4/5/13

Birthing a Character

Since I have a manuscript sitting at Harper Voyager that's the first in a series I figured it was time to get going on the third one. I've been ruminating on it for about five months now and not really getting anywhere.

I knew a piece was missing, but it wouldn't show up. So last week I let my mind wander. I do that a lot and that's when I get my best stuff. I knew the main characters in this one are Ro and Jasmyn. They both show up in The King's Mistress and Ro is a secondary POV character. I knew his sister, Da'Renna, had to play a big part in the third one, because she's his reason for not killing himself.

Taran! Via Pinterest
With that information in the back of my mind I went to sleep. At some point on March 21st a man named Taran walked into my head. I knew that second he's the man Ren loves. The man standing between her and freedom, her and her brother. I let him play for a full week, hammered out a couple of scenes with him, let him evolve, and things started clicking.

I knew someone gets kidnapped, and I thought it was A'yen's daughter. Wrong! I'd already planted the seeds in the closing of The King's Mistress. So now I'm following the seeds, discovering the next layer of politics in my universe, and wondering how the hell Ren is going to choose between her brother and her lover, especially since her lover is owned by the Marcasian emperor's younger brother and fourth in line for the throne.

So now I'm fleshing out my bad guys and building an empire that combines the Roman empire and the days of the pharaohs. Whoo!

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