Things change, things stay fluid, things are in a state of flux. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, and the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley.
The Old Indian was in my story from the very beginning.
Years and years ago when I first began organizing my ideas for The Horse Story, I saw The Old Indian playing a brief but crucial role in the climax.
Mentally I cast Chief Dan George in the role.
And as will happen, on my way to the climax I started re-thinking some of my ideas.
This is a YA novel aimed primarily at female readers; I looked at my characters and, even though my four heroines were of the female persuasion, there was far too much testosterone in the rest of the cast.
So, easy enough to change: Here and there, where logical, supporting characters got gender reorientation editing.
The last one to go under the metaphorical knife was The Old Indian.
I describe her thusly:
She could be 40 or 400. She wears a black bowler style hat, a long sleeve tribal dress of vivid color and design, and -- incongruously -- hot pink running shoes.
Go figure.
You couldn’t do that with Chief Dan George.