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Only as much as bringing a past character forward can disguise him or her. If you have a brilliant, borderline sociopathic crime-solver who uses recreational pharmaceuticals to stave off boredom ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16108 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16108 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Only as much as bringing a past character forward can disguise him or her. If you have a brilliant, borderline sociopathic crime-solver who uses recreational pharmaceuticals to stave off boredom and has a physician friend/living-space-mate who helps with cases, setting the story in 25th century Starfleet, 21st century New York, or Camelot isn't going to let you off the hook from readers recognizing Holmes and Watson. Just changing setting/time isn't sufficient. You have to change enough of the details that the character is no longer the real person.