12-14-2011, 04:13 PM
I had this issue on another site I was at... I had a couple of characters that had been carried over from older games, and eventually I had to pick and choose which ones I wanted to keep because I didn't have the time for all of them. Naturally I picked the two that I had the least muse for, but I ended on an optimistic note. As long as you don't kill a character for good, you can always bring them back. What I did for my characters was say that they went on a journey -- and whenever I missed them, I could have them come back with new experiences and new small changes to their personality as a result of what they went through. That way, they came back "fresh" but were still the same character. I didn't want to drop them, either -- it was just a necessity for me to bring in a new character I had muse for and to deal with school at the time. However, it made me feel better to know that I could bring them back if I wanted to. :3
That's my two cents... I agree with what the others suggested, such as NPCing them and seeing what it's like before dropping them completely. Sometimes clinging to something that won't work out only makes you suffer... In bringing in new characters, you might feel a new spark and feel better about everything as a whole?
And Terra's suggestion is good, too -- going back to their personality and motives. How did they used to be? What little details can you bring back out to get them going again? Sometimes, when we've had a character for a long time and forgot something or got used to a new, blander personality, we forgot what made those characters really tick in the beginning. Bring in a new, intense situation that is interesting enough to write about and will carry the characters, or perhaps dig up a past secret or fear that they have to confront again.
I might add more if I think about anything, but I'll be stalking this thread too.
That's my two cents... I agree with what the others suggested, such as NPCing them and seeing what it's like before dropping them completely. Sometimes clinging to something that won't work out only makes you suffer... In bringing in new characters, you might feel a new spark and feel better about everything as a whole?
And Terra's suggestion is good, too -- going back to their personality and motives. How did they used to be? What little details can you bring back out to get them going again? Sometimes, when we've had a character for a long time and forgot something or got used to a new, blander personality, we forgot what made those characters really tick in the beginning. Bring in a new, intense situation that is interesting enough to write about and will carry the characters, or perhaps dig up a past secret or fear that they have to confront again.
I might add more if I think about anything, but I'll be stalking this thread too.