It's a family matter
Hello everyone!
Okay, so as most of you know I am currently writing my first novel. It is dark. It is cynical. It is not a happy place. That being said, I know that dark and cynical fantasy novels don't sell that well, and I really want to find some success. This led me to begin brianstorming how I could go about writing a novel where I really showed my characters some love and managed to write a happy ending to a book that most fantasy readers would really want to read.
The answer came to me yesterday: insert my family into the book. At first the idea was just to write a silly story with my family's names in it, it would be fun, and you all would enjoy reading it because, hey, your names (or variations of your names) are there, and so are some of your characteristics. But then I got to thinking about it. I could make this into a real novel. Then I thought about the kind of book I'm writing now and all the horrible things I'm doing to my characters. If I wrote a book with you all in it, well, I couldn't be that mean, a little mean, but not *that* mean. And so it's decided, Mom, Dad, Clair, Mel, Jeremy, Ryan, Jordan, and even myself, will be appearing in my next novel which I will begin outlining while I'm still writing my current book.
I even have a rough idea of what the book is going to be about and who the characters are going to be. Even before I started writing Oathbound, I had been kicking around an idea in my head of writing a novel about a special ops group of mercenaries set in a fantasy world, but I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work. It was just a vague idea I had been working on. Then the plot to Oathbound hit me like a brick and I decided to write it first and hope that I came up with a good idea before I finished it.
And I did. So, who wants to be a mercenary?! Here's a loose idea of how I want everyone to be cast (if you can't figure out the name changes, well, go grow yourself an imagination):
Yeremy: Cocky swordsman. Likes to pretend to be the leader.
Rion: Our tank/brute. Big, silent, good at breaking things. Gets picked on by the rest of the group.
Claria: Sneaky little rogue. Has some ninja-type magic. Bloodthirsty. Likes stabbing things. Has a love/hate relationship with Rion.
Melandra: Sorcerous. Softhearted. In love with Yeremy for some reason. Do not make her angry. Only a part of the group because of Yeremy.
Derile: Mercenary camp general, in charge of running the spec op band, along with the regular enlisted. Tough. Old. Smart.
Cindalia: Our employer who sets us off an a mad quest that will either save the world or get us all killed. Possibly both. Knows more than she tells. Mystic.
Saenz: Archane scholar. Weiner. Recruited into the Spec Op group as a condition by Cindalia. Main character. Gets zapped by magical artifact during quest and becomes... interesting.
Joria: Evil woman who has become disafected with the cause of the villain and eventually defects to good guys. Eventually falls in love with Saenz.
*Edit*
And we need a leader, so there is one more addition:
Pops: Ornery, older, efficient, crafty, leader of the group. Leave-no-man-left-behind kind of guy. Think a cross between Pops and Gibbs.
*End Edit*
And there you have it! Now, if you don't like your character, you can make suggestions which I may or may not take. Also, does anyone want to volunteer to die in the book? I'm thinking there might be at least one casualty along the way...
Okay, so as most of you know I am currently writing my first novel. It is dark. It is cynical. It is not a happy place. That being said, I know that dark and cynical fantasy novels don't sell that well, and I really want to find some success. This led me to begin brianstorming how I could go about writing a novel where I really showed my characters some love and managed to write a happy ending to a book that most fantasy readers would really want to read.
The answer came to me yesterday: insert my family into the book. At first the idea was just to write a silly story with my family's names in it, it would be fun, and you all would enjoy reading it because, hey, your names (or variations of your names) are there, and so are some of your characteristics. But then I got to thinking about it. I could make this into a real novel. Then I thought about the kind of book I'm writing now and all the horrible things I'm doing to my characters. If I wrote a book with you all in it, well, I couldn't be that mean, a little mean, but not *that* mean. And so it's decided, Mom, Dad, Clair, Mel, Jeremy, Ryan, Jordan, and even myself, will be appearing in my next novel which I will begin outlining while I'm still writing my current book.
I even have a rough idea of what the book is going to be about and who the characters are going to be. Even before I started writing Oathbound, I had been kicking around an idea in my head of writing a novel about a special ops group of mercenaries set in a fantasy world, but I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work. It was just a vague idea I had been working on. Then the plot to Oathbound hit me like a brick and I decided to write it first and hope that I came up with a good idea before I finished it.
And I did. So, who wants to be a mercenary?! Here's a loose idea of how I want everyone to be cast (if you can't figure out the name changes, well, go grow yourself an imagination):
Yeremy: Cocky swordsman. Likes to pretend to be the leader.
Rion: Our tank/brute. Big, silent, good at breaking things. Gets picked on by the rest of the group.
Claria: Sneaky little rogue. Has some ninja-type magic. Bloodthirsty. Likes stabbing things. Has a love/hate relationship with Rion.
Melandra: Sorcerous. Softhearted. In love with Yeremy for some reason. Do not make her angry. Only a part of the group because of Yeremy.
Derile: Mercenary camp general, in charge of running the spec op band, along with the regular enlisted. Tough. Old. Smart.
Cindalia: Our employer who sets us off an a mad quest that will either save the world or get us all killed. Possibly both. Knows more than she tells. Mystic.
Saenz: Archane scholar. Weiner. Recruited into the Spec Op group as a condition by Cindalia. Main character. Gets zapped by magical artifact during quest and becomes... interesting.
Joria: Evil woman who has become disafected with the cause of the villain and eventually defects to good guys. Eventually falls in love with Saenz.
*Edit*
And we need a leader, so there is one more addition:
Pops: Ornery, older, efficient, crafty, leader of the group. Leave-no-man-left-behind kind of guy. Think a cross between Pops and Gibbs.
*End Edit*
And there you have it! Now, if you don't like your character, you can make suggestions which I may or may not take. Also, does anyone want to volunteer to die in the book? I'm thinking there might be at least one casualty along the way...