Toby Bell is a cowardly, anti-social 12 year old that has spent the last 3 years secluded in a foster group house. He is a lucid dreamer and finds some measure of happiness by diving into his sleeping fantasies.
My newest novel isn't exactly fantasy--I'd describe it more as speculative fiction--but eh, it's closer than any of my other works. Noelle Ainsley. Where on earth to begin? She originally came from a question I asked myself while rereading Harry Potter: What would my favorite character, Luna Lovegood, be like if she were a Muggle? The image that sprung to mind, quite frankly, was hilarious. I knew that was my character. The image I have now (keeping in mind I haven't written very much yet) looks like this: blonde hair in two ponytails, with a single blue streak in the front inspired by Rogue, her favorite of the X-Men. Big, nerdy hipster glasses. A Pikachu hoodie, with the hood having the Pikachu ears. A skirt covered in planetary designs. Over-the-knee socks, mismatched of course, with Legend of Zelda and Doctor Who designs on them. Something along those lines. She's a cosplayer (and, of course, she's been Luna on many occasions). Currently out of a job in the normal-people world (a job interview is relevant to the opening sequence), but on the side she sometimes dresses as characters for kids' parties. Merida is her current favorite. Deep down she'd love to write her own comic book someday, but her art skills are shit. The fun of planning out a multiverse just draws her in. Y'know, exploring crazy worlds and stuff, going on quests like the characters she plays, casting magic and fighting demons and flying spaceships. Too bad she's just a normal person in normal-people world. Until someone shows up to tell her that multiverse theory is true and that he can go between the different universes at will. Then things get real fun. There are serious undertones to it, though. The reason she goes to these other universes is to save her sick love interest, with whom she had a fight just before he got sick. So she's got that whole guilt thing gnawing at her the whole way. And she's probably going to learn at some point that questing isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially when you can't just reset the game if you die.
Okay, so right now I'm writing an almost-epic fantasy steeped in the idea of the American Wild West. The MC is named Will (short for Willow, though I don't know if that'll ever come up in the books since she never goes by that name); she's somewhere in the age-range of 17-19 (again, not super important, so I doubt I'll ever pin it down on page). Will is Danaasan (think like a sand-bender from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which is the closest comparison I can get). The novel starts with her on the run after killing someone. She meets Short, a mutt (half-Tribal, half-Continental), who is the most powerful Danaasan she's ever met. He unfortunately awakens to sleeping gods, who then go to war, and Will is caught in the middle after one of the gods, the Trickster god Coyote, saves her life and says she now owes him hers. Will believes in the gods and is religious (to an extent that she can be while living on the run). She's also not a very powerful Danaasan, but she's a very precise one. As the story progresses she does figure out how to do things that not even Short could figure out, like turning sand to glass. For the most part she doesn't like affection and is rather sensitive when she touches/rubs/brushes against other people. She's also not the quickest thinker, and relies on Short to supply her with reason. Her best friend is her horse, Ronin, whom she stole from a horse trader when she was much younger. He's just a regular horse, but they've been through a lot together.
Definitely appreciate the kind words, though I *am* only ~700 words into it.... The last I want to do is fail to deliver! Yours sounds quite intriguing, as well.
About Rune Tinsley (I hope I spelled her last name right. It's been a while)... Rune was created years ago when I was itching to create a character forming around the whole foster children being treated badly by their guardian and wanting to escape. Eh, I get dark like that sometimes in my writings. I've actually created another girl before her and failed to realize I used her name and appearance in a fanfiction I was itching to write some time ago. She has short, black hair with think bangs covering parts of her silver eyes. Her bangs are like a comfort mechanism, as a way to hide from the cruel world surrounding her, since she gets bullied and abused, what seems like, every day. Her eyes, her gorgeous eyes, like I've stated are silver; really, I mainly called them gray/grey in my developing novel to make them have less of a fantasy appearance. I have a habit of making my characters', in non-fantasy novels, natural eyes violet or some type of red. But some characters will state that she has those silver because they sparkle so bright and can easily tell of her journeys. You can see the pain, the happiness, as well as the fear when you get a good look at them. Also, I believe one character described her as having eyes that are reminiscent of a wolf's eyes or coat. With her eyes, later on, determination will brew and will take her to develop a courageous and unwavering plan to escape her foster guardian. Escape never crossed her mind until she was dealt the hand of the unlucky ace of spades, and wrapped into the well manicured fingers of the devil herself! No, Rune never imagined escaping her foster homes before. She would just wait until she was kicked out or until her guardians were arrested for abandonment or whatever the case may be. The twelve, turning thirteen, year old girl always called herself "the black cat." She was nicknamed that after her fifth foster family's grandmother kept warning them about her 'bad aura.' She doesn't have any friends or family she can rely on. Her lips are always closed or thinned since she rarely smiles. She thinks of herself as 'ugly' or another 'throw away kid.' Don't get Rune wrong, she always wanted to have a family; especially, a mother to love her unconditionally. But once she turns into a teenager, she knows that she will have less of a chance of being adopted. These parents only want cute, small children to take care of and mold into their own perfect child. It's sort of difficult telling a teenager what to do; plus, there are blemishes on her record for things she did not do thanks to some social workers...probably because those lousy social workers don't like her. She would speak up against them, she can't speak up against them. Rune has mutism. Now, her doctors are still trying to figure out whether this is Selective Mutism or Traumatic/Elective Mutism. She does get anxiety whenever she's around strangers or people who make her uncomfortable (selective). There was also a traumatic event that happened that caused her to stop speaking altogether (elective)...Okay! So...I got pretty fed up, tired and lazy trying to figure out whether this child had Elective or Selective Mutism. All I know is, she can't speak-no one can hear her cries for help. Who would listen? And since medical experts are still trying to understand mutism better, I thought it a great (and lazy) idea to have Rune go to various doctors and let them give their expert opinion on what type of mutism she has or to study this mutism more closely. Well, I revealed some aspects about this character, and I wasn't really trying to start a novella here so...I'm going to bed! Excuse the typos...it's not an essay so...sleep is goood.
All of my MCs are generally 40+ years old, but barring the divine figures I will give a view into one who is both an antagonist and protagonist depending on the thread of the story one wishes to follow. Iebi Aoi'Dela - The only daughter of Warsage Dela and grandaughter of the legendary Moonlight Dancer Delin Aoi'Taire. Born into the warrior cast of the Tein (think halfling-like for simplicity), Iebi was raised by her mother from birth instead of being weened and raised by a Cien caretaker. Her development was rapid and devoid of the normal social connections of her peers, her daily life consisted of a host of administrative and military tasks. Her mother was too successful in imprinting the tactics, but failed to ground the reality of combat into her child. By age 8, Iebi idolized her grandmother and marched off into the jungle to raise an army. Her lack of comprehension and maturity did not prevent her from bending highwaymen to her rule, but exhaustion claimed her and they descended upon the immature ruler with maliciousness. Dela intervened to save her daughter's life and reclaim her, but Iebi severed her ties and claimed her birthright to govern the lives of her men as she deemed fit. For this act, Iebi was spared and knew it well. Those who plotted to kill her were spared, praised and deeply loved. They educated her and she protected them, laughing as she went into combat against the inhuman Huden. As she grew into a young woman, Iebi's rule was noted not just by the forbidden passion with her own men, but by the maliciousness and swiftness of her raids. Carving out a space, Iebi came to drive a rival society literally into the depths of the earth to escape her brutality. Throughout the years, her territory and raids continued and drew the ire of her immortal ancestor, Aoi. Finding him a suitable mate, Iebi demanded the right of renewal to restore the name of her line and was refused. Broken and desperate, Iebi exiled herself and took a different mate each year to found her own clan in the far north. Forty three years and thirty-six children later, Iebi has become a venerable old woman who has relinquished most of her control to her daughters. Attaining all she ever wanted in life, she wants to watch them burn the world by freeing everyone from the benevolent rule of the divines and their immortal children. The great six men who sought to kill her as a child sit upon royal thrones with the undying love of the most vicious, passionate and terrifying woman to ascend any throne in the world. When asked about the thousands of sins accumulated over her life, she is proud. When asked about having become the personification of evil, she is humble and grateful that she chose such a way so that her children can live a life full of excitement, passion and freedom that would have been impossible otherwise. "To my children, may you live in interesting times. Love, cry, bleed, die and be immortalized in the immortal songs of this glorious era of strife and change." Now, she waits with her two blades for the assassin which will give her a warrior's death and pass the torch onto the next generation. Though now that gods have begun to move against her, she has begun to play the final game of her life with her children as the pieces...
It's not actually fantasy, but rather speculative sci-fi with fantasy/mythological/religious themes. Context : -Post-World War 3 -Space age (with basic FTL travel) -inhabitable exoplanet newly discovered I have around 70 pages of pure worldbuilding and hundreds of years of alternate history developed. This is the bare minimum of an exposition. Kelvin : I took the standard "evil corporate take-over-the-world" antagonist archetype and modified it to create an anti-villain for my MC. Kelvin's only real motivations are personal gain and the sake of being a troll, but he inadvertantly manages to do more good than the average moral crusader. I also made him an old man because we don't have enough elderly MCs in fiction. Origin : Born in the Canada-US Union decades after the end of WW3. Overpopulation causes cities to be stacked on top of each other. The city levels become literal represenation of socioeconomic classes. Started in lower ghetto, eventually worked his way to the top before the third industrial revolution. Biological family consists of decommisioned World War 3 soldiers genetically engineered for warfare, has inherited accelerated regenerative abilities at the cost of a shorter-than-average lifespan. Has very quick reaction time and innate combative prowess. Current State : Kelvin's a high-ranking corporate plant geneticist and nanotech engineer on a terraforming mission accompanied by a co-worker and a jobless history nerd. Enthusiast of performance-enhancing nanomachines and obsessed with human augmentation/pursuit of immortality. Has a thin layer of nanite-induced subdermal collagen armor. Achieved a state of scientific nihilism and chooses to act by a system of blue/orange morality because it is one of the few things he is unable to logically deconstruct. Also owns a little flower shop in one of the exoplanet settlements.
Loving that dedication to detail and depth, would beta read. Bonus points of interest with for MC with an affinity for plants!
Even with 70 pages, the universe is still in the fill-in-the-gaps stage; I've set it up to be compatible with every genre and capable of supporting functionally infinite development.
Daniel Thomas Rupert "Dan" Yonderman is not your average well-to-do 24th century Texan. His brother is dead, his social life non-existent and his superpowers many. When he's tasked to join the front lines of defending a planet he hadn't even heard of from evil beasts, monsters, masterminds and clones, he decides to make the best out of it.
Well I'm not in the fantasy space, but since I see a few other sci-fi genrenauts in here, I might as well shoot. Nina Constantinos seemed to have her life put together by age 26 - college degree, steady-if-boring boyfriend, great job as as TV reporter in her home town of Appleton, Wisconsin - not to mention a tight extended family centered on the diner they've run for decades. Given the state of the American economy of 2034, she's done pretty well for herself. Of course, the problem with that is she's always wanted bigger things than Appleton can give her. One big break suddenly rockets her into a job with a national TV network, where she gets a front row seat to what becomes the most tumultuous time in American history since the 1960s. Suddenly she is alone, famous, learning to live in big-city Washington, and forced to confront the the question of whether she's in TV News for the sake of the truth or just her own ego...and then of course there's the matter of the older sister who mysteriously broke contact with the family ten years earlier.
My MC is a 20 something white female living in the Pacific Northwest of the US with two very distinct, opposing identities. One is that she is a radical environmentalist who believes that industrial civilization must be dismantled in order to "save the planet." She mobilizes young men who have similar beliefs, who are at the cusp of some potentially spiritual and political transformation, and she sleeps with them to bring them into her view. Once they are fully enmeshed with her she gets them to do highly illegal, militant things which they believe are good for the planet. Sometimes it's using bombs to take out transformers at energy distribution centers. The idea is to get them close to doing such things, then to notify her father, a top level national security agent, to send in the authorities to nab the guys. She requires intense stimulation to not be bored, but has trained herself to enjoy quiet moments with tea and fiction to keep herself calm. One of her favorite things to do is take photographs with an old analog camera. She has art shows which she poises as political statements but she secretly gains relief around the activity of taking photos without any political or artistic goal. It's a bit of a "zen" thing for her, and a secret she keeps to herself. She has some kind of sexual assault and possibly child abuse history which fuels her intense desire to entrap these young men. Her father has been brainwashing her from a young age to make her the perfect field agent, and she has never realized how angry she is at him for doing this. She is still sort of under his spell and loves him because, well, he's daddy. But he never allowed her to decide for herself what she believed. He fed her ideas about who is good, who is evil, and what must be done. The reader hopefully realizes at some point (assuming I paint this well enough) that much of her rage, even when sexually engaged with these young men, does relate back to her father. MC is so calculated in her approach with these men and the way she falsely espouses her extreme political beliefs that she appears to be some kind of sociopath or psychopath or something, but underneath this all she is overflowing with suffering she has limited or no access to. Over time as plot progresses she gains access and becomes incapacitated by it. Haven't got that far to develop that but it's in my head so far...
Wow, all of these characters are so intriguing! I guess I should throw mine into the mix: Fin and Thane Eriston are siblings. While Fin is reserved and takes more of an observe-from-the-sidelines approach to the world, Thane is charming and takes life lightly. Fin has a condition that makes her have hallucinations and vivid nightmares, and Thane can be very protective of her when she has an episode. Her disorder, if exposed, would severely lower her family's stature, and there's a chance she would be kept in a facility, so she's very embarrassed about it and tries to keep it under control as much as possible. Thane gets lost in his own hatred of the majority of society for things like that, because in his mind, there is no one more compassionate and understanding than his little sister, and he hates to see her so closed off from the world. He tends to vent his anger through drinking, until someone comes along who convinces him to train to be in a militia force. Fin later finds out that her condition is not any disease or disorder at all, but a sensitivity to an energy that is leaking from another world.
Ill throw my two in here! Jack and Stephan are brothers who live in a fairly normal world. Jack is the youngest, and is intregued by almost everything. Science is his passion and he will always try to find a way to logic things. In Voloresc he is the one to find out the stars true nature through science (even though Science is frowned upon in that world), and is shunned for a time for it. However, without Jack the people of Voloresc would never have truly understood why the shadows of stars mean so much to their world. Stephan is the older brother, interested in reading and politics. He is the one gifted with maps and trinklets thorughout the boys' journey in Voloresc, and eventually he becomes one of the nine rulers after their first journey is 'completed'. Stephan goes through huge moments of doubt in his own ability - and sometimes finds himself rather jealous of his brother's mindset. However, as the eldest, Stephan will eventually always come back to the idea of championing his brother; even if he might be the one endangering him in the first place! ((There is a hell of a lot of detail that I've left out because it simply wouldnt' make sense without having read the book which is only up to the fourth chapter in the works at the moment, but these are the basic points about my boys!))
I'm currently working on a superpower centred thriller. My MC is Scott Gray. A borderline acholic pushed over the edge by the death of his sister in the accident that gave him his powers. As a journalist working alongside his former partner in police force he investigates a murder then later a secound, in which both are missing there hearts and both are conected to the accident. He later is shocked to discover that his sister is still alive and being held captive by the murder who also has superpowers as the result of the accident.
I'll put in my two pence worth to this thread as I've enjoyed reading everyone elses posts. My MC's name is Corbin B. Krajicek but this is just his alias. He is 26, half French and half Czech. He was brought up speaking 3 languages and speaks a total of 13 today - only because he's had about 80 years to learn them given that he's an (almost) immortal vampire. After losing everyone he loves he is suffering and isolated from the world, his only friends (using the term loosely) being his psychotherapist and the doctor he is blackmailing for blood. He's not a bad guy per se but he has made some really bad decisions in his life that have affected others in a really negative way and for that he carries a lot of guilt and shame with him. He keeps his cards close to his chest but once his barriers come down he is warm and loyal. He can come across as being cold and uncaring but just because he wants to keep everyone at arms length to save his own skin. He's also got a very dry sometimes dark sense of humour.
Its the year 2979, the solar system has been colonised and industrialised by big corporations. Space travel has advanced to allow access to the entire galaxy. Jason Igoe is a bounty hunter for hire in his mid 40s. Having lived a hard life he has become cynical and bitter over the years - he sees the only way to survive is to look after yourself. Returning from a long difficult job he is approached to recover a number of artefacts that are strewn across the galaxy. Not having the knowledge or expertise he needs to hire a crew to help. As he carries out the job he starts to develop a bond with his new crew and when they learn that the artefacts they are collecting are part of a super weapon that can destroy entire stars he must wrestle with his cynicism and bitterness to try to do the right thing It's really only at the concept stage right now but that's the general gist
In a world where humans and divine spirits coexist, the MC is a mysterious man whose origin is often the topic of speculation among both people and spirit alike. No one knows his true name, but due to the infamy of his work, the people have come to call him the "Divine Hunter." He is an enigma that is both feared and revered for his unstoppable power and thorough methods in dealing with his opposition. He has no qualms with using any means as the situation dictates to accomplish his goals, and he shows no restraint when berating others' failures. However, the number of people that actually knew what he looked like were few within few, so he was able to easily infiltrate the number one academy in one of the kingdoms as a teacher in order to study the current level of knowledge of the population and their relationships with the divine spirits. There, he meets the second main character of this story, a young man named Aster. Aster is partially a foil for the Divine Hunter. He is more idealistic and compassionate. While he is a talented individual, easily rising through the cadet ranks, he is not sociable and is often aloof. Due to his past, he spends all of his time training and strengthening himself in order to be able to travel the world on his own and resolve his childhood knots, but on occasion, his obsession with his past creates tension in his present relationships. Nevertheless, he greatly cares for his companions, and he even comes to greatly respect his the Divine Hunter as his teacher... ...until things happen, misunderstandings occur, and the story moves away from the academy into a hopeless pursuit of the truth.
Right, so mine has loads of characters that tend to be somewhere near the front but it predominantly focusses on one character. Isake Dresden is a man who has been through hell and back, quite literally, cooped up at a young age in a regime that saw him become a master swordsman, the books follow him as an adult, farther down the line, having to deal with the mistakes of his past. having been given a long life through complicated and confusing means, he see this as an opportunity to repair his past. To those he trusts, he is the nicest guy going and would do anything for anyone, however for those who hurt him directly when he was younger he is quite the opposite. his training as a swordsman pretty much splitting his personality into two. there is a whole bunch more that i would like to say, but it spoils a lot of the books! Oh, and he has a dire wolf companion called Linck...
I am mildly curious why you want to know? But like 98% of story tellers I cannot resist the bait! Jackie is... well depends. She appears in multiple stories. And her personality varies from the growth of just well being a person. But her most notable trait is her anger. She is a pretty serious and anger person. She is also one of the worlds most highly skilled fighters and physically strong enough to lift a car. So, bad combo there. Funny enough, one time I had someone taunting her and I tried to write her taunting them back but I couldn't. I couldn't think of a taunt that would come out of her mouth. I could only think of her telling them to shut up. It was then I realized she was a pretty no non-sense kind of girl.
