I thought this would be interesting, as an insight into what everyone is writing.
Everyone - meet David. He's an unassuming 28 year old half Murri, half Pakistani technical writer (yes, characters that are writers are cliches, I know) who is disgustingly in love with his partner Alyx. He's easygoing, and a bit too new agey for his own good. Alyx is having some strange problems at the moment however that seem to involve black lightning cascading from her body and portals to strange worlds opening. The ironic quoting of Guns and Roses lyrics seems to be happening a bit as well. So David is now trapped in another world of seeming wonder and magic that is degenerating quickly. He doesn't know if it's real or not, if he's in a coma, if he's in his girlfriend's brain - there are so many possibilities. He's not allowing himself to be perturbed however, and is following the signs to find Alyx and a way home. Oh - and teaching T'ai Chi to some locals he makes friends with. As he would say though - if life gives you lemons, cut them into yin-yangs...
Of course, David has no idea how dark things are going to get, and how he is going to be confronted with despair and pain - but then, what sort of main character would he be otherwise?
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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx
52,889 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2007 - 23 14
Hey, this looks like fun!
*drags main character into the spotlight*
This is Alis! Her full name is Alistaire Johannessen. Don't be put off by the fact that she's just about to burn someone's eyes out; she's actually a very nice person. She's also, well, dead. As are most of my characters. She's a lightning mage because she was struck by lightning when she died, and you get your powers depending on how freakish your death was.
She probably likes someone who she thought was a girl until about a month or two ago. There's also a mirror mage vying for her attention, but I imagine he'll be put off by the fact that she is indeed burning out someone's eyes.
Her outlook on life is nonexistent, really- she is dead. Her outlook on her current situation is probably something along the lines of "If life pelts lemons at you, pelt them right back and hope you get the bastard in the eye." Not that that has anything to do with the burning.
She probably has a fair idea of how dark it's getting. To date, she's been in two haunted mansions. And did I mention the eye thing? Yeah. Also, someone she admires is a vampire who killed the mage of another ship (did I mention they're on a ship?) in front of her. The ghost world is a daaaangerous place.
Anyway. Back to the burning. Poor Max...
But that's a different character :3
50,639 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2007 - 23 59
Group, say hello to Andros!
Andros is twenty-two, a scribe, and takes good care of his alcoholic guardian. He's sober, polite, and well-behaved, and it really isn't fair that these religious fanatics have come after him and forced him (with torture and threats to his family) on a Quest that, it turns out, will plunge the continent into war. His take would be 'if life gives you lemons, eat them quickly before someone steals the first fresh fruit you've seen in a month', and if it wasn't for his best friend the pragmatic mercenary who keeps offering to just kill everyone, things would be looking pretty dark for him right now.
And he doesn't even know about the traitor in the party yet...
50,242 / 50,000
Nov 26, 2007 - 01 35
I'm seeing a pattern here... How many people's main characters start with A?
Anyway, meet Analise!
She's 1021 years old this year although she looks about twenty. She's been dead for a thousand years more or less. Her leg was mangled twice while she was still alive and now she can't walk without a cane. Evidence in my novel suggests she had some trouble standing without it. She's not particularly nice a lot of the time (she keeps hitting people with the cane) but she's nicer to Sebastian than most.
She frequently has nightmares of either her death or maths errors, rainbows and tellytubbies.
She has a severe weakness for cute things like kittens which break her normally bland expression and make her start fawning over them. People around her find this amusing.
She has four very not sinister enemies and hates Noire very much.
7,000 / 50,000
Nov 26, 2007 - 19 52
*giggles* In keeping with tradition, I would like to introduce *drum roll*
Alesandese Jade Baledin, AJ to her friends is a 27 year old Capriquarian who works in the prestigious Jekyll-Hyde Enterprises as a personal assistant to the man himself, Mr Nigel Jekyll-Hyde. Poor Alesandese is being seduced (in her dreams) by a demon in etheric form who needs her untapped powers (there's a whole trite adopted witch who's ignorant of her true heritage thing going on here) to access the physical realms to wreak havoc. Unfortunately the nightly seduction is the only bright spot in Alesandese's life as she struggles to figure who she is & what she truly wants out of life. Things get very, very bad for the poor child with a suicide attempt and some magickal maladies resulting from the demon messing with her powers.
3 / 50,000
Nov 26, 2007 - 21 16
Heh.
This is getting creepy.
The main character of my novel is named Drew, which is short for Andrew. And his best friend -- who also takes centre stage -- is Aaron. Too many 'a' characters! :)
Drew is a 19 year old IT student at a local college. He is sarcastic, sardonic, has wit dipped in poison, and takes himself too seriously. He is a walking Matchbox-20 song in terms of angst with an almost permanent chip on his shoulder directed towards just about anyone who isn't Aaron. He is the ultimate "the glass is half empty" guy. Despite that, he is a likeable guy -- he is very committed, very dedicated to the cause of the heroes. He occasionally needs a push in the right direction, but in his heart he knows the Right Thing to do, and he'll fight to the death for the causes that his friends believe in. And because everyone needs at least one really weird room-mate in their lives, Drew is also a nudist. If he's ever wearing more than a towel, then he feels he's wearing too much (although the story takes place during winter, so the audience doesn't see much of that).
Drew's also a genius. He's one of those rare people for which programming code is as easy as the alphabet. He can *see* code in his head whenever he looks at a computer screen, and is probably the closest thing to a technopath (someone who's superpower is to communicate directly with anything technological) you're likely to meet. He fixes computers and all things IT related to make money, and he brings his skills as a hacker-god to the team. Give him a computer and he can do anything, in minimal time. He once had a conversation with his PC talking only in programming code, which completely baffled the other characters. As one of his friends said, "Thank goodness Drew is one of the good guys. 'Cause if he was one of the bad guys, he'd be a threat to humanity." And you get the feeling he sort of would be. But there is an anger to Drew, an anger about a world where horrible things happen that he just has no control over, and sometimes he feels quite trapped.
Drew is currently in love with one of his team-mates, a fiesty young woman named Beck who he is constantly challenged and scared by, but she's dating someone else so he's keeping his feelings a secret. He also had a crappy child-hood. His parents weren't abusive or horrible or anything, but are just two really awful people. They got married for the sake of their career and had a kid because that's what you're supposed to do, and they're both miserable and slowly tearing each other apart while the kid they didn't really want is caught in the middle -- which explains his attitude to life, and his complete lack of hope for the future. At some point, he has to stand up to his parents, but he doesn't see the point -- until, of course, the story gives him a reason too.
And if life ever gave Drew lemons, he wouldn't even need to check to know that they were probably rotten, and would throw them at the person who gave them to him.
42,305 / 50,000
Nov 27, 2007 - 03 14
Sadly, none of my characters have names beginning with 'A'... Lurk, Libby, Mal, Shaggus, Bent, Vapour, Boadicea... About the closest is my main villain, Barth Vapour; based on Annakin Skywalker -- except he ended up named "Mannequin" instead...
My MC is Lurk Splitwhisker, loosely based on Luke Skywalker, given the whole parodic nature of my novel(s). :-)
50,008 / 50,000
Nov 29, 2007 - 03 59
Tucker Langley, ladies and gentlemen.
Ten years ago, when he was sixteen, Tucker tried to summon Satan. That didn't work, and he ended up with Lillith, Cain and Judas instead. Now he's a bit older and presumably a bit wiser.
He is pretty laid back about everything, except when he got shot. That wasn't so good. Currently, he is trying to stop the end of the world occuring when some idiot decided that opening the Gates of Hell was a good idea.
He is also trying to explain all this to his fiancee.