Thanks, Angela! Yes, this is something we all struggle with, isn’t it? The character is gone, but we still need to somehow create that illusion that the reader has met them so that they better understand the protagonist’s loss. I always think of the old film Rebecca, and how Hitchcock brilliantly made us feel like we knew exactly what kind of woman Rebecca was, despite her never appearing on the screen. Hitchcock must have done something right because often, when people are asked which actress they imagine playing the role of Rebecca, many answer Vivien Leigh, even though she’s never on screen. When that unseen character plays a pivotal role in our books, we owe it to the reader to create this illusion, difficult as it may be. Any time I’ve tried to help clients work on this facet, I found there’s very little by way of writing advice out there for this element. Hopefully, this helps writers who need to work their own unseen-character magic!