Throw away characters

[Theory5]

What do you guys think of characters that appear once or twice in a book to explain what is going on? Whenever I start writing, I like to go back to one previously written section and see what needs to be rewritten or fixed. Today I realized that the first page of my story is not well written.
So I am toying with the idea of using a throw away character, who gets killed. Because someone else on a previous thread suggested that I need to show people whats going on, rather than tell them.

Do you guys have any tips or anything about using characters that only appear once or twice? Have you used them before? Do you use them often?

 

[Interference]

They never make it into the movie, except as cameos by major stars.

I'm not sure I'm fond of the concept of a throw-away character providing insights into the progress of the plot. Do you have any other character already running around who might fulfill that role?

And introducing a character who is going to be killed seems a little pointless as the death of a character is only really effective if the reader has come to enjoy their presence. Ensign Expendable notwithstanding

On the surface of it, I think I'd prefer a reworking of the prose rather than a deus ex machina insert.

Congratulations, though, on discovering the weakness of your first page. It's arguably the most important page. Plus it's some measure of how much you've improved since you wrote it

 

[Warren_Paul]

I've used a few "throw-away" characters in certain scenes, to convey the story when needed. Some of them I plan to feature in following books, others their purpose was served. They all had a purpose relevant to building character or plot development.

for instance, there is a scene where one of my PoV characters finds a group of people destroying a fellow town member's house, just because she has different color skin. The PoV character shames them all by showing how much their lives had been improved by what the woman has done for the town. You never see them again after that, but it develops the personality of the PoV character as well as showing the growing tension in the town as the story heads towards war.

Is it absolutely needed for the main story? In my case no, but its a great moment in the book and I would be sad to cut it out.



But is that a good writing practice? I have no idea, sorry. Just thought I should say I do it too.

 

[Theory5]

Well, I think they are good lead-ins, especially in the beginning of the story where I am planning on putting them. I know Peter F. Hamilton uses them sometimes, as well as other authors especially to show an event when there are no actual characters nearby.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Write it and see if it works.

I've got one in one of my books. He has a twin brother with a larger part so I guess the actor in the movie could get recycled lol The character has a pretty major influence on the story so it felt right to introduce him before getting rid of him.

Although I've just realised he returns as a sort of ghost in an exorcism scene (he doesn't do anything, but his presence is acknowledged) and then he does have a few scenes as ashes in a jar.

 

[hopewrites]

as I understand the theories of Good Writing, Telling is more often then not the lesser choice than Showing.
So if we use "throw-away" characters to Show back-story, plot movement, character development, then we are using them correctly. If we use them to Tell, then we will probably get advice to drop the throw away and Show what they told.

 

[Gumboot]

It's hard to judge, without context. My rule is that any rule of writing can be broken, if you know exactly what it's there for, you know why you're breaking it, and you do it well.

Exposition is always a tricky thing to handle in a book. Yes, it's generally better to "show" but sometimes you just need to get some information out there so the plot can move forward. You don't want to be expending thousands of words "showing" a piece of information that can be told in a couple of sentences.

 

[Dozmonic]

Sometimes they can offer a great insight into a perspective that no POV character can.