The Evolution of a Character

I started writing one of my fantasy books when I was in the 11th grade. When I was a freshman in college, I actually had a completed first draft and I felt better than ever about it.

Now, I am 26 years old and that same book has changed so much that I can't even remember how the original story played out. My writing has matured greatly since 11th grade and my characters show that. I don't fancy ever going back and reading that completed first draft from college. I know, from the parts of it that I do remember, that it is certainly laughable. It did feel great to have a complete draft in my hand, nonetheless.

One of the main things that I remember from that first failed attempt to write a book is a very insignificant character named, Matholis. Matholis from the old story was a character that all the rest of my characters were supposed to hate. I did portray that quite well. He was played off as being an annoying drunk with no sense of morality.

In a later rewrite, Matholis ended up playing a more significant role in helping the same characters that hated him in the first draft. As I dug deeper and deeper into Matholis' past, I found that there was something golden in him as a character. For some, unknown, reason I was able to flesh out this 'insignificant' character more than any other character in the book.

In another rewrite, Matholis, with a dark past, is actually the main character of part 1 of the book. He is a messenger of the gods. Before I even finished that rewrite, I knew that I needed to explore his dark past. It is a past worth telling and it is, indeed, very dark. Now, I am on chapter 13 of a novel focusing on his life from childhood all the way up to the beginning of that unfinished rewrite.

Now, the insignificant character that will, in the future, play a vital part in the main series as a whole, is living out his dark past. The drunk that nobody likes and has only a few short appearances in the very first draft of a novel, is now the most fleshed out character and the main focus of a whole new story.

I have learned that it is okay for a writer's characters to lead the way for the story. If I had tried to fight Matholis' lead on my story, I would never have created one of my finest characters and would still be stuck with that laughable first draft full of undeveloped characters.

Has anyone else had this' evolution of a character' in their writing? Certainly, I can't be the only one... Let's hear about one of your characters that took the lead in your novel.