Losing A Character

The problem with penning a novel, for me, was that I felt boxed into elongating it. I'm a short story gal. Achieving that holy grail of 60,000 words was an unnatural quest. 

I've tried making my second novel better, but, to be blunt, it reeks. It's all over the place. There are secondary characters who aren't even interesting, yet I wrote thousands of words about them. And not good words.

I've been toying with turning the novel into a novella. Granted, a long novella, but at the very least compacting it into something remotely entertaining. What immediately struck me as I was scrolling through the manuscript was that one of the characters needed to be done away with. Erased. Chapters upon chapters of nothingness -- it all had to go. I'll sort of miss him, but fictional life is brutal sometimes. 

I'm trying something that could very well fail. Interspersing past and present. It will either confuse and exasperate readers or it could potentially work. My manuscript contained too many long flashbacks that took readers (if I had any) out of the story. It's one thing to highlight things that drove the protagonist to her actions today; it quite another to make the reader feel like he's lost in two separate novels. 

What have I done so far? I've ditched the boss completely. He's casually referred to in the context of the story, but I no longer care about his inadequacies or his doubts or his insecurities. 

The would-be fiance is now a footnote. He's a jerk, and I'll leave it at that. And I haven't even gotten as far as the old lady, who apparently plays a big part in the story and ties into the ending; but let's just say for now that there are too many damn supporting characters bullying their way in. 

One can't view a novel and a novella in the same light. I am keenly aware that I created so many characters as a way to hit a predetermined mark. And it doomed the quality of the thing. 

That's not to say that transforming it into a novella will be better. It just might be a hopeless case. But I'm loathe to abandon something I worked so hard at without at least trying.

I look at all of this as a learning experience. Whether this transformation turns out or whether it explodes to dust, I'm at least learning what not to do. 

And I'm SO happy no one laid down good money to buy it.