Will The Real Nick Bannister Show Himself

 

I apologize for the long wait, but you know how it is. Stuff happens.

So here's the deal. Not that there always has to be a deal. I have about six Nick Bannister stories in the bank. If you aren't familiar, he is my number one integrated investigator. Feedback from my readers lets me know he is a favourite. 

So much so that I am thinking of putting together a Nick Bannister Chronicles book somewhere down the road.

Knowing I need one or two new stories to make the book complete, I started writing a saga about a mysterious disappearing town many months ago. The aforementioned stuff happened, and Nick and his crew were put on the shelf for an extended time.

When i returned to my story, I clearly found something was missing. And reading to my fellow writers confirmed that. 

What was it? Upon rereading several times, I realized that Nick had become a bit of stranger. He wasn't the same old Nick I knew and loved. 

He felt like a character that had been written in AI. Technically fine, but the soul was gone. Yes that is a dig at AI.

Like Waldo, I had to find the real Nick Bannister again. 

I mean i created the man, gave him life. Hope that doesn't sound like a God complex creeping in. BUt you get the point. Since he is my character, the only person that can find him is me. 

Where would i find him? The answer was obvious. Go back into my old stories and bring him back. I read over his most famous cases, pausing to get reacquainted with with my MIA hero. I had a couple of chats with him, did some mental method acting. And finally sat down to revisit my story, and fix poor old Nick up until he felt himself again.

And.....it worked. As i wrote, I felt the real Nick Bannister pouring out onto my keyboard, and the fake one, subjected to the delete button.

Problem solved? Not necessarily. But certainly i have my old friend back saving the world once again, where he belongs.

Character is the essence of a story. Without a good protagonist the most spectacular plot will fall flat. If people don't care, they wont continue to turn those pages. 

Is this a piece of advice? Not sure. But it works for me, and if you find

your character has gone AWOL, this might just help bring him back.