Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 2
Total Scenes: 149
I keep thinking I’ve put more together than I have. I guess my days are running together. Regardless, polished off another proto-chapter and am working on one of the last pieces in Eighth Three for Meibor. We’ll see how it goes and if I can get it done today. Fingers crossed.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 12%
Sightwitch: 32%
Jessica Jones: S2E8 of 13
Yeah, no real consumption yesterday outside of YouTube videos while I worked. That and Lost, which my wife is rewatching as I watch for the first time. Seriously, what is up with that show? Hopefully more today.
Polishing the Well
My daughter got her braces on yesterday. She’s grinning and bearing it pretty well. We’ll see how her first full day in them goes today.
Well Chat
How do I create characters?
Every author has their own methods. I am no different. I rarely have a character come to me fully formed. They don’t manifest or materialize fully in my mind’s eye. Cordelia did, but she hasn’t made it to the page yet. I’m saving her for something special. Generally, I start with a kernel of personality and add layers and fillers from there.
In The Tidestone Cycle, I have TONS of different…let’s call them classes since RPGs were the basis for how I organized my different magic users. When I set out to create a new character, I ask myself which classes either have not yet been explored or are not yet planned to be introduced. I also consider how this new character would first be encountered to ensure believability. Once that is decided, that helps establish some of their values as a product of the society from which they hail. I typically have an idea for why I need a character so that feeds into their personality as well.
Then I get to the kernel, the seed of who the character is. Every character has a tiny piece of me in them. And I mean that literally. Each character is based off of one aspect of my personality. I usually take it and exaggerate it to some degree and then couple that with their culture and purpose. That’s the kernel.
Let’s take Grant as a prime example. He is a Lero from Lervuco so he is naturally a little afraid of magic users because Lervucons are inherently xenophobic. His purpose is, well, the hero so he has to have a strong will and determination to make it to the end of the story. And then the part of me is strong family ties. Couple those together and I have an idea of who Grant is. Then I add history, especially his ghost, his best friend and his colleague, both of which have a driving influence on his formation, and other aspects that will help, like above average intelligence and a hibernating anger complex. There’s much more to Grant than all this, but it works to show part of my character creation process.
In another example, I needed a character in Book Two that was going to get Rorian out of his comfort zone. Rorian was born a Reaver who is naturally aligned AGAINST Necromancers…so obviously Tassos had to be a Necromancer. Plus, that ties into other needs down the line. Necromancers reside almost exclusively in Farcos, a Necromancer-Farcosdam (read that as mindful zombie) collective. That gave him A LOT of culture to work with. And then my personality trait was that he wants to help as many people as he can, especially those he cares about and those in his own nation. I’m still building some of his history and additional traits, but that is how his kernel came together.
Creating PEOPLE is a unique process for every author, but it is so much fun! I love figuring out who these people are and how they work as I work through my novels and I’m excited to create more characters over time. I hope this offered a glimpse into my crazy creative process. Thanks for joining me today.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG