I was working with series resistance and found that to be unworkable. I hadn't considered one in parallel. (If it works I will need to seek further explanation.)
How would I determine its value? I tried a 1M in parallel and the neon went so bright I was certain it would burn out if left for long. I found with the series resistor that I couldn't just select a value in the normal way -- I suppose I could go for trial and error again.