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Hey! Where did he come from?!

18071 Views 175 Replies 26 Participants Last post by  mamiller
After reading and posting on Edward's thread on Snippets, and after looking at the other threads, I see that authors seem to have one thing in common: They love their characters. I thought maybe that we should have a thread that we use to talk about our characters, you know, tell everyone about our favorite characters, the ones that make us tick and talk about how they evolved, or where they came from. I have had a number of readers ask me how I came up with so and so or such and such and I'm always just overflowing with the answers, overjoyed at the chance to talk about my knights and their ladies and my villains and other characters, especially the fairies, sorcerers (esses) and such. So what do you think? Want to say something about your leading ladies, guys, creatures or whatever? I'd say we should try to keep them sized to about the size of the posting window if possible so we don't get carried away. I can't wait to see what comes up. Happy Reading! Happy Writing! And Happy whatever else you might be doing! ;D
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OK, so I guess I should go first and see what happens and if no one responds then we'll let it go. :(
One of my favorite characters, who comes in along in one of the later books is Sam (nickname), an elven chieftain.  He is a very wordy little fellow who always assumes that everyone knows what he is talking about.  He outs everything on everyone in general and then blinks at them in consternation when they react to his revelations negatively.  He loves using descriptive words, stringing them together like popcorn tinsel until someone, usually someone impatient like the Knight of Death makes him stop.  He is short as are most elven creatures, has long, silvery blonde hair in which he attaches all manner of things, including smaller fairy creatures, feathers, flowers, bugs, crystals, silver and gold,etc.  He wears soft, leather clothes green in color and carries a variety of weapons including spears, swords, bows and arrows and knives.  He is very nimble, can hide in trees and knows how to manipulate humans to get what he wants from them.  He can sleep almost anywhere and he, of course, has pointed ears as tradition requires. 
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Kevis said "In the case of Laris I wondered, What if the world turned its back on its savior? What kind of repercussions would that have for the "chosen one" and the people who allowed her to become the unwilling victim of evil?"

That's a very interesting question, Kevis. Gives us something to ponder. What if? Thanks for posting.
Thumper said:
This could become a most awesome thread :)
Thank you so much Thumper! I'm glad you stopped by and thanks to everyone else as well. I'll be looking for more tomorrow, but now the real world calls me away... :'(

Brendan
edwpat said:
My reader's favorite character, hands down, is Simone DeFleurry, the unflappable drag-queen from The Jade Owl. Now we all know about drag queens, or do we? Now my favorite character is in Turning Idolater, but more of that later. The clock on the wall has just struck midnight and this gal need to go to work in the morning.

Edward C. Patterson
I believe that everyone has to have anchor characters if not main heroes and/or villains (esses). Personally, I like villainesses better and probably have more female villains in my stories because I think that women villains are much more appealing, more threatening and more 'villainous' than the typical bad guy (unless it's Johnny Depp!) Personally, I don't know any drag queens, but would be honored to meet a few. They have to be interesting people with great stories to tell. I've always loved it when some of my favorite movie actors play those parts like Dustin Hoffman (Ms. Doubtfire), Chris Tucker (Fifth Element). Flamboyant and very entertaining characters. Don't get me wrong. I know that real people are not actors... er, actors are not real people... er... well, shut up, Brendan! :)
Kevis Hendrickson said:
Speaking of female characters (or villianesses). The major villain in my book The Legend of Witch Bane is a woman called Queen Rhiannon Eldess.
Oh, yeah, I know this Bathory chic. She lived two blocks over in a former incarnation of mine as a chimney sweep in Hungary. Let me tell you! I wouldn't clean her chimney!! I, too, have a Queen of most evilness, she lives in the Abyss and gives everyone a fit after the Templars inadvertantly wake her up. Coincidentally, she is the main adversary in Book IX (that's 9 or nine for non-Romans out there). Yeppers, the very same IX that somehow got confused with VI (6 or six). I have this problem with numbers... anyway as I have said. I love evil women... I mean characters, FGS!
Carol Hanrahan said:
One of the characters in Baling is Lainey, a mischievous 15 year old, who is introduced to the story by sneaking a ride on one of the dairy cows on her farm. As she goes bounding across the field on the bucking cow, Nick (main character) is enthralled with her, and is determined to see her again. Lainey keeps Nick and his brother busy all summer, usually getting them into scrapes of one sort or another......
I do have one bad word in the book. HE- "double toothpicks"

Other than that, it's rather clean.
I like that name, Lainey (I'm assuming is a nickname?). A good, clean book. I've always admired authors who could write for younger audiences and tried my hand at it. I've bounced my children's book off of several children... not literally! ;)... and they've been very pleased with them. The main character is a little girl and her friend who happens to be a hamster. Yeppers, a hamster. I happen to like hamsters. I like them with a bit of cream cheese and wheat thins... just kidding! ;D I know some of you think I'm crazy and you're right. Bear with me, please, I'm just happy to be alive. If you were me, you'd know what that means. Love you!
Carol Hanrahan said:
Yes, Lainey is a nickname, although I guess I never elaborate on that. I knew a girl in college with that name and always liked it.
Your hamster joke had me going! Which book has the little girl and her hamster?
I love making people laugh and I love laughing though my humor is sometimes... a bit dark. :-\ I haven't published the children's book on Kindle or anywhere. Mayhap, I should, but it needs illustrations because it's for nine/ten year olds. They need lots of pictures.
Kevis Hendrickson said:
Dude, I love your humor. I've got a long list of authors whose books I HAVE-TO-READ. Rest assured, you are on that list. If your books are half as entertaining as your posts, I'm in for a treat!
Kevis, I really appreciate the boost and I do hope that you find my books entertaining. They may not be rip-roaring funny... but they are rip-roaring (I think, but I'm jaded) and they do have their moments. Strangely enough, my leading male character whom everyone automatically assumes is modeled on me, is actually someone I might hope to be and am not. In fact, if I were to meet him on the street, I might turn and run the other way... strange, but I had someone ask if I'd like to actually meet any of my characters and I said "Absolutely not!" without even thinking. I honestly believe that I am intimidated by them if that is possible. Again, I am truly pleased to be on your list. Brendan
vikingwarrior22 said:
MAN I go to work and all h--l breaks loose, an everyones having fun wait, to much fun at least I can read it today...you folks have alot of pentup emotions that you really need to work on releasing ha hah ha...I love lurking on the edges of the pages it makes me feel hungry... no makes me feel intellgenta (sp) er smart...I am enjoying being a part of the kb board and being given an opportunity to be in the "presence" of so many "thinkin" people...keep this one up!
Thanks for the up-lifting comment. Had a really bad day at my hobby (full-time job). Please keep on lurking and maybe something good to eat will come by and you can pillage, flay and burn it on the grill. :-\
I'll just keep on thinking in the meantime (thinking that I wouldn't want to make you mad at me! ;)) Everyone needs a good Viking Warrior on their side. Maybe more than one, eh? :D Hope you're still enjoying the misadventures of my poor Knight. He could probably use your help as well. Brendan
Meredith Sinclair said:
Really, and you wrote her? ??? Hmmmmmmm.... seems like you should adopt her! I mean it's pretty sad that you created her and leave her all closed-up in a book all day! :eek: ;D
I know what you and Greg are talking about concerning this topic. I, too, have had the desire to rip some of my characters from the pages of my books... but not to adopt them... just rip them out.
Thanks for posting Greg! I'm honored to have you in my humble little thread. Brendan :)
edwpat said:
My favorite character is Philp Flaxen, the protagonist in Turning Idolater. He's somewhat of an Oliver Twist character. I fact, Turning Idolater owes a great deal to Dickens and Melville. Philip has been disowned by his Brooklyn family for being gay, and is rooming in a tenement in Manhattan with his friend, Sprakie, who has showed Philip how to earn his living stripping on the Internet. However, Philip is smitten, by a book - Melville's Moby Dick, a volume that a trick gave in lieu of payment, and Philip now yearns for something better.
Edward C. Patterson
Thankyou for posting. I have a wierd childhood memory of Moby Dick. I saw the classic movie when I was about six years old and I had nightmares about it for years. I can still see poor Captain Ahab's arm waving back and forth as the whale swam off into the distance :-\. I was horrified. :eek: So when I got older I read the book several times. Was it Gregory Peck? Certainly, I have been smitten by a number of Books capitol B for classic. ;) Particularly Tom Jones by Henry Fielding and the works of Wolfgang von Geothe.
edwpat said:
Moby Dick is really misunderstood. Most people regard it as a literary dinosaur, but it is a literary classic and unique. Moby Dick's importance lies less in the retribution theme of Ahab and the salvation theme of Ismael. It lies in the groundbreaking use of language - leading edge and universal.

Edward C. Patterson
Thanks for the insight on Moby Dick. I never knew any of that and it's quite fascinating. I liked reading from the perspective of a whaler, which I will never actually be, of course. It's like watching Ice Road Truckers or Deadliest Catch. Fascinating viewpoints. Brendan
Meredith Sinclair said:
Speaking of characters... BRENDON! WHY ??? do you make your fairy creatures
sooooo....DUMB.... you are actually making me MAD! Bart is NOT that STOOPID.... seriously, you continue to have them tricked by people! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I want to throw.... no, I can't do that but still, please tell me that you WILL make them PREVAIL.... eventually
... :'( I like fairies, my daughter writes about them, does her research on them, and she would be VERY upset that her friends are portrayed as
IDIOTS
! But seriously, I DO love the book, just not RIGHT THIS MINUTE!! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! :eek: By the way, I am on book 10 I think, "Genesis 6.5" so don't tell me anything that will mess this up for me... just....
Alrighty, then. Well, not all of them are
dummies
. In fact, many of them
know everything
... or much more than the humans do. Bart is not
dumb
, he's just
cautious and slow
. :-\ I mean, he practices winking for twenty years. What do you think about that? I love writing for him. Bart's a fun character to write for. :)
edwpat said:
I do believe in Fairies. I do believe in faiies."

Edward C. Patterson
aka Tinkerbelle
Looks like you were typing fast and on the fly (pardon the pun). I actually spell the word faery or faeries in my books using the lesser known spelling used by Wise Women, Wiccans and students of the occult sciences... i.e. sorcerers, warlocks and suchlike. Faeries or creatures of the Fae Folk or Wee Folk as they are called in the Celtic countries refer to a number of fascinating creatures that I never tire of writing for. :D They come in two basic flavors called the "Seelie Court" :) and the "Unseelie Court" :eek:. Evil faeries make up the Unseelie Court and include baneful creatures, who are best left alone if encountered in the wild. The Seelie Court is comprised of human-friendly faeries like the common Leprechaun or House Brownie. I have a prominent character in the later novels called Paddy Puffingtowne who is a Clurichaun, which is a distant relative of the Leprechaun fae. Just don't make a mistake and call Paddy a Leprechaun or else you might hurt his feelings and he'll chase after you with his walking stick! ;)
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edwpat said:
Why sir, when it comes to a literary referenc, I believe in Faerie, as in Tolkien's theory of fantasy writing. ;D

Sometime I miss a letter. Fat fingers and blind in one eye.

Edward C. Patterson
OMG! Are you really? I'm legally blind in one eye and have often considered how dashing I might be if I wore a patch over it. In fact, I just wrote to Mamiller about it! LOL. ;D Rocky coast, stormy night, dark beer... you know? :) Uh, oh look down there... speak of the devil! :eek:
edwpat said:
It's the Glaucoma, my friend. In The Jade Owl I have a charcter who is a one eyed Cherokee Indian (I'm Cherokee too). ;D He's a landscape painter, what else.

Edward C. Patterson
Seriously, Edward, I was thinking that our native Americans are really descended from the Chinese or Mongolian races that migrated across the Bering Strait, so maybe it is your distant Chinese connection that caused you to write about China? One of the best novels I ever read was about a minor Chinese diplomat set in one of the historical dynasties. Of course, I don't remember the name of it... :-[ I loved that book. I should like your book as well. I'm fascinated with ancient history. My dad says he has a Cherokee connection somewhere in his history. They are the "Civilized People", right? :)
edwpat said:
I believe my China connection came from my Mom (rest her soul), who always wanted to go there. She did, with me, and walked on the great Wall, her lifelong dream. Her tales of China (mostly from reading) led me through a Master in Chinese History (Sinology) and part of a Ph. D. However I spent my life as a Director of Marketing. I have been writing all my life, but it wasn't until I was downsized in 2002 did I have the free time to get my Cherokee ash in gear and begin to finish my 22 writing projects (of which 12 are finished and published - 10 to go). BUT The Jade Owl was born out of a regret that I never pursued the original career as a Professor. But that's the beauty of fiction. You can pursue it and share it. I now walk the road not taken, and loving every minute of it.

Edward C. Patterson
Well said. Well said. I do enjoy putting tidbits of my life in here and there where I need to. Funny thing is that I used to want to be a professor of psychology. Wow! That would have been a different path for me, but all in all, I have only one... nay, two... major regrets: not staying in the Navy and retiring and not accepting a job offer I had to write for Southern Living magazine. Who knows? I may have already had my Nobel Prize by now. :-\
mamiller said:
Now where is that pirate emoticon when I need one? Brendan, you'd make an excellent character in a book!
Why, thank you, little Miss Miller, I really mean that. 8) As a matter of fact I am a character in a few books. ;) In retrospect, I am a number of characters in a number of books. :eek: (Worse yet, there is another poster on these boards somewhere that claims to be me and I'm wondering if it's true?) Will that poster please give a shout and let me know what the hey I'm supposed to be doing right now? :-\
Time to talk about another character that plays a leading role in The Red Cross of Gold Series. Simon of Grenoble, AKA Simon d'Ornan, AKA Mystic Healer, AKA Chevalier du Serpent, AKA the Knight of the Serpent. Simon is a little fellow, relatively speaking, blonde with large blue eyes, soft-spoken and very priestly... ahem... he is a priest. A priest for the Order, father confessor, that sort of thing, but never-the-less, he is a warrior monk who was made immortal after an unfortunate run-in with the Inquisition :eek: in the 14th Century that left him able to follow the rules concerning abstinence with no problem :'( until Miss Sinclair accidentally 'heals' him. The outcome of his miraculous recovery in the 21st century remains to be seen. He is fun to write for because he always trying to mend fences between his... yes, I'm going to borrow a word here ;) 'truculent' Brothers of the Order. In the meantime, he's having a very hard time dealing with his new lease on life as it were. :-\ Oh and his sword is quite impressive: silver entwined serpents with sapphire eyes made for him by none other than the Scottish alchemist himself.
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