has there ever been a character you scrapped but came back to some time later and found new inspiration for?
Yes actually! My first main character for a story that wasn't a self-insert was Jonah, whose story I basically scrapped entirely and started using pieces of it for other stuff.
Jonah himself was reworked to be a side-character in Flammarion. Still a sailor with anxiety issues, but he's no longer the main hero, but a party member to someone who would be the main hero if they were the main protag.
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