How do you develop your characters? How is an MC ‘born’? Where have they been? And where will they go? How do you make them appear believable and real?

Earlier this month I mentioned that I'd start introducing everyone to my characters. You can get the lowdown if you visit www.llthomsen.com - however, right now, right here, I thought I'd take the more personal approach, which will include a run-down of how these characters were developed and gained life and purpose.

As you will see below, I usually get some kind of scene in my head. It’s something that will not leave me alone, and so I begin to plot and explore. It’s a fairly organic approach and perhaps my characters are not fully fleshed out to begin with, but the more I consider their actions; their reasons for doing or believing certain things – the more I get to know them and the more they offer me details about themselves. In that way, they sometimes write themselves, and not always in a way that I anticipated – but all the more fun then, right?

So… I like to start with the character that set everything off.

Her name is Solancei del’Isthalani Calverhana, Duchess to Ivanor and Tarléon, royal bodyguard, cousin and handmaiden of Princess Iambre, and also her best friend since childhood.

Now Solancei did not start out with all those details to her name. In fact, she did not even have a name - and even that changed a good handful of times until it finally stuck. But details are important. As a writer, you need a strong background framework upon which your characters can be brought to life. It doesn’t matter if the reader only sees the 10% of the iceberg that floats atop the water – so to speak – for it’s the other 90% hidden below the water that helps your character stay true so that they will behave like a product of their ‘experiences’, just like in real life.

Still… that’s all good and well, but I’ll reveal right now that really… at first, I didn’t actually care about this. In fact, at first, I just needed to write – as in: without plot or reason - but oddly, if I hadn’t just done that, I might not have discovered that character development can be a simple as you like!

So I began with a scene that kept floating into my mind. A scene where two people were sparring with practice swords. I felt it should be raining – so I made it rain. And it became a miserable day; a sorry setting, and the sport… it was some kind of training, but with an undertone of something… else…

So in this rainy scene, my mind began to tick…
I also knew that one of these people ‘wanted’ to be a woman, and that I in turn wanted her to be bad-ass but also realistic and believable. The other sparring character was a blank – I pictured a faceless soldier; perhaps the two of them were training as they both worked in the royal guard; perhaps they were brawlers; perhaps they were settling an issue of honour?
And thus Solancei was born. In a simple sparring exercise. Still without a name, I did not realise who she was yet, but I knew she had to take centre stage.

Then the mood shifted in me, and the rain got worse. Perhaps the footing was poor? Both due to the rain and due to the broken surface.
With that, the sport became less routine, something more sinister. It was what I had been wanting for my undertone. There was conversation intruding upon the action. I didn’t want there to be but I needed to get the situation into perspective. Perhaps the scene was not all about the fight but also about what went on inside Solancei head? But could that even be done?
It would make the word count explode, for sure, but I suddenly wanted to explore a problem within the problem: something that might distract her; something that would allow her these musings which would also serve to give the reader a glimpse of another side of her – like a strange sort of juxtaposition between roles, and between the action without and the self-recrimination she held within.
But… where had that come from? And why?
It was a huge mouthful to consider but I was willing to give it a whirl. So… back to the fight…

Perhaps the fight was an illegal fight then? A fight for wagers? Perhaps it was an ‘evolved event’, originating from the fencing duels of the past - which were not illegal back then, but for a twist now were? Now that could be fun! A back yard fight that could be intercepted at any time by the law, and then…

And so the Jackal Fight was born. Two opponents fighting with dull weapons for the ‘First touch’ to claim victory - but there were suddenly spectators surrounding my two fighters. They’d probably started out as some kind of garrison soldiers cheering their two comrades, but as the mood turned, I needed the spectators to be more… seedy. And so these Jackal Fights had to be ‘more’ than a simple crossing of dull swords - otherwise, why would people attend such an illegal backyard event at the risk of getting fined or thrown in prison if apprehended?

Well okay… if it had to be more; if it had to be worth the risk of imprisonment, why not make it about more than a fight, not only within Solancei’s head, but also without in the back alley? In fact, why would Solancei even be there in the first place?

Finding a plausible reason was not difficult, however. My ideas were flowing now.
I thought: why not make it about one woman’s clandestine role as a secret guard of someone like… let’s say a Princess… and why not make the Jackal Fights some kind of olden day way of settling grudges – in which case, combatants would be hired to represent the slighted party. In fact, perhaps the fights could be organised like some kind of underground event where fighters would meet to win money and prestige? Money could be won. Tax-free. Huge amounts of money. Perhaps the Jackal Fights could even be set up and take place for numerous reasons – all illegal, of course…

And so the audience now had a plausible reason for attending this event. But even better - Solancei’s person began to solidify further. Now she also had a reason to be at this fight where a lady would otherwise never have been seen.

But still she was there incognito, I decided. She was a master of Martial arts. She had trained since childhood. She had to have done, otherwise she would not be able to exhibit the skills to stand against a full-grown accomplished knight (Yes, her opponent was now a knight!).

Oh but hang on… though not a slight woman, she’d still need some extraordinary tricks to stand against an opponent double her size and of the opposite sex. Of course it’s not unrealistic that a woman can best a man, but this was a sword fight – between her distracted peace of mind and his sheer strength, Solancei would probably eventually find herself on the losing end – and she couldn’t be.
So suddenly she had a gift – the State of Veranto – I mean, I am writing Fantasy and my realms are steeped in magic, so why not?
So ‘Veranto’ was born. It’s a rare gift: it manifests in the young. It’s of a mental and physical property that allows the practitioner to connect with a higher form of themselves and thereby gain more speed, clarity, strength, stamina…

Now, she and Simaro were evenly matched.

Simaro?

Oh okay… so that was to be the name of the Knight? Well what do ya know??

At this point, the fight wrote itself. Solancei was there to train. She was a secret bodyguard. This meant she could not reveal her role and must hence revert to this unusual training scheme. Of course she would have a mentor of sorts, perhaps someone close to the King and Queen; perhaps a person who also knew Veranto – and thus, enter: Eso Mehadja, royal chief of intelligence and security.
Eso would have taught Solancei everything she knows: Eso would have the connections to get Solancei signed up for the Jackal fights, and Eso had a good reason to move outside the law, for how else would her prodigy Solancei grow as a warrior, since this was not her primary role (handmaiden and royal cousin, remember?)

So now Solancei and Simaro were fighting. He is good. He is cold and has eyes like chipped frost on a winter’s morning: colourless. He is hard and fast, like a viper, and he wants something from her she cannot decipher, but it already makes them enemies… (Wow, enemies? What?)

I am eager now. Notice I switched tense, lol…

Okay, so Solancei is my ‘hero’ – as such she does need an 'opposite'. Simaro would be an interesting candidate, but why? (And on goes my plotting, but enough about Simaro for now).
Meanwhile, I am writing my first chapter. It becomes two. Then three. Should I watch this word count? Awhh… screw it! 

So Solancei is cool, she’s sharp, she’s fast, she’d salty, she’s-
But wait! Salty? Why is she salty?
Okay, and for that matter, why indeed does she not like pearls more than breeches?
Well, let’s explore that…

Like a good psychologist, I went back to her childhood, then. Where did she grow up? Who were her parents? What was her life like? Was she loved? Did she have friends?
I realised I didn’t know. But my childhood shaped me, so by default hers must have shaped her too.

So she needed a past. She ‘wanted’ to be different… did she grow up out east? In a frozen wasteland? Well sure… okay, that could work.
And as for her parents? Ok… so her parents were killed. Under mysterious circumstances?
Well sure, I liked that bit of mystery, but her parents definitely didn’t love her. Again, mystery but I saw the potential in that because it provided her with another layer of depth.

But why did her parents not love her? (Later!)

So was she alone? Yes, children were few and far between at Ivanor Fortress. She was a noble – not allowed to mix with the ‘help’ – but then my head went, ‘hang on… perhaps she did have one person?’ Perhaps she had someone like a lady-in-waiting who taught her and brought her up in lieu of her parents; a lady who loved her. Maybe her mother’s maid? But then this woman died – and her parents too – in the same event! (Ohh, yet more mystery – and danger!).

So was that my trend for Solancei? This ‘people dying’?

I guess it was. This lack of safety and certainty was what had shaped her, I decided. But perhaps she’d also lost someone she fell in love with? That would be reason enough for her to have become a bit of a cynical loner, right? I figured that ‘reason enough’ that she’d shun emotional attachments…

And just like that, I was on my way. Oddly, from a scene about a fight in the rain, involving two people, I suddenly had two MCs – one a protagonist and one an antagonist, and all without breaking a sweat. But not only that. I had also begun to worldbuild (Ivanor = cold/desolate/dangerous) and I had invented a new sport, as well as built a few layers up around my characters. Neat!

So in sum - Imagination and inspiration grow from the unlikeliest of places if you do not whittle too much about the process. If I can get a thought process like that rolling, so can anyone!

Noe as for how does Solancei became best friends with the Princess Iambre who lived miles and miles away to the north-east, well…
I’m afraid that if you want the inside scoop on why Solancei would even care about Iambre, and of how exactly an orphan became a bodyguard, Master of Veranto and martial arts – and suddenly find herself questioning everything she knows and is in a backyard illegal fight - you’ll simply have to dive down the rabbit hole and read the books. ;-)

Regardless, I hope some of the above might inspire you to dream up your own characters. And scenes. Remember: it needn’t be too complicated, but the beauty is in the details!

Thanks for reading! Comments welcome!

About:
Name: Solancei del’Isthalani Calverhana
Age: 24 autumns
Weapon(s): Sword / the Tears of Mourning (shuriken, fashioned into a belt of detachable links)
Hobbies: Studying historical texts / Riding her horse South Point / Arguing with Iambre / climbing
Flaws: Perfectionist to the core / too self-critical / Unwilling to let people get close to her / Ridicules the concept of love / Slightly bent on self-destruction / Can be undone by her fear that Iambre could one day get hurt because she isn’t good enough or fast enough when needed