Meet my Main Characters

I've been meaning to write this post for ages. A post just focusing on my protagonists, on all of my main characters. I've written it three or four times by now, but just never posted it so I thought with Camp NaNoWriMo just around the corner, this would be the perfect time. So without further ado...my babies.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts about my writing then you probably know of Coralie. She’s my number one love, my little baby, my fave etc etc. For those of you who don’t know, Coralie is 19 when the story begins but she’s about 21-22 by the end of her story. She one of the nicer protagonist I’ve got at the moment. We’re quite similar in some ones—she’s a reader, she’s close with her family, those sorts of things but she’s much more confident than I am and much more social. She’s sort of the person I wish I could be.

Nellie is another part of me—she’s the quiet aspect of my personality. She’s 18 when her story starts but by the end she’s about 22 as well. She’s not quite as nice as Coralie, she’s a little more paranoid, untrusting but that has a lot to do with the world she lives in. She’s a lot of fun to write because she’s a lot darker than Coralie ever gets to be, and she suffers a lot more.

Arden is extra special, because as you can see he’s my only male protagonist. He’s also a bit older than the others at 23-24, he’s also half-Korean. He works in the 6^th precinct in New York City, and he’s relatively new at his job. He worked his ass off to get to where he is, and so he’s very determined to prove himself. He hasn’t really worked out that gap between work and home—he’s a complete workaholic. I haven’t really worked out the kinks in the novel yet, so Arden is sort of half-formed at the moment.

Megan is sort of an idea rather than a person at the moment. I’ve only written about 2,000 words of her story but she’s so incredibly unlike me. She’s manipulative, and bitter, and cold and very ambitious (which is a little more like me). She’s kind of difficult to write in that aspect. Also, I haven’t entirely worked out her motivation yet but I’m not in a big rush to write her story at the moment.

Vivian is my newest protagonist, so new in fact that she hasn’t actually appeared on here yet. Like Arden, she’s still sort of half-formed. She’s about 21 and she was in her third and final year in her undergraduate nursing course but she had to take the year off to return home to look after her sick grandmother. Like I said, she’s still coming together.

So those are the protagonists I currently have. In this post, I did talk about a few other WIP ideas I have but those are just that at the moment, ideas. There isn’t really any plot or character to them yet, but I’ll update you on them as they grow.

I was thinking about doing a post on the love interests I’ve created—would anyone be interested in that?

Writing Styles

Last month I participated in, and won, NaNoWriMo. I wrote the first 50,000 words of my novel ‘Tied Together’ which I think it’s probably going to be about 100,000 words in total. Anyway, after November ended I decided I needed a break from that story and started a new novel.

I’ve been working on both Tied Together and this new novel, which is currently being referred to as ‘Megan’ (my main characters’ name) for several years now but I’ve never really written them- not the extent that I am now. They’ve both changed drastically over time and they’ve kind of become opposites to one another.

For example, Tied Together is a novel set in Copenhagen, Denmark about a girl named Coralie and her family and friends. There are some magical elements to the story as well, but it really is a novel about friendship, family and even a little bit of romance. Basically, where I’m going with this is that it’s a very light story, it’s a feel good story in the end.

‘Megan’, on the other hand, is about Megan Hill – the coldest, most manipulative, just generally horrible, main character that I have ever written. She doesn’t really have any friends or family, nor does she want any. Her story is about how ambition can tear you apart, and there is definitely not a happy ending.

Do you see what I mean?

I wanted to write this post because I’ve been talking with two of my friends, who are both writers as well, about the difference in writing style and tone in our own novels. In general, my novels usually are more like Tied Together – I like focusing on the positives in life, but I’m really enjoying writing Megan just because it’s so different.

My question for you guys is, do you notice a difference in style in your own writing or do you tend to lean towards the same sort of tone? I’m really interested to see what all of you have to say. Also, I’m looking for a critique partner/group if anyone is interested.