To keep or not to keep?
In the latest book I have a character named Hyde of whom I'm rather fond. He's a cop with some anxiety issues and a soft side for his family. A sympathetic figure by all means. But is he necessary? I'm not sure.
He doesn't appear in the manuscript all that often. He could be eliminated.
Of course I like him so I don't want to delete him, but if he isn't serving a purpose, if his existence is a distraction, a hindrance, than he should exit stage left, never to be seen again. I've deleted characters before. Characters to whom I had a major affinity. Deleting Hyde would be easier.
But again, I'm not convinced it's necessary and I suspect I won't know until I'm done editing and still might not know until a test reader or two says, "What's this cop doing here?" or "Love the cop. Keep him."
Another odd thing about Hyde is he doesn't have a first name. Not even on my characters list I created to keep them all straight. He's just Hyde. Maybe with a name like Hyde (hide) you don't ever learn the first name. Or maybe he's waiting for me to promise to keep him before he tells me.