Tip Tuesday: Create a Character Graveyard

Hello fellow writers. As we know, great stories come from great characters. They stay with us long after we’ve put a book down or stopped watching the show or movie. Honestly, pretty often it’s the characters we miss most when we finish something. 

As important as it is to create fully-realized, dimensional characters, it’s also important to know who is needed to tell the story and who isn’t. How does this character help or hinder the protagonist? Is it possible this character is serving a similar purpose as another?

I grew up in a small family. I always dreamed of having lots of siblings. I find in my planning stages, I often have more characters than I need. I either end up axing them, or giving their scene or characteristics to someone else. 

When I was working on my first screenplay, a fantasy, action-adventure film, there were a lot of family members. Not quite Encanto level, but enough to make me take a pause. I ended up cutting 3 of the siblings, keeping only the one who was in direct opposition of my protagonist. While it was fun to create the others, they honestly didn’t serve a real purpose except to fill out the family. Sadly, they died on the editing floor. 

There are instances when the characters serve a purpose, like Encanto, where each family member’s power aids Mirabel in her search for answers or advances the plot. It’s important to know when enough is enough, and when you can chop some heads. 

Combine characters if they are serving the same purpose. Give the scenes of the axed character to the other one. This will help streamline your work and make it less muddled. Make a character graveyard. Put all your cut characters in a document with their character bio. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll revive them for something else.