And not a sign of Noel Edmonds...

[erastes]

I've just discovered

www.swapshop.co.uk which is a bloody good idea.  The nice thing is that it's more of a bartering/alternative currency thing than a bona-fide swap shop - e.g.  You put an item up for "swapping" - someone accepts it and you receive "swap points" which you can then "spend" on items that you would like. So you don't have to actually swap your item for anything that your recipient wants.

What a great idea!  I've got so much stuff I can get rid of this way!

And I've got a writery type question about superfluous characters.

I've been struggling with a novella for several months now. Time enough for some people to have written two full-sized novels, I'm sure. Firstly I think I'm finding it difficult because I had to provide the publisher with an outline of the plot before commencing, and that's not the way I write. Like Stephen King I like to discover the plot at the same pace as my readers and although I generally know how things are going to end, I make it up as I go. Having the plot already outlined in my head means that the book is already written and I'd rather like some more magical means of transposing it onto paper rather than my fingers.

Bah.

But - possibly in rebellion at sticking to the outline given - I've suddenly introduced a new character who I don't really want to delete as he's already got a backstory and history with the main character. But. His only real existence within the story is to sit and have lunch with said main character and whilst I could give him a reason for being there, it doesn't impinge on the plot at all, and so he is, as Willow sings, "mostly filler."

What do you guys think?  If you meet an interesting (hopefully) character in a book and then the author doesn't actually do anything with that character other than to have lunch with main character, would you be annoyed?  And why?

Comments

[angrboda]

Googled a bit and found something that looked promising, but it turned out to be something you could sign up for and automatically generate more hits to your website (which makes me wonder if that's becuase it will actually get more visitors or if they're just going to stuff people's hit counters...)

Then I found something else that looked promising but it had been taken down indefinitely because it was full of fake stuff.

I tried www.swapshop.dk just on a whim and discovered that the domain is for sale for 5,500 kr plus VAT...

Not having much luck here.