: I developed this character in the second book instead of the first I am a young author writing a fantasy series. In my series, I have five main characters. Camryn, Dylan, Willow, Jason, and

@Annie587

Posted in: #CharacterDevelopment

I am a young author writing a fantasy series. In my series, I have five main characters. Camryn, Dylan, Willow, Jason, and Sarah.
In the first book the main character of the six and the first person narrator (Camryn) went through extremely hard decisions,(that could get thousands of people killed) came to terms with the death of her family,(which she blamed herself for) found out her little brother was alive only to have him die again, led an army, defeated who she thought was the bad guy, and then figured out that the actual person she needed to kill to set the planet free couldn’t actually be killed.
While all this was happening, the other five MCs sat in the back and didn’t really do anything. I decided that each book would put a different MC in a tough spot, so they each went through something like this. The flattest MC of them all was Jason.
Jason (in the first book) seemed to be a pretty straightforward guy. He helped out, kept everyone’s spirits up, and pretty much just acted as the comic relief. He’s a pretty flat character, even though he’s a main one. He didn’t even have a backstory, and he was the only character without one.
For the second book, I decided that Camryn couldn’t be the only person losing people and making tough decisions. While the second book is still told from her POV, I decided to make this one about Jason.
I also decided that he would be a spy.
In the first book, the bad guys always knew where my characters were, what they were doing, who cared about who the most, etc. this doesn’t really make sense, unless they had a man on the inside, which is exactly what Jason was.
In the second book, the antagonist knows all of my characters greatest fears. He manipulates them and tries to turn them on each other.
Jason has always been a spy for this reason: The Huntress(Main antagonist) has his girlfriend. She’ll be killed if he doesn’t cooperate. By the end of the first book, Jason has become good friends with all of the other MCs, and is now torn by continuing to spy on them and get them killed, or join them and get his girlfriend killed. (His girlfriend does end up getting killed)
In the first book, none of this is revealed, and Jason is just a simple flat character. His greatest fear is that when he tells his friends he was a spy, that they won’t forgive him. He’s especially worried about the MC, Camryn, because he was the reason her brother died.
Is the second book too late to add all this into the character, or does it make a good plot twist?

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@Sarah872

@Sarah872

I think it's fine.
Character development isn't something that needs to be done right away, but when important things happen. If Jason is spending most of his time not having life-changing experiences, then this seems completely fine to me. Some readers might question why it wasn't done before but I think you'll be fine. Since he's remained mostly the same through the first book, you'll have a better idea of what he needs to become and how to do that.
As for if it would make a good twist, that entirely depends on how it's written, although you will be able to make it work unless you were trying not to.

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@Kristi637

@Kristi637

Unless your first book is published, it isn't too late to make changes to it. I think it's a great twist for the second book that one of the heroes is a secret mole, but you'll want to make sure that everything he does in the first book is at the least consistent with that.

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