It's funny how it works sometimes. I wasn't making much progress on my Max Mann novel to date and then this morning I came up with a minor character, Gayle Salinas, a wino who had been involved in an accident. In my outline I simply needed some minor case to crop up in order to throw a wrench in Max's big vacation plans. I hadn't really given much thought to what type of case, or the people involved. Then I cooked up Mr. Salinas and things really took off.

As I created poor Mr. Salinas and developed his back story he became a very sympathetic character. Still minor, mind you, but someone in real need of Max's aid. As Max started investigating the accident all sorts of things for later in the story started to fall into place. So, while Mr. Salinas remains a minor character, he is at the same time a lynch pin that holds the whole thing together.

It often amazes me how characters, even minor characters, can sometimes take on a life of their own and turn drudgery to joy.

Hope you all are doing well on your stories. Good to see dialyn over there too!
~jon

 
~jon
My Blog - Mad Utopia Writing in a new era.