A Character in The Measure of Life who became unexpectedly important
One of my characters in The Measure of Life grew in importance as I shaped and edited the novel. I originally pictured him simply as an elderly man in an antique and junk shop where my protagonist bought some memorabilia when she returns from buying bread at a bakery a neighbor recommended as the best in Rome. My developmental editor said he was extraneous to the story, but a few friends who had seen an earlier draft said they loved him. I was puzzled – get rid of him or expand into a real character?
I needed to allow my protagonist, Nicole, to be able to express her innermost turmoil – unhappy marriage, surprise baby that has upset other members of her family and worries about being stuck in Rome for years with no prospects of an independent life. She has developed a friendship with her upstairs neighbor, but that woman is so comfortable in her own life she is unable to relate to Nicole’s turmoil with other than kindness. Nicole needs more, someone to open her heart to and who can respond with gentle advice and help her see alternatives to a way forward. When she enters the dark and dusty antique shop on a whim, she finds herself in a fairyland filled with old books and antiques that have stories to tell. The shop is tended by a lonely old man whom she soon discovers also needs someone to talk with and who takes delight in cosseting the baby as he had with his own children ages earlier.
As their relationship develops it gave me the opportunity to describe the setting filled with typical contents found in Rome shops and flea markets that I personally love such as old travel books and histories, ceramics, terra cotta sculptures, an antique children’s sailboat, and small paintings that I bought for my own pleasure. Nicole buys a terra cotta head that reminds her a little bit of Alessandro.
But most important, the old man now had a critical place in the story, one that expanded from a little local color to a person who becomes a substitute grandfather to the baby and plays a pivotal role in determining the course of Nicole’s life.
