Character Origins

Not Origin Stories, but rather how your character came to be. Was it based on another character? Originally based on you? Created to serve a purpose in the story, then evolved from there?

For example, from my perpetually-in-progress novel series, most of the main characters, or at least their dynamics, were based on characters from a Bionicle fanfiction I wrote:

Naea: huge warrior woman, heavily muscled, no-nonsense. Derived/distilled from Noki, who was essentially the same (except a vortixx), but she was a treasure hunter, and more violent (and occasionally mischievous), while Naea is more honorable and calm. Literally the first character I came up with for Melahawk. The difference is that while Noki's relationship with The Smart Guy was a big part of the fic (and one of my favorites), Naea has a downplayed relationship with different dynamics. Also, Noki was more worldly than Naea, being a traveling tomb raider rather than a warrior monk.

Derzin: unabashedly based on Xander, a Marty Stu of mine, who was the main character. Originally just present to fill a quota of someone having a set of awesome handblades, his name being corrupted from an Evil Twin clone Derxan, I really did not know what to do with him. I actually decided to kill him off, in the second book, and it took off from there. Now he shares the Naiive Newcomer with the main character, alternating: Derzin is an excellent warrior, being a teenager raised from birth as an expert in wristblades, but is barely familiar with his own culture, let alone others. He receives more characterization in the second novel, where the narrative splits in two and he is made one of the POV Characters.

Krixie: in the fanfic, there was a character named Kyra. Looking back, she was a pretty badly written addition to the story; however, her prophetic powers and distinct look (dark overall, with tentacle hair carrying over and laying the foundations for an entire race, the Umber Shades (amusingly, I borrowed this name from the Umbral Shades, a mook race I made up and whose aesthetics I forged into another new race). While Kyra was timid and broken, Krixie is more sly and reserved, though her calm demeanor is a result of being a Shade. Originally Kyra hooked up with the Marty Stu Xander in the fanfic, though here she has a flirtatious courtship with Allezzio, who happily returns the favor.

Allezzio: he channels two of the characters at once, ironically two brothers: Iranu, the smart guy who was the impetus for the story, who was no-nonsense even more than Noki, and the charming idiot brother, Casanuva, one of the most fun characters I've ever written. Like Iranu, he is smart, having knowledge and skills needed to cast several forms of obscure magic or making his own. He joins the group more as a mercenary. Like Casanuva, he is flirtatious, has people (mostly amicable exes) that owe him favors, but ribs on the others about relationships.

The last character of the group, the main POV Character is Wurhan. While I have drawn a little from Xander for him, mostly he is a new character, a historian charged with documenting the main plot. Unlike almost all of my characters ever, he is happily married with kids on the way.

Scaebious: while not inspired by my fanfic, the character has been directly lifted from my evil fantasy character of choice by the same name. A cloaked figure with a red sash and an unseeable face who fights with a stave and curved sword. Except here, he's a lot more mysterious.

Thail: a minor character: borrowed the concept for the Assassins Creed DS game: huge guy, dark red hair, big pointy beard, big sword. It was not a good game otherwise.

One more note: the Umbral Shades from the fanfic had their names stolen, but live on as Atherites: shadowy creatures from an unknowable realm, who look like a mix between the Heartless and Trace from Metroid Prime: Hunters. Originally just a mook race, they now are an integral part of the setting, as they are pretty much aliens in a fantasy setting, and they do not hide that. They are somewhat innately magical, but they do come from space and do not hide it.

So, where do your characters come from?

Nigel and Hector are Evil Counterpart and Good Counterpart; they were once a single character named Donovan, who was me as a wizard, then me as a nature spirit, then me as death, then me as a vampire, now me as a demon. I have to work really hard to keep them from becoming big old bowls of steaming suedom; Nigel can't be too evil and Hector can't be too good; both of them have to lose sometimes, too. It sucks but it makes for better writing, lol.

edited 2nd Apr '13 9:23:36 AM by nekomoon14