Characters

A good character has a bit of his author in him (or her, of course). I’m not saying that the person who invented The Joker is an insane supercriminal, or anything dumb like that. But if you’re going to write a dynamic character, one the audience is interested in, it has to have something of you in it or else it will be flat.

So I’ve been thinking about my characters lately. I’m learning about myself as I learn about them. It was a weird epiphany I had in between English classes. Not that anyone’s really familiar with these characters, but I’m still going to write about them.

Phena Kysta
She’s young and pretty and tall, and she doesn’t really register any of this. She is intelligent and loyal, she knows what she wants from the universe and she gets it. She’s great with languages and she went for–and got–a position on a space ship as a communications specialist. She’s personable, flirts a little, and makes friends easily, although her traveling lifestyle keeps her away from many lasting bonds. So I suppose Phena is the lady I’d like to be someday, although the relationship thing is not ideal. She has close friends though, so that’s a good thing.

She’s also an empath. She both broadcasts and receives emotions, similar to the way a telepath is supposed to receive and send thoughts. In the OCT I’ve entered her in, she lost control over the ability. She’s never understood it and it came to her very late, so she’s always had trouble understanding what can be considered either gift or curse. That part of her would be my own emotional mess. I tend to roller-coaster. I’ve been trying to stay stable lately, and it exploded in my face again. Phena’s control came back, but I still have to figure out how to get mine.

Captain Farrell
Captain Farrell would like to be a hero, even though he’s essentially just the same as everyone else. The more he tries to be a hero, the bigger ass he makes of himself. He’s intelligent, well read, a good leader, and a compassionate man, but he keeps letting the concept of who he wants to be, who he thinks he should be, get in the way of who he is. He also hides a lot of himself from the world, most easily seen in the collection of origami models locked in his desk and the fact that nobody knows his first name is Fergus.

He hasn’t realized it yet, but the less he tries to be heroic, the more heroic he becomes. Perhaps I’m trying too hard to be something I’m not. I’m trying to figure out who I am and who I’m supposed to be. I do know I have a hero complex of my own, trying to help everyone around me even when there’s nothing I can do. I think we both need to let things go and be more comfortable with who we are.

Rua
Rua is brand new, not being used for anything yet. It is a cyborg unicorn. It doesn’t know who it is or where it came from, but it wants to know. It tries to interface with anyone it meets in an attempt to find that information. Usually it results in mimicking what that other person thinks Rua should be, not what it truly is.

I do that too. I’d love to know who I am, why I’m here. I end up social-butterflying a bit though.

This ended up being quite a bit more depressing than I intended. Perhaps I need to find some more upbeat comparisons between myself and my characters. But in my defense, a lot of people who do know them tell me they are good characters. So I guess, in a sense, that helps me feel like I’m a good person. After all, part of me is in them.