Reusing Characters (Shard's Shard)

A common abnormality among writers is the reuse of characters, be they main or minor. Each writer has their own personal reasons for doing so, some better then others, as well as their own ways of doing it. A good reason for doing this is continuity. Having a character you, the writer, know and keeping the stories consistent with in each other allows others to see the differences between the locations and situations the character is in. If the reader knows a character well enough they then expect certain aspects to come to fruition. This is with the assumption that all character repeats are clones independent of their reality. A case that should be avoided while using characters more then once as this brings about stagnation.

A Personal recommendation for writers who DO NOT stagnate is one by the pen name Shard. This writer uses a character with the same name she signs her literary works with, that name being Shard. A character that is only bound by the writer herself.

According to Shard (The Writer) her character has two main reasons for existence. One is to teach, be it herself or others, by means of actions she (the writer) could not normally do. The other is to entertain also by means she (the writer) could not normally do. The former is the most difficult of the two as it requires readers to be open to possibilities, the latter requires only a limited imagination as Shard paints a wonderful picture.

The Winged is the first time I had the pleasure of reading about Shard's Shard...

Exert From "The Winged" by Shard

Shard opened her eyes as the light flicked on in her room. She sat on her bed, staring with unfocused vision at what was to her a blurry outline of a man. She whimpered as he walked towards her, the blurry image coming clear as that of a tall man. His hair fell lightly on the shoulders of his gold inleid robes.

The Man kept his hands in his pockets as he nudged the door shut with his foot. He stepped over and sat down on the bed next to her. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Shard pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, folding her leathery black wings against her back "I..." She wasn't quite sure how to answer him.

The man reached out and put a hand on her cheek "It's alright, you can say what you want" The blond jerked her head away from him and watched as he glared at her.

To those who knew her only by reputation, Shard was a ruthless killer, she was the evil kings right hand man. Sent in the kings stead to missions and battles that were too great for even the highest ranking general, but too petty for the king to do himself. She would, on occasion, join the king when he went to address the public, though she never seemed to speak at these meetings.

... but soon I found the character to be more diverse then duck tape. The basics behind Shard's Shard become apparent very quickly to any who sees the character appear, but these things are only on the surface.

Exert From "The Chase" also by Shard

A blood red cloth fell over deep blue eyes, sliding down to cover a slender mouth. The blonde girl observed her appearance in the mirror, testing out the bandit look. Apparently her skinny tie look was getting old, so she had begun exploring her other options.

"Hmm, I think I Like this one." She said, turning to the tailor of the headquarters, still wearing the red cloth over her nose and mouth. The tailor nodded, and took down her name before handing her a set of similar red pieces of cloth.

"Thank you and have a nice day Commander Shard."

She was grinning slightly at her new look, though no one could tell, which made her smile even more. Shard exited the tailors shop and began to head towards her suite. Another hue of red crossed her otherwise all black attire... A Small Red dot became visible on her shirt, just over where her heart was.

The key with using characters over, and over again is versatility. Without this, you become repedative and/or stale. Shard solves this "problem" simply by changing the character's surroundings and environment.

Exert from "Hazard" once again, by Shard.

Shard had never seen any part of the Prison... The original verdict had her in for 12 consecutive life sentences (Life sentence; 35 years) But it was later decided that she would serve only seven of those sentences in exchange for her helping the King with his wars... For two week periods at a time she would be sent to help kill the oposing forces, and the rest of her time she spent in the prison. No, it wasn't because she'd never been to the prison that she'd never seen it, infact it could be argued she knew the prison better then most of the guards. Shard was a fire demon, and her eyes were her catalyst... If it wasn't for her agreement with the court, she would have been blinded upon entereing Hazard, instead she was fitted with a magically secured blindfold, the means of its safe removel were still unknown to her. When she went to fight, the blindfold was removed, but while in the prison, or on her way too and from it, she was kept blind.

How would any of us tolerate such an event as being drugged and thrown into a pit of criminals, magic eyes with or without? That is the challenge Shard (the writer) brings with her character. Bringing us into a situation we may not have ever even thought with one simple blond haired female. For the full effect of Shard's Shard, suggest reading "The Princess".

Character replication and repetition must be handled with a light glove, a glove that Shard (the writer) fits into very well.