Writing a Portrait

Just as an artist looks for the little nuances in a person's appearance that distinguishes them from any other so an author wants to find out why their characters do what they do.

I mention being an artist because my favorite thing to paint is portraits.  Likewise, my favorite thing to write about is people. I love to develop the character, to delve into their essence.

People are fragile complicated creatures, each with their own beauty and purpose. No two are alike and yet there is a certain cause and effect that makes us who we are. It's no wonder that an author can fall in love with their main characters, because they come to know them so intimately.

In creating a character,  the farther you go into their history the better.You don't have to write it all in your manuscript, but you can have an idea. Who were their parents, did they come away with any of their family's traits? What hidden secrets do they have? What are they afraid of, what do they enjoy? How do they relate to others and why?

One of my favorite literary characters is C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. I loved Hornblower's weaknesses as well as his strengths, if not more. The fact that such a seasick midshipman who doubted his abilities, ended up proving his ingenuity and strength to the entire British Navy, was completely believable. Why? Because he wasn't sterotyped. He had real faults. He was human. I liked his heroism, but his weaknesses made him loveable. And when  you think about his history, raised by a doctor, obviously didn't have a lot of affection as a boy, needed to prove himself  to dad...even though those things were merely implied in the books, you saw them in the young midshipman's character and the way he related to the officers above him.

When Ioan Gruffudd played the role in the BBC television series, he interpreted the role just as Forester had written it. A lot of the dialogue actually came straight from the books. And what an enchanting series that turned out to be!

A well rounded character will keep your stories moving.

And don't forget about your villans. There is nothing so drab in a book than a melodramatic stereotype villian. Remember, they're human too.

How do you develop your characters?

Too Old

I've decided that my book falls into a brand new catagory that no one else knows about. It's called SL Fantasy

It means Senior Literature Fantasy.
I hope I can make bookstores across the world realize that seniors still read more than just the newspapers, AARP, and Health Magazines.

How would you define SLF?

From The Dragon Targe: Deception Peak

From Chapter XVI  The Way of Deception

What are you doing Ian Wilson?

You’ve left camp in search of water with no sword, no canteen, and no brains?  

Do not! I say, do not get lost, or you’re dead!

From The Dragon Targe: Deception Peak

Chapter X  Family

Finally, as the orange and pinks of the setting sun shimmered on the water, the sailors came to them and took the nets, reeling them into long rolls and then folding them crosswise. Ian liked the sailors. They stayed to their work and were kind to the boys, talking to them as if  they were part of the crew, as if they were men.

The Dragon Targe: Invasion

“Don’t let them touch you, I dare say, sir. Move, sir. They’ll be the death of you, they will. Oh watch out.” A voice shouted at him and he felt the slap of a branch hit his arm.

“Ouch.” Ian spun around and dodged the droplet. He scanned his surroundings anxiously.

“We’ve waited too long for you to come back to have you drown in inklings, sir.” The voice said in a gruff little tone from on top of a branch near his ear. “Evil they are, the conks are, sir. Though I suppose it’s not entirely their fault. It’s the rain that does it, the evil rain. Drop, drop, drop sir, all day long it drops: oozing poison from the conks. A wicked shame it is. So much work to be done.”

-from The Dragon Targe: Into the Realm Revised and in progress

The Dragon Targe: Into the Realm



The frogs and crickets that hid in the marshes sang a chorus for them.

The Dragon Targe: Into the Realm

My original manuscript for this book is obsolete.
I had the story finished, but when I wrote it I thought it was the first book. Boy was I surprised. Everyone at my writers group, the fine people who did a once through on the first draft, and others, kept asking me about the Realm...where was it and what was it and how did it come to be. There was so much backstory to write that I decided to write another book to come before this one. Well, I did. The Dragon Targe: Deception Peak. And now that its done...I have to change the second book. The genereal thesis will be there...or maybe not. But we're going to stick with Ian's POV and a lot more is going to happen. Thank you to all who read the old version. I might just keep it as a token first novel.