Author Post – Character Personas & Other Thoughts
Here are Character Personas for key players in the first book, Dreamscape Conspiracy, and the rest of the 4-book series, assuming nothing untoward should happen to them. As the author and creator of these characters, it’s important to me that they use their personas to show their uniqueness, warts and all, to my readers.
As an author, there are times to “tell” an engaging story and other times to enable the characters to “show” the story through their actions and thoughts, or the lack thereof. To pull that off, I like to write in the third person to ensure I can draw out the characters’ uniqueness as they contribute to the story. It’s engaging for me to access those thoughts with them. With them? Yeah, I’m right there the whole time.
The 4-book Dreamscape Conspiracy series grew from a 3,000-word short story posted to my Learning by Living blog over eight years ago. Only three of the characters in that version of the story made the cut when the relentless Wench Muse, who manages to remain just out of reach, planted Her knees on my chest, locking my wrists against my sides with Her ankles, and leaning down to whisper, “Dearie, this one is not done yet, mate. Finish it!”
Three books later, She let me up only long enough to look at the last book, “Dead Thoughts,” and then tried to avoid her catching my glance with her glare. She caught it, and with no words spoken, I started “Untethered.” Could it become Book #5? Who knows, marketing the current series could interrupt my love…writing…for a bit longer. I know there is more story to reveal, which could lead to another, and where will it end?
When new characters appear, I’ll add key personas. I’ve chosen to exclude many incidental players who appear and then leave the pages never to be reread. Some major bad guys fall into that category, and I’ve intentionally left them out. As you read the stories and want to know more about a specific character, contact me, and I’ll consult the relentless Wench Muse, who manages to remain just out of reach, for her guidance.
Creating a persona for the AI character AIMEE was fun, especially when she can be more than just a coded software algorithm. There’s not much to share about the persona of an invisible software app, but when she imprints her presence on the minds of the entire research team, she definitely has a persona shaped by each of theirs. She thinks some of it she shows, and some of it remains covert.
I enjoy building these personas, so I would love to know if having this information before or after reading the book is the better way to use it. Let me know what you think.
I’m writing this for readers who follow me and the relentless Wench Muse, who manages to remain just out of reach. Your voices show me you are my readers, and that’s cool because nobody else would give a rip.
Dreamscape Conspiracy Character Personas were completed at the crack of dawn this morning, brought on by a righteous caffeine rush, and here we are.
Peace! G.