Last week you met Olesia the 20-something, half-British, half-Portuguese queen of a future-medieval Britain as she met a cousin she hadn’t seen in almost two decades. The two will fall in love though as you could see from the humour they shared, it’s going to be more along the lines of Benedick and Beatrice than Romeo and Juliet. Today, I want to introduce you to that book’s protagonist, the assassin who in the first book was supposed to be a secondary character but soon took on a life of his own. This is the moment from the first book when we start to realise that there are some great depths to this assassin…
Continue reading
characters
Snippet Sunday 16/2/14
I had a revelation this week about the foul-mouthed, foul-tempered Tertius Severus Nero and why he is the way he is. Last weekend I wrote a scene where he scaled a building to reach an upper floor to see his dying father and explain on his return he would “become a better son”. Here is the first indication we get about his character. It is not pretty and at first glance he is the sort of person you want to avoid but I was determined to make him a sympathetic character. Read this part and see the discussion afterwards. Continue reading
Image and Your Character
coverwhiz.com
Bestselling writers know that image counts according to The Guardian and they make a few good points about the importance of vivid imagery. While I agree it helps to have a character that is physically distinctive, it shouldn’t replace of the construction of what should be a well-rounded character from the start. Image is a lot, but it is not everything. Continue reading
Character Feature: Katniss Everdeen
Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence
hungergames wikia
It’s a while since I’ve done one of these despite promising that you would get one every month… I think the last one was October 2012 when I did various portrayals of Satan in film. No matter, well overdue but I’ve now felt the need to do another one. In the last few weeks I have read the entire Hunger Games trilogy so it shouldn’t come as any great surprise that I’ve chosen this particular young lady for my next character feature. Continue reading
The New Archetypes
Professor Snape – the ultimate anti-hero
neatorama.com
A blog buddy of mine, Pat Wood, listed a number of character archetypes a few weeks ago and I have been thinking about whether in 21st century fiction we have some new character types to explore. I’ve given it some thought and these are what I have come up with: Continue reading
The Plot Driven ———–> Character Driven Swingometer
Nila E. White is thoughtfully going through a number of rules for creating a story. Number 4 in the series insists on the need for plot. Of course I agree but as these things inevitably do, it usually comes down to a debate between plot and character driven prose. Continue reading
Character Feature: Satan in Film
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
This is a slightly different character feature for this month. Instead of doing an analysis of a character, I’m going to look at my favourite portrayals on screen of one of the most important characters in Christian lore. Continue reading
Character Feature: Marcus Didius Falco
lindseydavis.co.uk
As I have only read ten of the approximately twenty books in this series, this character feature is likely to be a “part 1″ with a part 2 expected many years from now. Please don’t hold me to that though!
Appeared in: Lindsey Davis’ series of crime/mystery historical fiction with a good dose of humour. Radio adaptations voiced by Anton Lesser in several BBC radio adaptations. Continue reading
Character Feature: Lyra Belacqua
Lyra riding on the back of Iorek Byrnison – promo shot from the 2007 film.
image: allmoviephotos.com
Appeared in: Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and spin off book Lyra’s Oxford. New Line Cinema filmed a movie version of the first book Northern Lights under its US title The Golden Compass. Lyra portrayed by then debut actress Dakota Blue Richards. Continue reading
Character Feature: Batman
Riddle me this, riddle me that. Who’s afraid of the big. black. bat?
I began work on this about ten days ago and until a few hours ago, I almost didn’t post this for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, here is my summary for why Batman is my favourite masked avenger in the month that Nolan’s trilogy ending The Dark Knight Rises hits cinema screens.
People think it’s an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It’s never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I’m doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn’t that day. And tomorrow won’t be either.
Identity Crisis