It’s been a while. Here’s what’s up with me and my writing.

So, I finally got that sleep I’ve been needing.  And I’ve been writing. Around 40,000 words now.  

I realized yesterday, however, that I have a secondary character who needs to go. Poor Takeshi comes on the page for a few statements, then disappears for chapters even though he’s in the same fairly small starship.  I thought about beefing him up, inserting him a bit, but the fact is he’s superfluous.  He’s an unimportant character who, in this version of the story, serves no purpose.  

He used to have a purpose, but that subplot got removed, as it A) was too maudlin, and B) undercut the protagonist’s likability.  But once I’d removed the plot, I had nothing for him to do.  I suspect he needs to be cut.  But I haven’t got time to look back, so I’m going to keep working forward, and if I’ve got a place for him I’ll use it, and beef up his appearances in the first half.  If not, I’ll excise him in the editing phase. 

I’m also concerned about one of the other secondaries; he serves a purpose but I’m not sure having him where he is serves that purpose.  And that I need to figure out before I get to the next chapter, because he’s much more important to the plot and I’m not sure I’m using him right.  But maybe.  Wait… processing… processing… oh.  Yes, that’s what I’ll do with him.  Excellent; thanks for the help, people!