Marie knew she was pushing her own luck but curiosity got the better of her.
Last weekend I started running a lot of the characters through one of the D&D alignment quiz things (full disclosure: I’ve never played D&D but in my younger days I was addicted to personality tests and that’s how I discovered alignments) to kind of get a better feel for everyone’s motivations and reactions. After getting through the main cast I called it quits because I had two exams that I desperately needed to study for. But that did lead me to thinking about what I like and don’t like about writing the characters. Here’s my quick break down of what I like and don’t like writing in regards to the current cast:
Adrik – He’s impulsive and emotional. Adrik’s personality makes him very easy to write because he doesn’t have much in the way of an internal filter; what he’s feeling comes across in his words and actions. The down side, though, of that is that I have to be more aware of his state of mind when writing his lines because he won’t be faking it till he makes it any time soon.
Aqua Marie – She’s perceptive and showy. What’s fun to write about her is that she can easily adapt to any situation but what I have to remind myself of is that while she’s cunning she is not without scruples. What’s more difficult with writing Marie is trying to keep in mind where her boundaries are and not crossing them.
Bjorn – He’s observant and reticent. Because he’d rather observe than speak, Bjorn’s super easy to write. Unfortunately, I more or less find myself looking for places where he might chime up just so that he doesn’t get forgotten in the background.
Enya – She’s a schemer and a micro-manager. Enya is hands down the hardest character for me to write. Everything Enya does and says is meticulously purposeful and I have to keep her purpose in mind while writing her. On the other hand I do like that her set nature provides a guiding line for the plot as she’s the one constant.
Fae – She’s insecure and a touch naive. Since Fae doesn’t yet know what is going on, all she really gets to do is react. On the one hand it is easy to write a reactive character but on the other it doesn’t give Fae a whole lot of chances to show her personality, which can make her a bit unpredictable at times (especially in high stress environments).
Ever character has their easy and difficult writing points. All I can do is aim for consistency and give the characters a chance to grow towards their end self’s. For the longest time I’ve actually wanted to write about who the characters grow to become but every time I’ve started to write, I realize just how spoilery something like that would be. With in the next two years I’ll probably have to revise what I just wrote but until then, hope you enjoyed reading. 🙂