Writing.Com General Discussion

Thanks Zen. My main concern is that if I leave her out until she makes her decisive appearance she will seem like a deux ex machina, and that's the last thing I want. However, I also don't want her disconnected storyline to weaken the early part of the book and leave readers wondering what the hell she has to do with anything...

In my mind she's a complex character in her own right, with her own story arc that both explains how she got to the position where she currently is, and also makes her later actions when her arc collides with the main story arc understandable and in character. She's certainly not a 'filler' character; she was actually going to be my main protagonist during most of my planning of this novel, and it's a relatively recent development for her to have been demoted to a more subsidiary role.

I've decided to play around with weaving her story into the novel from the begining, with her own unique plot line and her own (minor) supporting cast of characters. It will be possible, I think, because she is rough sleeper and her 'patch' is the seedy area of the city where some of the pivotal scenes of the story play out. I think I could feasibly work in a couple of earlier scenes where her curiousity has been piqued by some suspicious looking comings and goings at one of the warehouses, and so it's credible that she's observant and alert to anything out of the ordinary that a regular passer by might overlook. Also, as almost 'part of the furniture' of the neighbourhood, she might not attract attention and set alarm bells ringing in my main characters in the way that a stranger would.

I'm going away to have a play around with the idea....