Ireth
Myth Weaver
I have several minor characters in my latest WIP whose lives are affected by the MC and the villain, but I'm having trouble deciding what to do with them. One is a man named Ailin, who was struck blind by the villain's henchman; the blindness is magical in nature, and will disappear once the henchman dies. I haven't written about Ailin since he was first blinded, aside from the odd mention of it by other characters, and I don't want him to drop out of the plot completely until his sight comes back, whenever that happens. (I'm still trying to decide when it would be best for the henchman to die, whether in a matter of days or weeks after the blinding incident.)
I want to write an Ailin-centric scene while the main plot is at a bit of a lull and the MC is occupied elsewhere, but I can't think of anything to have happen. Being blind, Ailin can't work as he used to, and so he'll mainly have stuff happening TO him while he's confined to the infirmary for his own safety's sake. (Can't have him blundering around and hurting himself, after all.) I was thinking of having other characters entertain him, maybe by reading to him, but I'm not sure how exactly that would serve to advance the plot as well as develop character. Should I worry about that, or if the scene doesn't contribute to the main plot, is it best just to not write it at all?
A similar, related issue involves three other characters who are currently traveling to see the aforementioned henchman where he is being imprisoned. I don't want anything to delay them on their journey (weather, enemies, etc.), and I don't want to skip ahead to them reaching their destination just yet, as it would take me out of chronology with the rest of the plot. I was thinking of having them get to know each other and each others' cultures (one's a Celtic Fae, one's a Norse elf, and the third is a Norse-Gaelic human) by telling stories back and forth, but that strikes me as having potential to be boring, and skimmed over as filler even though it would explore their characters as well as histories, because it doesn't strictly advance the plot. Any thoughts on either of these problems?
I want to write an Ailin-centric scene while the main plot is at a bit of a lull and the MC is occupied elsewhere, but I can't think of anything to have happen. Being blind, Ailin can't work as he used to, and so he'll mainly have stuff happening TO him while he's confined to the infirmary for his own safety's sake. (Can't have him blundering around and hurting himself, after all.) I was thinking of having other characters entertain him, maybe by reading to him, but I'm not sure how exactly that would serve to advance the plot as well as develop character. Should I worry about that, or if the scene doesn't contribute to the main plot, is it best just to not write it at all?
A similar, related issue involves three other characters who are currently traveling to see the aforementioned henchman where he is being imprisoned. I don't want anything to delay them on their journey (weather, enemies, etc.), and I don't want to skip ahead to them reaching their destination just yet, as it would take me out of chronology with the rest of the plot. I was thinking of having them get to know each other and each others' cultures (one's a Celtic Fae, one's a Norse elf, and the third is a Norse-Gaelic human) by telling stories back and forth, but that strikes me as having potential to be boring, and skimmed over as filler even though it would explore their characters as well as histories, because it doesn't strictly advance the plot. Any thoughts on either of these problems?