The Four-Part Writing Special// Part 2: Characters
But now: For today's post! Which will hopefully be a little more light-hearted as Part 2 of the Four-Part Writing Special!
Once again, be sure to check out the other posts in this month's pre-NaNo series!
And here we go! Today's post: The characters of my WIP, which has gotten a working title lately: Hurricane Ink.
1. Who is the Main Character?
Her name is Briallen. She's a young woman at university with a dangerous backstory. Cryptic much? ^_^A little more detail for you lovely people: Briallen is nineteen years old (although that doesn't really factor into the story much.) She's the oldest of five girls, and came from a small town in the mountains to university in a large city away from the mines where the dwarves of her world keep most people enslaved to debt. (Yes, I have both dwarves and unicorns in this story...the thing doesn't make any sense, okay?) Briallen is a writer who, while she's careful to attend all of her classes at school, tends to skip homework in the name of finishing her book. There are reasons for this. They will make more sense later, probably. XD
2. What is the goal of the protagonist? The antagonist?
Well, this seems hard to do without spoilers, doesn't it?
Briallen's goal, I guess, is to finish writing her book in order to pay off a debt. (The crypticness of the thing!) The antagonist is another character who shall not be named, but their goal is similar: They want Briallen's story because of Writer Plot Bunny Jealousy.
3. Is there a possession or memory the MC keeps close?
Briallen has a journal that she never, ever, ever lets go of. The one time she does that the consequences are dire.
4. What is the MC's greatest fear?
Her greatest fear: while she'd probably say it's that she won't be able to save her family (this is a major fear, but not the greatest) it's really terror that no one will like her story once she allows them to read it. Don't all writers identify with this one? :/
5. Who is your favorite character?
I love Briallen, although I'm not 100% on board with everything she does (she's a little, shall we say... selfish). Probably in general my favorite is Miyo, the goofy sidekick guy, or the unicorns as a unit. They're not really individualized because you can't develop unicorns as characters in a novella where there's already a ton of characters and you have a word-count limit of 20,000 words.
6. List some of the more prominent characters, and then provide a line that describes them (from the WIP.)
Briallen--
"The girl who should have been doing her homework, whose heart should have been content to keep with it day after day like the rest of them. But the ink in her heart would not allow her to rest. So she wrote instead.Miyo--
Miyo
began to declaim passionately, throwing his arms out as he spoke like a
windmill and accentuating every rhyme he possibly could. It might have been
more impressive had Briallen not known that he had written every word himself,
and that the awful rhymes were spun from his own mind.
Sabara--
Sabara, her eyes huge behind her horned-rimmed glasses, grinned over the pages of the book she was reading. “Oh, please. I kept nothing from you. I merely wrote, and you complained.” (speaking to her twin, Miyo)
Aaliyah--
Her chiseled chin tilted upward, she nodded around the room to her subjects, all of whom bowed before her—albeit mockingly. She said no word. It was not fitting for a queen to speak to those lesser than herself.
The unicorns--
They
came all around her, and she whispered their names. Seven of them. Seven pure
white unicorns, all of them perfect and all of their little whispers and habits
known to her just as well as she knew Miyo and Sabara, or maybe better. Sigel,
Monterya, Rune, Elwyn, Dryade, Langaria, Albion. They had come from her body,
in a way, and she loved them the way she hoped to one day love her children.
7. Who is the funniest character? Smartest character? Creepiest character? Most reckless character? Quirkiest character?
Ahh! In a work of this length, it's so hard to answer any of these questions without spoilers!
The funniest character (I hope) is Miyo, who's always cracking jokes and making Briallen roll her eyes (she's a big grouch.) The smartest is, to all appearances, Briallen, but there will be a slight discovery later that that is not the case. *rubs hands together and cackles gleefully*
Quirkiest comes, in all honesty, to a tossup between all the charries. Because in all honesty, they're all a boatload of quirks. They're a bunch of college-age writers, after all.
The rest of them are spoilers. XD
8. How do you come up with names?
Simple: I just take whatever name pops into my head.
For Briallen I looked up words meaning "rose" for some reason (I think I was thinking of beauty and the beast?) and that name means Primrose. I loved it; I took it.
Miyo and Sabara's names just kind of happened. Aaliyah is a real name that I've seen floating around and thought was pretty. Terrence, another male character, sprang into my mind like some of the other characters' names. For the unicorns, I went online and found a unicorn name generator. (Whoa! Creativity!)
9. What is the Myer's Briggs type of your MC? (Bonus points for side characters!)
*very quickly takes the 16personalities.com test for Briallen*
INTP-T, which is very accurate, I think. ;)
Miyo is definitely an extrovert, while Sabara is very practical. Aaliyah is withdrawn and quiet but calculating- INTJ, perhaps?
10. Are any characters influenced by someone in your life?
Aaliyah's name comes from a real person I know, sort of. She's not based on that person, though, who I don't really know well enough to base a character on anyways.
And of course all the writers and their quirks are based on the people around me, and me myself. Writers are weird, people, and the truth is stranger than fiction. When you combine the two, though... things get really, really, REALLY strange. XD
I hope y'all enjoyed this post! Once again, be sure to check out the other ones in this series from the URLs listed above. Tell me: what do you think of my characters? Was this post more than just a lose ramble? Chat with me in the comments!
41 comments
This is amazing!!! I need to know more!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear more about it. :D
<3
~Ivie
Thank you, Ivie! I can't wait to TELL you more about it!
DeleteOh, and I forgot to tell you I nominated you for the Liebster Award 2017.
Delete:D
I saw that! Thanks!
Delete*gasp* you maybe have a INTJ character?! That's what I am!
ReplyDeleteI loved learning about your characters! They sound awesome!
I think I do! It's not 100% because I didn't take the test for her, but I'm so glad you find that relatable!!!
DeleteDwarves and Unicorns sounds amazing. All of the characters seemed quite interesting too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Skye! I'm honestly kind of in love with this retelling. XD
DeleteFirst of all, Briallen is such a pretty name.
ReplyDeleteSecond, alllll your characters sound so fun. I love their differing personalities. What a great cast.
Third, THIS WHOLE STORY JUST SOUNDS AMAZING. I mean, unicorns? UNICORNS!!!!
All the snippets you shared were just drool-worthy. The one about the unicorns made my heart flutter and imagination soar. I'm so in love with this story, and yet hardly even know what it's about! You're so cruel teasing us with all this cryptic stuff. :P I WANT TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS.
I absolutely loved reading about all of this! Keep writing, girl. This is magical.
I love it!
DeleteThank you!
ARGH CHRISTINE HOW ARE YOU ALWAYS SO NICE????
I'm honestly in love with this story. I'm not sure how I came up with it. I adore it. *and I'm an evil author so I make you scream and rip your hair out while you wish you were going to read my book mwah ha ha*
Thanks again :)
You can pick favorites of your children??? But won't the others get offended? XD
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really like Sabera's lil clip. She sounds marvelous.
*Sabara
DeleteI mean, they won't come, like, kill me in my sleep or anything. Nothing like that. XD
DeleteYeah, I like Sabara too. She's the one who I think is the most like me. (Except for the glasses. I do not have glasses.)
*softly chants* More, more, more...
ReplyDeleteI already love your characters!!! They all sound so unique and huggable and sncjernfvencmrfg
I can't wait to read this, Faith! Please be ready for critiquers soon! *puppy eyes*
Huggable?? Well, some of them, definitely. XD
DeleteI will be very soon! *continuing the crypticity* Just you wait...
Can I help alpha it?! Pllllllllllllllleeeeeeaaaase!
ReplyDeleteWell, seeing as you signed up... ;)
DeleteLove all the names!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Madison!!
DeleteYes allll the spoilers are always so difficult to avoid! I feel you girl!
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm so sold on this novella! I need this in my life yesterday and I wish you all the best in writing and eventually, editing! Those snippets were gorgeous. *cries because of how beautiful they were*
And thank you for taking the time to mention the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. I have made a commitment that every day I will pray for one specific family who lost someone. (I'm using a list of the deceased victims I found online.) I was planning on doing one a day for a month, but sadly there were 57 people who lost their lives that night. So until I have prayed for every single one, I will not stop. Thank you for mentioning the PTSD because I had forgotten about that and will now add that to my prayers for the families. <3
They are SOOO difficult! I have such a hard time trying to do anything with them!
DeleteI needed it to be done yesterday, honestly. I have no idea how it's going to end and that's a very bad thing. XD
I'm just sitting in horror over that whole thing. That's a brilliant idea. I might have to try that one. And PTSD is a huge thing to overcome; I'm praying that the families and survivors will find God in this darkness.
I love this so much, I am so excited to read this story!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for you to read it!
DeleteFantasy and writer characters and unicorns? Excellent! The characters already interest me, especially Briallen and Miyo.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with writing it!
Alexa
thessalexa.blogspot.com
verbosityreviews.com
Thanks! I really like the combinations. :)
DeleteDwarves and unicorns are definitely an unlikely combination....can't wait to see where this goes!
ReplyDeleteCatherine
catherinesrebellingmuse.blogspot.com
They are! I can't either! (*doesn't tell anyone that she has no idea where this is going*)
DeleteOh, I'm INTP! It's a fun thing to be... ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! All your characters sound like a lot of fun!
I imagine so! I'm INFJ, personally.
DeleteThanks, Evangeline :)
How is Briallen's book going to pay off a debt? is it to do with the dwarves? how do the unicorns fit in? ...I need answers, Faith!! ;P
ReplyDeleteJem Jones
You'll just have to wait and see...... XD
DeletePTSD...ahh...working with a fantasy character with "medieval PTSD." Lots of tears and feels on my part. I feel so bad for anyone with it, and just want to hug them and tell them everything will be okay...
ReplyDeleteAnd can I have the unicorns, please? I'll take good care of them and (maybe) give them back if you ask (nicely).
But the more you talk about this story, the most interesting it becomes. Seriously. I've never heard of ANYTHING like this!
PTSD is an awful thing. I have some emotional trauma from some of my experiences last year and it is terrible. I can only imagine how awful it would be in this kind of situation. :(
DeleteNo, you can't. They are mine. XD
I hope you like it! And it does feel very unique. The more I work on it the more I think it might actually have a chance at winning this thing.
Your book will appeal to all writers who are afraid that their work won't be ever a)read or b)appreciated. kudos to your characters (and to you of course, for creating them)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Carol. That's my hope. :)
DeleteThis sound so awesome! There really needs to be more fiction books with authors as the characters. Please tell me you're going to be sharing some snippets after NaNo. PLEASE. O_O
ReplyDeleteI definitely will be! ;) I'm so glad you love the idea!
DeleteCan't wait to read this book! Love your characters. Miyo seems to intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for you to read it either!!
DeleteI can't wait to hear more about these characters! You did a great job coming up with them. ;-D I'm an INTJ! *waves hand high* XD
ReplyDeleteINTJs are so cool. I'm an INFJ myself, so your unemotionalness is hard for me to comprehend (I'm one of the MOST emotional personality types XD), but variety is good! Especially for me (nearly all my characters are introverted and intuitive :P)
DeleteHello, friends! Do make yourselves comfortable and stay for a while--I'd love to chat with you! I simply ask that you keep it clean. :)