A perfectly sensible character can be surprisingly difficult company for a novel. They notice the danger, ask the right question, leave at the right time and get a reasonable night’s sleep. Admirable behaviour. Potentially a very short book.

The more interesting question is what could make a sensible person stay.

Perhaps leaving would mean abandoning a friend. Perhaps the warning comes from someone they cannot bear to trust. Perhaps they understand the danger perfectly and think they are the exception. A choice becomes compelling when we can see the pressure behind it, even if we would not make it ourselves.

That does not mean every mistake deserves sympathy. A story can understand a person without excusing them. The consequences still need to arrive. If a character’s recklessness hurts someone, the next chapter should not quietly tidy away the damage so the adventure can continue untouched.

This is one reason the promise of a second chance interests me as a story idea. A new beginning sounds generous. But what does a person bring into it? The same loyalties? The same impatience? A more elaborate explanation for the same old mistake?

Reincarnation fantasy opens a particularly rich space for those questions. A person may enter an unfamiliar world with expectations formed somewhere else. Recognition is not the same as understanding. Knowing a name does not tell you what it will cost to stand beside the person who carries it.

Mrig: Reborn in the Mahabharata explores rebirth, friendship and the cost of power. Those themes offer more than a change of scenery: they invite a reader to think about who a person becomes through the choices they make among other people.

For a reader, the test can be wonderfully simple. At a turning point, ask: do I understand why this character chose this? Then ask a harder question: has the story allowed that choice to change anything?

A character does not have to be right. The novel does have to take them seriously.

Explore Mrig and its reading guide: https://www.amrindersahota.ca/inside-mrig

Books, articles and social profiles: https://linktr.ee/amrindersahota

By Amrinder Sahota, author of Mrig, Sun and Moon and The Day She Wasn’t Dead.

Photo: Dose Media on Unsplash. Used under the Unsplash License.
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