Mentioning characters you don't plan to use?

[Deadman]

Kinda curious how you feel about mentioning characters who aren’t going to appear in a piece.

A story I’m working on is almost finished. I have plans for a sequel but in the final chapter, I’m possibly going to mention characters who don’t appear in the sequel. You could however reasonably conclude based on the way these characters are mentioned that they would be part of the sequel. But I’m concerned that this might give people a false expectation about what the sequel is about. I’ve mentioned other characters in stories but it makes sense for the characters who are in the story to have them brought up.

Just for clarity, it’s a story featuring FF pairings and some of the characters have or did have boyfriends at one point. These former boyfriends get mentioned. However in the final chapter, I mention other female characters who aren’t going to appear.

This is a slightly different thing. I don’t know if I want to misdirect readers in this way. There is one mention of characters who will appear in the sequel but it’s not in the final chapter. So it may not work.

What do you think?

 

Edited Friday at 11:50 PM by Deadman

[G3ae]

In Original stories, I wouldn’t recommend it, but in fanfics it can be a really good way to add continuity. That’s my opinion anyway.

[Desiderius Price]

Simple, have a quick conversation chapter one of the sequel.

“Where’s Joe?”
“Six years in prison, because when they say NO PARKING, the really mean NO PARKING.” or
“Got transferred to far, far, away.” or
“He learned why there’s safety bars on woodchippers.  Coroner estimated they recovered 60% of the remains.”

And if you want the villain to be a surprise, have his whereabouts accounted/dismissed for in this conversation too.

[Deadman]

21 hours ago, G3ae said:

In Original stories, I wouldn’t recommend it, but in fanfics it can be a really good way to add continuity. That’s my opinion anyway.

So it wouldn’t necessarily bother you if there was dialogue about certain characters but never show up?

[Deadman]

14 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Simple, have a quick conversation chapter one of the sequel.

“Where’s Joe?”
“Six years in prison, because when they say NO PARKING, the really mean NO PARKING.” or
“Got transferred to far, far, away.” or
“He learned why there’s safety bars on woodchippers.  Coroner estimated they recovered 60% of the remains.”

And if you want the villain to be a surprise, have his whereabouts accounted/dismissed for in this conversation too.

Well, it’s less of a way to get rid of them. It’s for AFF, so it’s more like:

“When is Jane going to join in on the fun?”

But then the sequel doesn’t have Jane in it at all. Even though Jane is mentioned in the last chapter of the story. However in another chapter I do mention Mary and she does appear in the sequel. Since having the idea to mention Jane though, I have considered making her part of the sequel, but that could over complicate the story. Which has been pretty straight forward up until now.
 

Edited Saturday at 09:41 PM by Deadman

[G3ae]

24 minutes ago, Deadman said:

So it wouldn’t necessarily bother you if there was dialogue about certain characters but never show up?

I don't think so.

[Deadman]

4 hours ago, G3ae said:

I don't think so.

Definitely good to know.

[Desiderius Price]

7 hours ago, Deadman said:

Well, it’s less of a way to get rid of them. It’s for AFF, so it’s more like:

“When is Jane going to join in on the fun?”

But then the sequel doesn’t have Jane in it at all. Even though Jane is mentioned in the last chapter of the story. However in another chapter I do mention Mary and she does appear in the sequel. Since having the idea to mention Jane though, I have considered making her part of the sequel, but that could over complicate the story. Which has been pretty straight forward up until now.
 

Could be from somebody not wanting to necessarily cross into a love-triangle territory too… or verifying that the other person’s not around.  Because Jane was a part of their character makeup (and still is to some degree), seems relevant to know that the main character might still have thoughts dwelling on Jane, maybe it’s regret, maybe it’s guilt for hiding the body, or maybe they’ve totally moved on with “Who’s Jane?”.

[Deadman]

20 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Could be from somebody not wanting to necessarily cross into a love-triangle territory too… or verifying that the other person’s not around.  Because Jane was a part of their character makeup (and still is to some degree), seems relevant to know that the main character might still have thoughts dwelling on Jane, maybe it’s regret, maybe it’s guilt for hiding the body, or maybe they’ve totally moved on with “Who’s Jane?”.

I may simply mention Jane in the sequel as someone who just isn’t around in the moment.

[Desiderius Price]

15 hours ago, Deadman said:

I may simply mention Jane in the sequel as someone who just isn’t around in the moment.

Me trying to spin a one-line tale with the dialogue…  I figure if it’s nagging on your mind, then it’s likely nagging on the reader’s mind.  Perhaps you’re wanting to sow seeds for a follow-on story (not the direct sequel), so you could drop breadcrumbs, “She’s gone to explore jungles in Colombia haven’t heard from her in ages.”  Anyways, ideas there, hope it helps.

[Deadman]

5 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Me trying to spin a one-line tale with the dialogue…  I figure if it’s nagging on your mind, then it’s likely nagging on the reader’s mind.  Perhaps you’re wanting to sow seeds for a follow-on story (not the direct sequel), so you could drop breadcrumbs, “She’s gone to explore jungles in Colombia haven’t heard from her in ages.”  Anyways, ideas there, hope it helps.

I suppose I could add another but that’s not the plan in any sense. At least within the context of the story, Jane would be involved in between the current story I’m writing and the sequel. But I appreciate the insight on how I could mention it.

[Desiderius Price]

12 hours ago, Deadman said:

I suppose I could add another but that’s not the plan in any sense. At least within the context of the story, Jane would be involved in between the current story I’m writing and the sequel. But I appreciate the insight on how I could mention it.

Know readers would likely wonder where Jane is, so yeah, a short snippet is good.  Maybe you write a short-short story that covers it?  (Even if you don’t publish, it’d be good to reference.) 

A decent example I’m thinking of, is Star Trek TNG, Gates McFadden got “fired” end of season 1, so they explained her absence as “reassignment to Starfleet Medical”, and once rehired for Season 3, “one year rotation’s over, she’s back”.

[Deadman]

11 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Know readers would likely wonder where Jane is, so yeah, a short snippet is good.  Maybe you write a short-short story that covers it?  (Even if you don’t publish, it’d be good to reference.) 

A decent example I’m thinking of, is Star Trek TNG, Gates McFadden got “fired” end of season 1, so they explained her absence as “reassignment to Starfleet Medical”, and once rehired for Season 3, “one year rotation’s over, she’s back”.

Well the more I talk about it, the more I feel like Jane should be included in some form in the sequel. It might actually work well given how the first story is structured. Most chapters include a character from the previous chapter before moving onto a new character. So perhaps I could include Jane in the most relevant character’s chapter before having them leave.