Show me your retcon skills.

[Feudyn]

I intended to kill him off as an NPC. He was originally designed to be an annoying NPC. But unintentionally, his character development happened organically.

His redemption sub-arc even took up over 10 chapters. That's a lot for just a supporting character. For comparison, Volume 1 only had 24 chapters.

It's safe to say he's one of the supporting characters with the best character development in my writing experience.

From arrogant to humble. From rough to gentle. From hard-line opposition to protector of the FMC. I have no regret about not killing him off.

I love that, and I love that you were able to experience that.

Hoping maybe one of these days I can come across that experience for myself too. :)

Had this happen literally in Between Earth and Pyrroth - a character who was meant to be mostly a running gag wound up becoming one of the main characters just because I needed to add one more character and she was sitting right there (well, mostly sitting, making sarcastic jokes and doing serious damage when called on).

Have you ever considered doing a spin-off series or maybe even a different series for this character? Would be interesting to see how else they may grow or develop if they were the main main character.
I've always wondered that for some of my characters too.
Like, I wonder how differently their development arc would be if I wrote a book or series and it is centred around them.

 

[Sylver]

ooh im curious to know more about this, though! What could have been the reason why readers would mistake it for a retcon? Was it the structuring?

I presented something in the story as an adorable gimmick, something cliche to start the story in a fun, slice of life romance fantasy.

Later in the story, I ripped off the veil and revealed what that silly gimmick actually meant in a super messed up origin.

Like a Soilet Green is people type of deal, or The Cake is a Lie.

I can't elaborate further without direct spoilers cx

 

[Yubel]

During a story arc, when I write my character's reasons for investing in and building a workshop to produce certain exotic or civilian goods, I usually include one or two historical references to justify it. However, when I let my friend read that arc, he pointed out that these reasons felt inconsistent with the MC's previous life background. As there is simply no way a machinist from a third-world country would know, let alone remember, so many unremarkable pieces of historical knowledge from a foreign country.

So I added a flashback that in his previous life, the game's forum had an account that regularly posted about the real-world lands and goods that served as inspiration for the game world he was reincarnated into. It was thanks to those posts that he gained those knowledge.

 

[MC-Stories]

When i created the Beast Heroes saga, the awakened were originally going to be able to wear special suits based on their chosen animal, similar to power rangers, but I stopped liking them after age 12, then i remembered the first time I played Bloody Roar 3, and went with that instead.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

The god character I made was named Tim and was more feminine in the original. Now, they are named Sela and are more androgynous.

 

[Dawnathon]

I had originally wrote a certain character's surname as a reference to some obscure indie game, one that doesn't even have 50 reviews on Steam, because I like small nods like that. Then I realized with how the plot was developing, their family name was going to be plot critical and appear a lot, so I decided to change it to something that wasn't derivative and also flowed more gently saying it aloud. Less back-to-back consonant sounds.

 

[writerwolf359]

*Notices inconsistency.*
*Opens up earlier chapter with inconsistency in edit mode.*
*Fixes inconsistencey.*
Done!

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Have you ever considered doing a spin-off series or maybe even a different series for this character? Would be interesting to see how else they may grow or develop if they were the main main character.
I've always wondered that for some of my characters too.
Like, I wonder how differently their development arc would be if I wrote a book or series and it is centred around them.

I have a lot of characters I'd consider doing spin-off stories with but some of those stories wouldn't last more than a chapter or two. Carol and Liz (Liz being the Warrior/nurse who was never intended to be an MC but became one; Carol is an aesthetician/Healer who I waffled on making an MC for about twelve chapters) are among those. Actually, only three of the initial MCs would be interesting, at least for ME, to write side stories about - Audrey (cop who can teleport), Malcolm (who's just a fun troublemaker), and Thellissandra (who definitely had some adventures before meeting David, as she's a veteran warrior from the start... though her parents would probably be far more interesting...).

I would love to explore (or even "farm out") some of the backstories and side stories about characters like Templar, Gremlin and Equinox (guy's been around for decades after all!) in Strange Awakening, and have side stories about the two FBI agents involved in True Blue somewhat plotted out (alluded to when they find out what Indigo is capable of - the 'mummy in Atlanta' and the 'guy who claimed to be Frankenstein's Creature') but haven't had the time to get back to it - when I have time to write, it goes to the two Pocket FM stories.