J. M. Prigmore

This one is a few days late, sorry. Work at my job has been crazy, and I barely even remembered that I was past due for a post. But hey, I'm here, right? That's something.

Today I figured I'd go into a bit of the writing process I used to finalize a few of the characters, and how I was just guessing for most of it. I've come up with a myriad of different characters for stories or stuff like D&D before, but they never had to be quite as in depth and fleshed out as those I made for the book. I usually inserted an aspect of myself into each of those characters, emphasizing certain traits for the sake of role play. I always enjoyed writing out character backstories for my friends, weaving these either really silly and goofy plots, or incredibly dramatic tales of loss and tragedy. So while creating characters has always been somewhat easy for me, the hard part is taking the concept and actually moving forward with it, extrapolating on it.

Let's start with Sigmund, our main...hero? He's definitely the protagonist, but if you read my book carefully, you might realize that the term 'hero' doesn't necessarily apply to him as cleanly as others. Those who know me personally can definitely tell that his base personality is, for better or worse, a bit of a self-insert, I tried to really stretch those core traits in interesting directions. By the mid point, I was beginning to really solidify how I wanted Sigmund to feel, and I think by the climax I had really locked in his 'not this again' vibe. He was by far the easiest of the characters to write, for obvious reasons. Still, I tried to challenge myself by thinking about the perspective of someone who was centuries old, and what would or wouldn't bother them, what would or wouldn't get under their skin, and the kind of habits or traditions they might have after living for so long.

For Erin, her character experienced the most fluctuation throughout the story. She started in my head as a caraciture of a know-it-all rich kid, but as I developed the story and the characters around her, even I started to get annoyed with how I was writing her. I went back after the second act was done and did some alterations, tuning her whiny side down and putting a much larger emphasis on her intellect, which she had nurtured at the cost of her ability to interact socially with those around her at a common level. For that part, I delved deep into my own brain. I have a bad habit of overthinking things, carrying thoughts down pathways of logic and getting lost in my own head, especially when someone is telling me something that I don't find particularly interesting. Thanks to that, I was able to come up with her ability to jumo ahead in conversations, like she was always one step ahead of everyone. It isn't necessarily a good trait, but I thought that it would communicate her (possibly ADHD) brain running at mach five compared to that of those around her.

Rashid was a lot of fun to write, as he was kind of your stereotypical warrior archetype. He stands out as the anchor of the group, and his ever joyful demeanor brings a nice constrast with the drab and gloomy tone that Sigmund naturally exhibits. I admit that I should have done more for Rashid, but I'm already working on vastly expanding his story, as well as Elsie's, for book two. For his style and speech, I wanted him to be as straight-laced as possible. So much so that he never uses conjunctions. Did you notice that? He doesn't believe in shortcuts or giving up, and compared to the rest of the main cast, he's certainly much more the hero type than Sigmund could ever be. But because of that, his good nature and willingness to work harder than anyone, he can easily be taken advantage of. A personality like that is a double edged sword.

Elsie, being the last to be introduced in the book, took a while to flesh out in my mind, and so did her relationship with the rest of the cast by the end. I was hesitant to have any romantic elements to the story, but I eventually opted to have them be a sort of background plot to enhance the stakes of the narrative, rather than them be the focus. I don't have much experience with writing or reading romance, so it wasn't something I was confidant in conveying quite yet. Has that changed for book two? Perhaps. Still, Elsie's character was formed from the former noble idea, and her refusal to uphold pointless tradition and etiquette really influenced not only her attitude, but also how she spoke. She could easily fit in with noble society, but she despies that aspect of her life, and instead opts to live with the grunts and common folk, forsaking her wealthy upbringing. Its a trope I've seen a number of times, but hopefully I did it justice and added something new to the trope this time. Just like with Rashid, she too will have a larger focus on her story in book two, don't worry.

As for my villains...how about we save that for next month? I put a lot of thought and effort into crafting them to be truly awful and menacing, and the process for doing that was much different from that of the 'hero's party'.

I think that'll do it for now. Next time I'll try to be a little more punctual, but who knows. Life is funny that way, how it never really goes the way you think it will. Until then, one foot in front of the other folks. Keep pressing forward.

Make your own fate
J. M. Prigmore