There have been quite a few times while I’ve been writing the Guardian series that I’ve thought to myself, “What in the hell was I thinking?” Some examples:
1) Lilith. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love her. But as I was writing Demon Angel, I remember thinking more than once, “Oh my god, what am I doing creating a character like this? My editor is going to kill me and readers are going to hate her!” And I thought, maybe I should make her nicer. Maybe I should make it so that she hadn’t really spent 2000 years leading the damned to their deaths … maybe she’s been hiding them all somewhere and teaching them to be good. But, like I said, I love her character … and of course that isn’t true for everyone, but I’m glad she turned out like she did.
2) Colin. A vain, beautiful, vain, beautiful vampire … and there wasn’t that much more to him (at least, not much that was obvious in Demon Angel). And I thought, “Oh my god, what am I doing making this guy a hero?” Of course, I knew there was a lot more to him, but there were times when I was writing and I was thinking, “Does anyone really want to read about a vain metrosexual vampire? Aghhh!” And I read reviews that said, “Hmm, that Colin — I don’t see how he’s going to be a good hero,” and they are absolutely right … there wasn’t much in Demon Angel to suggest Colin would be a good hero. Only in his own book does he prove himself hero material.
When readers first meet characters, most of the time we just get the surface … and usually, we want the surface to be attractive enough (not necessarily in a physical way, but a heroic way) … because otherwise, yikes — we might get pulled into a book with 400 pages of a character we really don’t like and who doesn’t change over the course of the story.
So when I finished with Demon Night, and realized that Jake was pulling at me to be the next hero … quite honestly, my “What the HELL was I THINKING????” went through the roof. Because in Demon Night, he wasn’t exactly hero-material.
For one, although Jake is sixty years old, Drifter (Jake’s mentor and the very manly man hero of Demon Night) calls him “kid.” Lilith calls him “puppy.” He’s a novice — which, in the Guardian world, just means that he hasn’t completed his training — but it also meant that he’s not on equal footing with Drifter or any of the other heroes in the series.
It means that he’s not on equal footing with Alice. Not only is he younger, he ranks below her — the novice to the full-fledged Guardian.
And (I’m being vague to avoid spoilers) Jake screwed up in Demon Night. He made a mistake that had enormous consequences. He does some silly things (like shape-shifting to look like a woman and teasing Drifter with a miniskirt.) He’s got a smart mouth, and says some stupid things.
That’s not to say that he doesn’t mature in Demon Night, or that I don’t hint at his backstory as a soldier — and when the final showdown comes, Jake is as steady as a rock. But taken all together, the smart part of my brain (a part that is wholly removed from the writing part, half the time) was shouting at me to wait at least a few more books, develop him a little bit more as a secondary character, and have him at “he’s obviously hero material and a full-fledged Guardian” by the time his own story begins.
The writing part of my brain did not agree with the smart part.
“Oh my god,” I thought. “I can’t even cheat, because everyone has just read Drifter’s story, they know Jake, so I can’t just have him suddenly older and wiser and never saying the wrong thing — or controlling his Gift, because we *know* that Drifter had to scare the crap out of Jake to make him teleport. If Jake learning that happens off-screen, every reader has a right to scream ‘foul!’”
So I made a plan. Like I said, he was steady in that final fight in Demon Night, so it’s not like I had a complete fool on my hands. He was a soldier, and he had a good head on his shoulders and a sharp eye (that was established, too.) The foundation is there.
And the smart part of my brain thought: Okay, I’ll write Jake having some kind of epiphany — he’ll have a conversation with Drifter that clears up all of Jake’s conflict and confusion, and lets him come out on the other side “hero material.”
So I threw myself headlong into writing Demon Bound … and Jake flipped the bird at the smart part of my brain.
The conversation with Drifter never happens because Jake never *needs* it to happen. Oh, he has to grow up — but he doesn’t need another man to tell him how to be one. He’s ready to take that step on his own, and he figures out how to do it.
Jake gave me the big ol’ “F– Off,” because I’d underestimated him as a character. I was trying to make him fit some hero mold, but the way I’d been planning to do it would have been the opposite of what I considered heroic.
It’s not about status or rank or age; that’s the surface stuff. My heroes — for me to consider them heroes — have to be self-aware. They have to understand themselves. Not on every level, but for me to consider having a scene where another character teaches Jake about himself in such a heavy-handed way, for self-realization to be forced on him from the outside instead of coming out of his own experiences and reason … well, it meant that I’d sold his character short from the start.
And with that kind of character, the romance would have been cut off at the knees. Jake could have been a thousand-year-old Guardian, possessed the biggest wang and the sharpest sword — but if he hadn’t possessed any insight, any self-awareness, or any ability to affect change in himself unless someone told him how … I wouldn’t want him near one of my heroines.
So I look back on those early plans, and now I think … “What the hell was I thinking?” And there’s no doubt in my mind that Jake is worthy of romance-hero status. Your mileage may vary, of course J
Leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m PST answering the questions listed below and you’ll be entered to win 1 of 3 copies of Demon Bound!
Aside from the physical, what trait is essential for you to consider a character hero (or heroine) material?
Can you think of a secondary character who you thought would never be a great hero/heroine in their own story, but that surprised you?
If you could choose one secondary character from any book to receive their own story, who would it be?
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