Hokey Cokey Characters

Back in 2024 I removed a character from my medieval fiction novel, now called Benedict’s Song (previously The Wait’s Son). Giselle at that time wasn’t needed, or so I thought, even though she was how I’d introduced the idea of going to France to Benedict; she told him he needed to go there if he wanted to become skilled, the troubadours were the ones to watch.

But the plot in the first third of the novel got a bit tangled so I got rid of her. Then she came back…and she’s back… – Janet Stock. But, after a development edit of the book, I’ve now realised that I need her, she just wasn’t in the right place in the book.

The first third of the novel, where we see Benedict growing into a young man in Lincoln, was very word heavy compared the the middle; his life and learning in France, and the final third; his return to living and performing in Lincoln. So… she is staying – but she will be moved. She will be one of the first people Benedict meets and learns from when he gets to France, and she’ll have a pivotal role certainly in the early part of this section of the story.

She just won’t go away, she’s insisting that she stays – have you ever had characters like that! :-)