When things don't work (Patreon)

Not a chapter, just some mustings. Sometimes things don't work out like you planned. Stories roll around in my head and sound good. Then you put them down on paper, and toss them to readers. Feedback can be what you expect, or surprise you.

Sometimes I'm surprised because I managed to get something right, and yet still screwed up. In this case it's two characters in Tunnel Rat: Charlotte and Larry.

Larry started out as a way to show Milo, and the readers, the problem with too much cheese. I wanted to play with the idea that cheese was a two-edged sword for ratkin. Cheese can be a great benefit, but like with any drug it has downsides. So enter Larry, the poor cheese addict sitting on the porch begging for a bit of cheddar, and walking the long way back from addiction. He was fun to write. And people liked him. I decided that I couldn't just leave Larry sitting on that porch begging for cheese. None of us would be happy.

Char (Charlotte) was a different problem. She wasn't mean't to be a girlfriend for Milo. Maybe a friend? I wasn't sure. But whenever I wrote her she seemed mean. Mean and selfish and probably spoiled. One of the few people in the Hollow who was that way.

So what do I do with her? I'm not up for a long redemption arc to make the character I made people hate more appealing. The story is already pretty slow, but Char had a role in some areas.

Chapter 122 is the start of the solution and one that took me forever to write.