Characters

Which set? LOL I've got several, two sets of which are competing for this year's NaNo in my head.

My characters all have some kind of character trait that they get from me or from people I know. I've even got a couple patterned after a couple of really awesome friends. I've known Tinandril, Reidar, and their companions for several years now under a few different names. My favorite out of them are actually Raghnall and Taereah, my cynical and yet still somehow naive mage who also happens to be the most powerful mage alive and his orange dragon partner. I fell in love with his character when I started working on the plot line a few years ago and needed a couple mages as minor characters. Raghnall, his best friend Eron, and a dragon named Taereah who prefers mortal form to her nature form. They were supposed to STAY minor. Eron is still fairly minor, though he's beginning to develop his own personality and is demanding a little more screen time. Half the time I want to write about Taereah and Raghnall more than Tinandril and Reidar!

My least favorite? Probably Gorgon and Delaena. I don't really like them. They're part of a story that my husband started and then turned over to me to work with. Gorgon is this super genius and Delaena is an alien race that actually looks like a faerie when she gets out of her larval state. I REALLY don't like them. They've never felt like they belonged to me. I also don't like the story I've dubbed "Fang Faces" because that's my Gothic horror/urban fantasy cross that never really went very well. With both of these stories, I'd like to try and redo them one day. Just right now I really don't like them.

(And NaNo crashed when I was writing this earlier, so I edited it to finish what I was writing before.)

Creativity is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. ~Thomas Edison

Who are my characters?

Well, my main character is a young magic user who is even more unsure of himself than I am (which is saying something). He was the first to arrive for this story, quite a few years ago. I started his story back in middle school (so at least fours years ago), but didn't get past the first page. But then, about this time a year ago, I took the basic plot to his story and turned it into an RP. That's when the evil queen really made her appearance in my mind. I knew of her before, but I had never bothered to question why she did the things she did. That RP allowed me to do that, to an extent.

Next came the characters that my fellow RPers created. They are the basis for the cast of characters that are entering into my NaNo novel. I'd have to say that my favorite out of this group is a guy by the name of Mikael (though his name is subject to change). He's the one who forces Gan (my main character) to grow up, and see the world as it really is. He's the one that tells Gan that he can't do anything, which then makes Gan want to prove him wrong. Their relationship is just really fun to write.

My least favorite...? I'm not really sure at this point...

My most conflicted would be Gan, because he thought he saw everything really clear and stuff, but then Mikael forces him to see the truth. That's when he starts getting confused about what to do; that's when he starts fighting with himself.

My most interesting character? I'm not really sure at that one either. I want to say Mikael or the evil queen, but... *shrugs* I won't know until I start writing.

2007: One Long Train Ride: Won
2008: Midnight: ?

The last book I finished writing had a cast of about 6 POV characters and it was huge and great fun. This year for NaNo I am challenging myself to stick to 3-4 characters. Mostly 3 with only odd moments inside the Dellida's (creature) POV.

Ethike Delgora is one of the mains. She's the displaced Heir Apparent to the House Delgora and has lived most of her life surrounded by the people she is meant to lead. This has forced her to live a very lonely life. Although she's surrounded by people who make her laugh and have joined in the fight alongside her, the only people who know she's really the Heir Apparent are the brothers at the Monastery she grew up in. I think the trait I like the best about her is that she manages to find the humor even in the middle of catastrophe.

Saldorian Feverrette is our other main. Thus far about Sal I've learned that he hates being lied to. He had a falling out with his elder brother about something - still working on that - and he has one servant who will follow him to the ends of the world - Gremor. Though Gremor is a bit of a snob.

Vicaress Reonne is the antagonist. I've spent the last few days working on her. I can't really get into her without going into a huge discussion of the plot and politics of the world I've been building, so I'll just say that she's bitter.

The Dellida - creature who feeds off of magic. Leeches magic off of witches and the sons of witches. It's not a necessity for him to survive, it's more like he's a crack-addict for it. I only intend to have three or four scenes in his POV.

Hmm.....well this year I'm actually going back to my "original" set of characters in a sense. I say "original" because they are the ones that were prominent in my first Nano, and my first full novel. The story I did last year was *supposed* to be about a different set of characters....and it did START that way....but it has become the beginning to the third book in my trilogy, that I started in high school. This year's Nano is a supplement to that trilogy in a way. It could also be seen as the 4th book....but what's different about this story is that it focuses primarily on my MMC instead of my FMC.

So Jake has always been pretty much my favorite character. And a lot of that is that even though he has been with me a long time, I really know NOTHING about him. But he has finally decided that he is going to share his story, which is going to be this years Nano. I think it will be interesting learning about Jake. I think the best part will be that I will be learning about him as Grayton, my FMC, and his wife, learns about him. He's not really giving me any prior knowledge.

One of my characters that I'm really not sure what to make of him is Tristan, Grayton's son. At the part of the story that I'm currently working on (in a previous book...confusing I know...) he's an angsty, egotistical, overprotective 13 year old boy. In my nano for this year however, he will be 20... (Book 2= 13, Book 3= 18, Book whatever = 20). He also has a twin sister named Melini. While in the story that I'm working on, Book 2, he's a bit out of control, I do know that he mellows a bit. He becomes more mature (sort of.....) and gains more control over his powers and emotions. He also discovers girls...which helps ;)

Its very interesting working on a trilogy, especially one that is set so far apart. But its a lot of fun because I get to learn more about my characters as they mature and grow. I mean, there's a big difference between an 18 year old and a 30 year old (Grayton book 1-book 2) and possibly an even bigger difference (maturity wise anyway) between a 13 year old and an 18 year old (Tristan and Melini book 2-book 3). So yeah...my story is complicated...and I've probably just completely confused everyone instead of actually clarifying anything, oh well.

I just write what my characters tell me....

Is it bad that I'm 1/2 way through October and I still don't really have any characters defined beyond my main character's going to be a guy who has a problem with luck? It's not that he has bad luck, but that he has good luck that usually manifests itself in ways that make it look like bad luck. But that's all I've figured out for characters or even plot really... I think I might be in trouble...

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Why do computer programmers get Halloween and Christmas confused?

OCT 31 = DEC 25

Spiderwebb, Casey, and Penn, I am impressed at the level of detailed descriptions of your characters. Very Impressive.

Agbu - not to worry. Many people literally don't do ANYTHING until 3 days before the end of November. I kid you not. There's a participant who does this every year, swears by the method. And, he's won 9 NaNo's!

Something I've always found helpful in getting to know characters: take them grocery shopping! Doesn't matter if they live in a world with grocery stores or not, take them grocery shopping. So much can be said based on what a person buys at the grocery store, and what they're doing while they buy it. Also, it's just a fun exercise.

I literally haven't thought about this at all 'till writing this but here goes...

Bomber X: A mysterious caped man with an X shaped eyepatch over his left eye. He wears a top hat and a cape and his modus operandi is to blow stuff up. Inspired by Tuxedo Mask and V.

Princess Pomluna: The main character and heir to the throne of Cloud City, Princess Pomluna spends lots of her time resenting her sheltered upbringing and reading fairy tales. She's very good at kung-fu and sneaking about. Always wears the same white dress which never seems to get dirty. She seems to skip everywhere and twirls in circles a lot.

Zotan the magnificent: A very sinister travelling magician who comes to cloud city for purposes unknown. The magic show he puts on involves only cheap tricks but you shouldn't assume that's all he's got up his sleeve. Always looking to buy magical artifacts from people who have no idea what they actually posess.

Pluto: An indentured servant to Zotan for as far back as he can remember. Yet somehow has a very developed sense of right and wrong that's about 90 degrees to that of Zotan.

OK, that's it so far ^_^