Character Inspiration

Characters are odd creatures. Some arrive fully formed like the proverbial Athena from the head of Zeus. Others slip out of a fog, growing clearer as they come closer. My two were from the fog ilk.

Prioress Eleanor began simply as a small nun, quite young, hands folded and very serious. For some reason, she soon let me know that she had had a suitor in her teens and once solved a problem for him, proving she was rather a clever clogs (to quote the more modern Inspector Lewis). As she emerged from the fog, I saw a sparkle in her eyes, suggesting she was no grump. The hints about the former suitor suggested she might even have a tiny issue with those sins of the flesh. “But you have to have a genuine vocation,” I said. She nodded agreeably, and we became friendlier, especially after I discovered she had a cat instead of all the other usual pets known to prioresses. A little independent, I decided. Liked that.

At first, Brother Thomas was just obligatory. My prioress needed a side-kick to go places she couldn’t and talk to people she oughtn’t. He always was a handsome sort, tall and with auburn hair, but he quickly let me know he would not be secondary to anyone. We actually had a fight over whether he or his prioress would own the first chapter in Tyrant of the Mind. I couldn’t write the book until he won. “If you aren’t a wimp, Prioress Eleanor might fall in love with you,” I snapped, “and you with her.” He grinned. “No problem,” he said, “I’m gay.” Oh, goody, I thought. Does he have any idea how difficult that research is going to be? In short, he won again: he’s a medieval gay man, and he is a full sleuth to Prioress Eleanor. And he continues to give me angst in each book because he refuses to be anything but surprising. Although I would never tell him this, I find his obstinacy rather fun.

Characters are always some reflection of us. Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas have a scribe who ignores almost all books on the New York Times Best-Seller list, longs for good biographies of little discussed historical people like James Buchanan or the Welsh medieval princes, and loves to find facts about an era that shatter popular assumptions including my own. So, like it or not, my two belong to an Order that was controversial, lesser known but popular in the Middle Ages. And they manage to point up little discussed or unexpected elements of medieval life during the course of their adventures.

Like most good characters, Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas fight with me over their continuing evolution. As they started out, she tends to be more agreeable and he less so. Part of character inspiration is the ongoing surprise, but isn’t that part of the joy of writing?

Comments

[Camille Minichino]

I love your interaction with your "characters," Priscilla! I'm always nagging mine — just as I nag myself. Now, I get it -- they're some part of us.
I hope that's why I can't write "serial killer" -- nothing to tap into.

[Mysti]

I see now why I like the two of them--all my friends have a tendency toward iron whims.

Thanks for "discovering" these two!!!!

[Priscilla]

Thank you both! It is fun to tussle with them. Like cats, they even let me "win" on occasion...

[Susie]

Nice post! I have to admit; I find it challenging to picture my own characters--their physical attributes that is--so I look for inspiration among current actors and entertainers, and in art from the period I write about. When I was first writing, I never understood how people could be 'surprised' by their own characters, but now I get it.

[Priscilla]

But you are right. As a reader, I like the physical aspects of a character a bit vague so I can enter the creative process with the author and picture the chatacter myself. So "tall" is better for me than feet and inches. Eye and hair color are important.

[Rox]

Indeed! I find "fog ilk" to be some of the more intriguing, and sometimes irritably independent, characters to bring forth in my own work. Your Eleanor and Thomas are well worth their evolutionary tussles and trips into fascinating lands of research.

[Priscilla]

Thank you Roz! Yes, they are irritating but such fun