Recycling characters

Many authors do it.

They place their characters in several unrelated books. I’ve been doing it for a while although I’m planning to stop after my current release, The Midnight Man.

And while the major characters in this novel are brand new, a whole range of characters from my novellas Nate and the New Yorker and Nate’s Last Tango play an important role in this book.

Nathan, Elliot, Lucy, Graham and Tony are all included as the advantage of reusing them is I already know them well – no development needed! Although long term couple, Graham and Tony, are fleshed out as they only had a small roll in their original novellas.

Elliot is Nate’s ex-boyfriend when they appear in their own books.

In this novel they are still together as the year is 2011. We meet them as a loving couple. This is important as they contrast how bad Stanley’s own relationship is.

So, by re-using them I cut down the number of drafts written for this project. Their close friendships are ready-made to help explore the loneliness Stanley feels in his own life. They serve a purpose.

There are also eclectic elements borrowed from other books. The Midnight Man is a story of Stanley who is unhappy in his seven year relationship, then meets Asher, the man of his dreams, literally in his dreams.

There is a mysterious crimson curtain featured when Stanley first meets Asher. They are both seated at dinner and the curtain surrounds the room they are in.

This mystical piece of fabric first appears at the beginning of Drama Queens with Love Scenes as a gateway between where Allan and Warwick arrive in the Afterlife, to where the rest of the tale takes place. Think of it as a theatre curtain. The story begins once we peek behind.

The Carnival of Lost Souls is also featured.

This is a location in Drama Queens with Love Scenes and its sequels. In The Midnight Man, some of the supporting cast from this medieval corner of the Afterlife reappear. They are not major stars in the new book, but they have made the transition from somewhere dead people reside to some place Stanley dreams about. Does this mean Stanley is near death? Possibly.

I feel it’s time to let go of these cross-overs. At time of writing this blog, my two other WiPs have nothing to do with this multi-book universe.

But I’m sure, sometime down the track, I’ll break this promise to myself.