Category: Writing Mechanics

A Writer’s Character Secret

Writing is an outlet for emotional and logical discussions for me.  When no one wants to talk about what I want to work out in my mind, I write.  I write for relaxation. 

A Writer’s Character Secret

September 21, 2022

Writing is an outlet for emotional and logical discussions for me.  When no one wants to talk about what I want to work out in my mind, I write.  I write for relaxation.  It feels fun, challenging, and often makes me happy to be in my ”book worlds” I have made up. 

For me, my “book worlds” allow me to explore things I can’t in this life.  It’s like dreaming with my eyes open.  I switch from book in progress to book in progress – I am currently working on about 18 titles actively.  My mood in real life decides whom I want to step into in my brain.  I know where each of my characters are in the stories – I know where I left them.  Thus, I reread the last few paragraphs and dive in with whatever comes next. 

Like my teenage self – lots of writing done then.  I started when my father noticed I was “wasting” my school notebooks for stories, and he suggested I type them.  I had a shoebox filled with 3.5”disks containing three or four stories each! 

Imagine:

Her frustrations, emotions, dreams, adventurous spirit, and everything hidden deep within her as she worked her way through these books were laid out in her own stories tapped at a furiously increasing pace in MS Works on her father’s computer saved on a 3.5” disk.  Her first completed story was her take on a true abortion survivor story.  She became her characters.  Her characters acted out and solved the problems she was facing.  She talked and acted her characters and plotlines out while raking, mowing, or gardening in various locations.  She was Erakk.  Fighting to keep his character sound when faced with odd decisions he’d rather avoid.  She was Jordan.  Her desperate heart cry to be understood and learn how to teach bloomed from his soul in what was to become “Web of Deception.”  She was Kelly.  She was the girl struggling to lead and keep everyone together as their tiny band of outcast survivors developed a whole new world of peace and love.  She became Kelly.  The woman who mothers with an understanding she has gained from life and full dependence on Jesus.  She was Kalina.  She boiled with anger and frustration at not being allowed to do the things she desired with every fiber of her being and ended up learning that what she really wanted was only a small step in a journey back to what her elders had advised her to reach for in the first place.  She was Ethan.  An outcast in his own mind searching quietly for a sense of belonging he thinks he can make on his own despite the true reality that those close to him care deeply for him.  She was Jamie.  Facing challenges that feel too far above his age and making choices that defy the expectations of those above him; always choosing the answer of integrity and honor.  She became Philip.  Overcoming challenges in life that happened beyond his control yet bringing everyone along and pushing his family through to success in the end.  She was Jo.  Fiercely defending her sister from evils that trick the heart and destroy those close to her – blinding everyone except her.  She was Jason.  Defending his family from evils that weaseled their way into his family from years of incorrect choices by three generations behind him that build to forcing his father into being possessed into something he isn’t – now he has to choose to believe that the threads he holds onto are his father’s true self and force the evil away. 

The stories continue.  Some are finished.  Some may never be…

A writer puts himself into the shoes of his characters and wriggles his toes around.  We walk lifetimes in their shoes.  We put ourselves in each character we create. 

I always have a character in a book or series that I consider my shadow; sometimes it is the protagonist like Jordan in Web of Deception.  Sometimes it is a supporting character like Philip Duggar in Brantley Station Saga or Kelly in The Devonians. 

Oftentimes there are bits of me in each character.  Strange thoughts…

I know, crazy writer’s brain, but that’s what I feel.  That’s what it’s like to write for me. 

If you stuck through this one, thank you ever so much for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Side Quests

September 16, 2021

Side Quests

Have you ever played those role playing video games (yes, I know they are called RPGs) where you are a character (or in the case of my personal favorite, Star Ocean, the Second Story, you are several characters)? Your job is to get from A to B solving stuff along the way so you can accomplish B successfully.

There are these fun little diversions called “Side Quests” that entice you to sidetrack. And yes, I do every side quest I can possibly do! I love these characters (I mean, seriously, who doesn’t love Dias’ tragic backstory and crazy loyalty?) and generally the side quests develop or highlight the character or relationship of one or more characters.

My mind does that to books too.

After watching “The Neverending Story”, I told my Daddy, “every story I like is neverending to me.” He laughed. But case and point: my girls and I are reading and/or listening to an engaging series by Flanagan called “The Ranger’s Apprentice.” I’m way ahead of them and dying trying to not give the story away!! We debate character, backstory, possible romantic interests, who will die, etc. In my head, I have taken bits of veiled hints and imagined child and teen escapades that Will and the other wards may have had. I dream of the life of Will’s parents. I wonder at Halt’s story. (Get to book 9 to answer part of that previous one.)

For me, “The Ranger’s Apprentice” is a neverending story.

Switch to writer brain…

Now, my uncanny love of fleshing out my characters with backstory and flashback experiences bombed when I had to cut more than 80% of “Web of Deception” during editing. While I perceived I was getting good at hinting instead of laying everything out, (aka learning to cut stuff) one of my proofreaders came up clutching the original first book in “Brantley Station Saga” and moaned, “what is the pirate baby story?“

…book one became book three because I needed to tell Ethan’s origin story in “Pirate Child” and “Little Thief.” It also gave me opportunity to build up and flesh out a secondary character in the series who becomes one of Ethan’s primary influencers.

A side quest turned into two additional books.

Now I’m constantly working on various huge books. One is codenamed “curse” and is actually an evil backstory. I have a spin-off of what may turn into actual books someday written to help me understand my characters better… All are backstory for one character in “curse.”

What side quests teach me about life is that often the character building moments in our lives come from what we perceive as inconsequential incidents. We may not understand at that moment that these side quests are really pivotal moments.

Anyway:

Enjoy life! With all of the bumps, dips, side quests, and shifts along the way.

Find your joy!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Where Do I Start?

March 15, 2021

Where Do I Start?

Have you ever wanted to start writing and looked at a blank paper or computer screen and thought, “okay, how do I start?”

*Raises hand and waves it frantically*

Honestly, I just go for it. 

Maybe I’ll edit and cut or rewrite the start later.  Sometimes what is the start turns into a midsection, gets edited out, becomes a draft outline, or even moved to a later story!  In “The Symbol of El Adame” (book in the works!!), the first piece I wrote is buried in the fifth or sixth chapter.  In “Web of Deception: Child of Miny’lyra” I wrote over 120 pages of copy that was deleted or squeezed in somewhere as back story.  The original start was during an advancement in Ja’hline that doesn’t exist anymore except as a memory in Jordan’s mind (and mine).  The first line I wrote for the “Adventures of Long Tail” books became a draft outline that never made it to a book!  The first written paragraph for the “Brantley Station Saga” became the beginning of book three (Becky’s begging for the “Pirate Baby Story” changed that). 

I will say that every first line of “Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters” books and “The Devonians” books stay the start.  I wrote all of the Five Alive stories on the fly remembering a specific event and knew how I wanted it to start.  All of the Devonians stories follow a huge overlay outline that plots the start and end dates of each book and the timelines within each for the specific book and the overall story.  (Yes, I’m really nerdy about continuity – so much so that I’ve paused this series indefinitely as I lost my “Devonians” folder with all my Devonian maps and building plans when we moved last.  When I find it or redo the entire structure of the Devonian world, I will restart on my favorite children’s book series.)

When you can’t think of something to start with, just put your thoughts on the paper. 

Don’t stress.  You can always change it later.  That’s the cool thing about modern technology or writing with a pencil and paper (and eraser).  You can just clear it and rewrite, rephrase, or start all over.  The control key + backspace is your best friend when drafting emails and texts.

Remember that in today’s world, once you’ve posted a blog or status or tweet, it can’t be undone.  There is no “Ctrl-Z” in real life.  There is no real deleting of posts, texts, or emails once they’ve been sent. 

Still facing that blank screen or paper? 

WRITE!  Just start.  Rewriting is 75% of the writing process.  Maybe more.  Write.  Proof, edit, rewrite, proof again, edit again, rewrite again (repeat until satisfied).  In my case it’s “repeat until you run out of time” because I never think my work is good enough.  Ever.  It can be just this blog post, a children’s book, or a novel.  I never am truly satisfied with anything I write. 

Hope this blog encourages you to write!  Let your story out (or write you school essay)!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Improvising

April 10, 2020

Improvising

Sometimes things don’t go as planned.

So you have to learn to improvise.  In the words from a movie I used to watch with my Daddy, “adapt and overcome.” (Heartbreak Ridge with Clint Eastwood)  Daddy used that phrase all the time, along with “think outside the box,” and “look at it from every angle.”  He loved how the scientists and engineers basically dumped a box of items on the table in front of themselves when trying to bring Apollo 13 back to Earth and said “this is what they have, fix the problem with this.”

This kind of thinking is what I try to teach as an educator.  I try to have my characters in books use it to solve problems so my readers will grasp the concept that sometimes there are various ways of solving a problem and all of them aren’t obvious. 

These deep thoughts came from this: We wanted to watch a family movie and I wanted popcorn.  We always air pop popcorn with a new movie!  Not a kernel in sight (a 2nd Lieutenant and an Airman, but those wouldn’t work). 

Jaquline said, “I’ll make popcorn tangerines!”

She presented us with this

And we continued our family movie night.

Sometimes, you have to do with what you have.  Silly thoughts from no popcorn and eating tangerines from a flower instead, right?  That’s my crazy writer’s brain.

What have you done to improvise lately?  Something that you normally do one way but now are doing differently?

Thank you for reading.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

You Can’t Rush Art

“You Can’t Rush Art” say my illustrators while I’m waiting on cover art for two new releases!

July 24, 2018

You Can’t Rush Art

I love finishing a new book!  I actually have two (One is the pilot in a new young adult series, the other is the second in the Landmark Tribe Books) that are finished.

Now comes the part I’m always excited about… illustrations!

I never know exactly what my illustrators are going to come up with for covers.  Rebeccah is designing the one for the Landmark Tribe book because she loves drawing animals – and I love her furry squirrels!

She was discussing how to make a “quirky” Crunchie (aka teenage boy squirrel) but still keep the soft style she did with Granny Pecan for the “Busting Berry Bath” cover.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

For the new series book, my illustrators get to come up with a whole theme!  With no pre-set design constraints, I’ve already seen a pastel sunset background, a sharper, darker, hard pencil background, and an oil-paint-style grid.  They haven’t decided on a “perfect” theme yet, but watching their imaginations run while they figure it out is amazing!

For now, I have to wait (trying to be patient – because “you can’t rush art!”) as they do the artistry part of my story.  Regardless of what people say, audiences DO judge a book by its cover.  This is why my illustrators make commissions off of their work!

I can’t wait to release these stories for ya’ll to enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Meet Kalam Tevortae

June 19, 2018

Meet Kalam Tevortae

We’re going to meet another fictional character today.  Kalam Tevortae began as a small part in the story, Web of Deception, but when my little brother became interested enough to actually listen to my odd world, Kalam took on more of my brother’s traits and filled a larger role.  (Yes, Kalam was modeled after the young warrior my little brother perceived himself to be.  Many of my brother’s character traits actually filled Kalam.  And the little friend who was my brother’s crush was added as Rosali because at six, my brother insisted, “you can’t have me in your story without my girlfriend.”) Kalam’s age changed as the story matured, but none of those who inspired characters are the same age as said character!

Kalam arrived at the Warrior-Spirit training school of Ja’hline at three.  Although starting to begin training between three and five is common in the World of Kings’ province of Swavaria, most Warrior-Spirits begin training closer to five.  Kalam keeps a secret from his friends about who his father is because he wants to stay near him and doesn’t want to break the Warrior-Spirit code.  Jordan discovers Kalam’s father shortly after Kalam arrives, but doesn’t break the secret because he respects him.  The book only gives you hints to figure it out, see if you can!

Kalam is loyal, protective, inventive, and encouraging.  He admires Jordan Binak and becomes one of his closest friends.  Kalam sees Jordan as a big brother.  Kalam learns easily and has a problem solving mind.  He leads without understanding that he is.  His example inspires many around him, including those who are elder.  Kalam wants to be a guru and teach when he graduates. Kalam, like every warrior-spirit trainee, studies various weapons and is already skilled at the short sword, bow, and dagger.  He prefers the bow, to keep his enemies at a distance.

Read “Web of Deception” to see Kalam in action!  He and his friends have a quest to complete, but can they unravel the stories to find the truth?  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Biblical Film Adaptations

June 16, 2018

Biblical Film Adaptations

In this world, the entertainment industry often gets inspiration or ideas from books to transform into movies.  Of course, as a writer, I like to point out to the girls that every movie started as the written word (aka written or typed scripts).  One of the areas we discuss a lot is the differences between book and movie.  We watch many films which are based on a Biblical story.  Many times when people discuss Biblically-inspired movies, the main question is: “Is it accurate?”  This is an important question.  I also like to discuss why it wasn’t accurate – because I have yet to watch a retold Biblical-story-based film that was 100% accurate.

Below are a few of my thoughts specifically on Bible-to-Movie productions.

By far a favorite series in our house is the “Greatest Adventure” cartoons; stories that are close to accurate but obviously not due to the addition of three non-biblical characters and humorous exploits by said characters that just aren’t accurate.  Another favorite is “The Ten Commandments” – which although it’s a classic with great acting and brilliant pageantry, it focuses the majority of time on the portions of Moses’ life that the Bible does not cover, and omits or changes portions of the wilderness journey.  Even the more Biblically accurate “Moses” and “Joseph,” both with Ben Kingsley, omit quite a bit of the story.  Then there are the cartoon features like “Prince of Egypt” and “King of Dreams” – which are more about the lead character “finding themselves” and “fulfilling their destiny” which sounds more along the line of Star Wars than the Bible and they outright change the stories; the former appears to be all about “freedom” (good, but what about learning to obey God?) and the latter has less obvious inaccuracies with the poignant story of forgiveness extremely strong.  Mel Gibson’s “Passion”, while being graphic and realistic where you feel like an intruder through time due to the archaic languages used, has several added sequences that aren’t in the Gospels along with omitting sections that are.  “The Nativity Story” expands on just a few verses to create a realistic emotional journey that focuses on what the storytellers believe Mary and Joseph were feeling and experiencing in their culture; it is close to being Biblically accurate, but much is added into the story.  “Noah” was realistic as entertainment but flawed if one tried to match it to the Bible (though this was the first of any Noah story remake I’d seen where they’d included the fact that Methuselah died the same year as the flood).  “Samson” has an over-the-top villain that makes it seem cartoonish, the story is again modified, yet the film storyline is highly believable.  Three or four Noah remakes as musical cartoon shorts exist in our collection and provide many laughs – the only accuracy in those is this single story thread;“Noah and his family and the animals were saved by God in a boat,” the rest is singing, dancing, and cartoon animal gags.

Even our family’s absolute favorite because it captures the truth of the character of Christ as the Gospels portray, “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” leaves much to be desired if it were an exact retelling of the story (the girls always laugh at the poor cowboy Centurion but love the emotions in the face of the actor playing Jesus when he says “I am the resurrection and the life”).

The question begging is this: why are these things left out?  Why are stories shortened?  Why are portions added in?  Why create inaccuracies in a Biblical story?

In any film production there is the balance between budget, story, perceived audience retention, rating, and other factors that impact how the finished product turns out.  For the sake of the story, characters are sometimes added, omitted, or changed.  Consider in “Samson” how instead of foreskins he brings clothing (that was a nice change).  Sometimes stories are changed or details omitted to keep a film under a specific rating and therefore open to a larger audience.  When we realize that any retelling of the Biblical story will fall short of being the actual Bible, we can appreciate the retold stories as just that; someone’s retold story based on a truth from the Bible.  Granted, as with any film or story, we have to use our discretion – I don’t own a copy of “Sodom and Gomorrah” with Stewart Granger because it’s inaccuracies outweigh what I would consider worth the entertainment (really, hundreds of people escape those cities to follow the great leader, Lot?)

Sometimes accuracy is lost in retelling a story for a specific reason to craft a more palatable story or to engage a specific audience.  I’ve rewritten a few Biblical stories and no, they are not 100% accurate.

  • In “Katy Bear’s Request,” my main character is a talking bear – seriously? This is a child’s book written as a fantasy.  No human was around to witness creation so I picked a bear to witness God making Eve.  Katy Bear is a cub because my story was written for a preschool audience.  Accuracy was lost for fantasy.
  • In “Story From the Inn,” the inaccuracy comes from added details. In the Bible, there is no mention of the innkeeper’s family and no mention that Joseph and Mary are unattended when Jesus is born.  From those unspecified details, I developed the innkeeper’s daughter who sits with the midwife’s daughter to attend Mary and witnesses Jesus’ birth to retell the story to her grandchildren years later.  This inaccuracy is due to added details.
  • In “The Living God,” I actually took quotes from the Bible for the characters to speak, but I added two young palace slaves to observe Daniel and who, like Darius, is convinced Daniel’s God is the Living God. Caleb and Miriam were added because I wanted someone with whom my audience could relate.  They are not mentioned in the Biblical account, so those additions make it inaccurate.

These stories were purposefully made inaccurate to be more entertaining and to engage my audience easier.

Personally, I like to use all Biblical films as catalysts to open discussion regarding this very truth – films are simply stories retold to entertain us.  We discuss the differences between the film and the true story, the supposed reasons why these differences exist, and how the differences affect the story.  Many times, we enjoy a retold story even though we understand the truth is different.  We have two favorite films that are about the life of Ruth – and the girls enjoy watching and discussing both.

Discussion regarding movie versus book is something I do with every film we’ve seen where the girls have read the book.  I do like to turn any opportunity into a teaching moment.  Sometimes the reaction is, “The movie is much better,” (i.e. “The Hunger Games”, “Bambi”, “The Little Mermaid,” “The Count of Monte Cristo”) but most often the reaction is, “I missed xyz” or “Why didn’t they have such and such character?” ending with, “I liked the book better.”

With almost all Bible story depictions on film, the consensus is the Book is much better.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Creating Characters: Web of Deception

February 11, 2018

Creating Characters: Web of Deception

The first of my epic fantasy novels to be published, Web of Deception, has some of my favorite characters.  It took over seven years of development and several revisions to complete this work.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I never thought it was really done!

I wasn’t writing for a specific audience at first.  (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, at the time, I was writing for myself as a young adult fiction enthusiast.)  I chose a semi-autobiographical lead.  I imagined myself as Jordan.  Since I was fourteen years old when I started, he originally started out at fourteen.  There were also about 280 pages of exploits and adventures in Ja’hline!  Later, as I became more advanced in my writing profession, I realized that none of these “school stories” did anything to help advance the actual plot; it just gave an extended view at the culture of Swavaria and the emerging character of several players.  This did solidify the characters in my imagination.  I knew them because I had been slowly forming them.  As I hit “delete” on over 280 pages of material, I chose to see it as an exercise in character development  rather than a humongous loss and waste of time.  Today, any one of my series books and most of my novels have a separate file with in-depth biographies and feature traits of each character.  (Usually, even supporting characters like Darren from Brantley Station Saga and General Wrynn from Web of Deception have pages of biographical information on them!)

The character of Kalam was one of the easiest for me; when I started reading this story aloud to my younger brother, he loved it and wanted to be in it.  This led to the creation of Kalam, a younger character included in the group.  This younger character had expounded strengths and the quiet, reserved, thoughtful nature of my brother.  It was easy to develop him.

Several other characters had “base” humans – those I pictured with modified talents or enhanced abilities to keep reminding me of the core of my character.

Jordan was what I imagined myself to be should I be in a fantasy adventure.  His character was actually drawn from attributes I admired in various historical figures and fiction characters from favorite tales.  Jordan was a hodge-podge of strengths I wanted and weaknesses I felt inside me.  The turmoil he feels throughout the book is something any adolescent would likely feel to some degree – we all feel like we are fighting a raging battle between our inner good and evil wolves, don’t we?  (Which wolf do we choose to feed?)

Chloe was my first character that had no “base” human for me to draw from.  She was developed to be the bold opposite of Jordan.  Alike in many ways, but different in certain extremes, Chloe and Jordan complemented each other and fueled a growing fissure of uncertainty throughout the journey.

Sometimes, characters build themselves because of a vacuum created in my work: Corgi was pulled back from the scrap board and I needed a character to compliment him.  To fill this gap bloomed Seva Natalia.

Overall, the characters I create appear to come alive inside my imagination, spill into my dreams, and take on their own lives as I record their adventures on paper (or screen).  Often, the same or very similar characters pop up in various works!  This is because I tend to lean toward strong, noble, intelligent characters and  love tossing in my “bit parts” guys when I can.  (You know, like Gabby Haynes popping up in hundreds of westerns always playing the same sidekick?)  My grizzled, uncouth military leader, wizened salt-and-pepper crowned mentor, sassy bossy no-filter child, and a few others pop up under a variety of names and faces to keep my readers (my girls) yipping, “Mom!  He’s from your other book too!” when they find one of these bit part characters.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Creating Characters: Ann, Mary, and Susan

The secret to staying young is by having someone base a character on you!

February 10, 2018

Creating Characters: Ann, Mary, and Susan

Just like in the creation of the characters in Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters, the characters in the Ann, Mary, and Susan Mysteries are based on real-life people.

These stories were originally oral stories told for my little sisters.  Thus “Ann” and “Mary” are my baby sisters at the time of the series origin.  “Susan” is a compilation of several friends they had visiting our home.

Ann is the serious one.  Older than her sister, Mary, and her cousin, Susan, she is often the one who discovers the answer to their mystery.

Mary is the baby of the trio.  She is giggly, fun-loving, and mystery-seeking.  Anything at all that she can’t instantly see the answer to is “a new mystery!”

Susan loves following Mary around and joining her adventures whenever they are found no matter how small the mystery appears to be.

Developing these characters was another easy task as they are based on actual people.  The challenge when a writer has a continuing series yet the people they base their characters on grow faster than the series progresses is to keep the characters in their “time capsule.”  Sometimes I have to reread my books to refresh myself and “reenter” my characters.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Creating Characters : Brantley Station Saga

February 8, 2018

Creating Characters: Brantley Station Saga

One of the last set of characters I created were for a youth adventure series called “Brantley Station Saga.”  This entire set was built off of one comment by my Dad.  He was helping develop a website when he observed, “all of your series stuff is for girls.  Have you ever thought of writing for boys?”

Thought about it?  (Yes!  Web of Deception, The Living God, many other single stories, and most of my “in progress” works are aimed primarily at boys in middle and high school levels.)  However, he was right about one thing.  Outside of my rooster in the Adventures of Long Tail, there isn’t a main male character in the Ann, Mary, and Susan Mysteries or in Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters.  Even in my Melacotia Saga books, although Jeremy Scott is a primary character, the books were written for my sisters to read and Sarah is the primary character.   

From there, I dove into the adventure world I’d dreamed of writing.  I developed Brantley Station using my futuristic model from the Melacotia Saga.  I created a narration storyline following an underappreciated unclaimed youth, Ethan.  (I started him at 14, with The Protector.  This changed when Rebeccah wanted the “Pirate Baby Story” in full.)

This jumping backwards did give me an opportunity to illustrate the origin and development of Ethan’s character.  (In these two first books, the spotlight is shared by Jamie, a young submersible pilot.)  Ethan is a shy boy who aims to please.  His melancholy personality pushes him to perfection, which makes him a good worker, and enables him to be content to be invisible.  Ethan’s goal through his life is to keep unnoticed.

I imagined this child whose traumatic early childhood is scarred with death of his mother and the distance in grief of his father.  He had a close cousin who tried to fill this gap and cheer him up, but only a few months afterward, Ethan is kidnapped by pirates.  He becomes essentially a slave.  Because of several injuries while he was fighting with his captors and Ethan’s shoving his “dream-memories” of his earlier life away as a coping measure, Ethan doesn’t remember anything before the  pirates.  He manages to live through this for a long unknown amount of time – a few years – until he’s trying to hide from an abusive pirate in the captain’s docking sub.  This providential hiding place sends him to Brantley Station.  Here he ends up trying to fit in because he has a primal desire for the deep.  He is scared by wild stories of “topside” by the military police at the station.  Ethan finds himself taking up the lowest position and hiding from most people by keeping himself busy with work.  He works diligently and easily learns new tedious tasks; by nature he hates disorder so many of his tasks end up being cleaning jobs.

I imagined how his character and personality, originally Melancholy-Phlegmatic, could have changed with experiences and time.  Was he distanced from people by his mother’s death when he felt his father’s dealing with grief by retreating?  How did he keep his people-pleasing, obedient, truthful, positive character amid the abuses of being held captive?  How does being forced to live in the guard barracks affect him?  Ethan chooses to stay honorable because of voices he hears from his past – he calls them “dream-memories.” I gave Ethan an inner strength that helps keep him grounded.

I created a memory that would connect him with his past – using a book read nightly by his older cousin from which Ethan recites passages and a song Ethan’s mother used to sing which the boys created their own new words for.

In creating Ethan, I wanted to craft a believable, dynamic character.  Each of the secondary characters like Bria Addison, Corey Skitter, Makayla Ervin, Chef Brummen, and Victor Potter are also carefully designed to be as realistic as possible.  You can read about these members of Brantley Station in the young adult series, Brantley Station Saga.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

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