This week love is in the air, for our very own, dear Miss Alisha is now engaged. (WOOOOOO!!!!) So in honor of this joyous occasion, I am posting about that most elusive thing: love.
Or at least, love as it applies to one of my characters in one of my novels.
I like to know where and how all my characters are going to end up, even if its not mentioned or particularly important in the story. Sure, my MC in Spirit Riddled is 12, but I know who she's going to marry when she grows up (I'm not telling!), what her career is going to be (and it's not just a gendarme), and how many kids she's going to have (not telling that either, so don't ask). It may seem extraneous, but knowing this future information helps me to know how to write Jess now. It helps me to know in the long run where she's going--to know the woman she is one day going to be--so I can write her more accurately at the age of 12.
However, as you may know from a previous post, Spirit Riddled is undergoing quite a few changes. Some of those changes involve the story line for the entire series. And these changes have affected the love life of one of my important characters.
Aaron Mage, Jess's guardian, is currently without a wife-to-be. He can't be an eternal bachelor, because he is going to have kids down the road, and those kids are important in the grand scheme of things (yes...I think too much). In order to have these kids, he needs a wife.
So today, I want you and me to work together to create a wife for the ever awesome Mage. Yes, this requires feedback and commenting. (I'm looking at you, Michael Gabriel, Jennifer, Alisha, Meredith, and others who have actually read Spirit Riddled). However, I don't want you to be left out if you haven't read Spirit Riddled, so here is a brief character description so you can join in the fun.
Name: Aaron Mage
Occupation: Royal Adviser
History: Mage started his life as a thief but has worked his way out of the streets. He is now the royal adviser. Like Jess (our MC) he has magical powers, but because society views those powers as caused by demons, he is much feared. He is extremely powerful, and at times seems to have unlimited powers (though that's not true). He has taken Jess off of the streets, introducing her to normal society. His goal is to make his nation accept magical people and to one day start a school for kids to learn how to handle their powers.
Attributes: Very intelligent. He connived and manipulated his way off the streets and basically taught himself how to read. Temper. In his younger years he was known for his temper but he's been working to control it. It still occasionally flares up. Stubborn. It's hard to make Mage change his mind once he's decided a course of action. Prideful. Arrogance characterized him in his youth, and though he's mellowed with age, its hard to not be prideful when you're pretty much awesome. Loyal to a fault. Once he's your friend, he will always be your friend--despite how bad you may treat him.
What he's looking for in a wife: someone who understands his passions and is not afraid to help him take children (like Jess) off the streets. She doesn't necessarily have to have powers, but she has to understand that despite his powers he's still human. She has to be willing to look beyond her society's norms and see that magic doesn't mean demon possessed. She has to be able to accept a more nontraditional view of family that accepts wards and adopted children.
So now it's your turn. Can you help me create a wife for Mage? What sort of attributes should she have? What position in society should she come from? What sort of career should she have? How has she overcome her society and fallen in love with Mage? Ok...you don't need to get that descriptive, but any ideas you guys can through out there to help me creative juices get flowing would be greatly appreciated.
What sort of woman would marry Aaron Mage?
"What sort of woman would marry Aaron Mage?"
ReplyDeleteAs a man, I'm not sure I qualify to answer this, but... what woman /wouldn't/ marry him? I mean, I'm pretty sure I'd want him if I were a woman and he was real. He's just that awesome.
I feel like it's more a question of who would be good enough for him.
The way I see it, it'll have to be someone extremely clever and potentially conniving. There'll have to be some sort of initial conflict between the two because she'll have some sort of innate distrust of him (beyond the stigma around magic) stemming from his sheer brilliance. She'll have to suspect him of behavior of which he's innocent, but she'd also be the only person on hand clever enough to see the kinds of things he /could/ do if only he weren't so good. He'll be intrigued because she'll obviously have concern for others' well-being driving her attitude towards him.
Some sort of conflict will come to a head during which he proves how truly good he is to her, and their mutual concern for children / others leads to a short courtship because he'll have wanted her for such a long time by the time she "comes around."
I'd guess she'd be characterized by a tendency to distrust things she believes sound too good to be true, a little bit of cynicism, but she absolutely can not be any less committed to taking care of their current and future children than him. I would hate her absolutely if she wasn't as committed to being a good parent as selflessly as Aaron seems to be.
I haven't put any thought into this other than while my fingers were actively typing, so forgive the lack of form to my thoughts. I'm sure we can discuss it in person at some point and flesh it out more.
I haven't read your novel, so forgive me if the following won't fit at all, but being a hopeless romantic (who's too afraid to give love a chance), I just had to comment...I have two kinds of women in mind...
ReplyDelete1) She knows what it's like to be feared/distrusted, either because of her family or because of her rep. This could potentially be what they bond over...or what keeps them seperate but constantly "staring", and then as they learn more about each other, something else actually brings them closer. Whether he saves her with his powers or she/her family, whatever the reason for her to be feared, helps him out in a way no one else had before. Through this we learn something about the girl, about which he is not pleased, and even though he doesn't want to he pursues her and stays with her.
2) She's a good girl. Does what she's supposed to and keeps her nose clean. But there was always a fascination with rebellion, with the outcasts, she just never acted on it. Until she met him, whose passion for children sparked something inside of her. It is because of this that they meet. Knowing that he has powers tears her apart since she learned that this must mean he his evil. Despite this, she decides to take the plunge into that rebellious nature she so desires to have. Through this, she learns that he is a person and that people aren't defined by what they can do but who they are.
Again, forgive me if this has no place in your novel or it seems too cliche. But like I said, I'm a hopeless romantic and for me, the cliches don't get old. However, a different path to love is always welcome.
I wish you all the best in your revisions.