Incanus
Auror
I’ve painted myself into a corner, and now I have to make my bed there and sleep in it. Or something like that.
The basic personality I chose for my MC is that he’s level-headed, rational, more intelligent than not, skilled at his occupation (he’s a soldier), and an all around good guy, but he’s also a little reserved and not very outspoken. He has a young wife who’s pregnant with their first child.
This seemed like a recipe for a pretty relatable character.
The problem is that all this leads to a boring, straight-ahead character voice. In other stories, I’ve been able to create (to dome degree) a distinct voice that fits the character, so I know it’s not that I can’t do it at all. It's crucial that the voice match the character, and mine does, but that turns out to be a liability in this case.
The obvious solution of re-designing the character so that he’s more quirky or has some odd flaw won’t work. Such a change would radically alter the events of story to the point where I would in effect be starting a new book and abandoning this one. If I’m going to start a new book, it’s going to be another idea I already have developed, not a re-hash of this idea. So that won’t cut it.
Abandoning the project would mean lots of wasted work, and it would mean losing out on the benefits of completing something.
Continuing the project means being stuck with something I know is deeply flawed.
It’s a choice between bad and crummy. If there’s another option, I don’t know what it is.
For now, it looks like crummy wins and I continue on. Somehow just telling myself this is my ‘learning’ or ‘practice’ novel feels pretty inadequate.
Has anyone here been in a similar spot? If so, what did you decide? How did you come to your decision?
The basic personality I chose for my MC is that he’s level-headed, rational, more intelligent than not, skilled at his occupation (he’s a soldier), and an all around good guy, but he’s also a little reserved and not very outspoken. He has a young wife who’s pregnant with their first child.
This seemed like a recipe for a pretty relatable character.
The problem is that all this leads to a boring, straight-ahead character voice. In other stories, I’ve been able to create (to dome degree) a distinct voice that fits the character, so I know it’s not that I can’t do it at all. It's crucial that the voice match the character, and mine does, but that turns out to be a liability in this case.
The obvious solution of re-designing the character so that he’s more quirky or has some odd flaw won’t work. Such a change would radically alter the events of story to the point where I would in effect be starting a new book and abandoning this one. If I’m going to start a new book, it’s going to be another idea I already have developed, not a re-hash of this idea. So that won’t cut it.
Abandoning the project would mean lots of wasted work, and it would mean losing out on the benefits of completing something.
Continuing the project means being stuck with something I know is deeply flawed.
It’s a choice between bad and crummy. If there’s another option, I don’t know what it is.
For now, it looks like crummy wins and I continue on. Somehow just telling myself this is my ‘learning’ or ‘practice’ novel feels pretty inadequate.
Has anyone here been in a similar spot? If so, what did you decide? How did you come to your decision?