to be worked out. There's an entire subplot that needs to be either completely reworked or else jettisoned. Much thinking is necessary.