This week's topic is who our favorite character to have written is, and why.
Well, damn, that's not actually all that easy to answer. You'd think it would be, but, no, not really. That's like saying what's your favorite chocolate? Or which single topping on an everything pizza sings most clearly to you?
The character I've certainly come to know the best is Jonathan Crowley. We've spent a lot of time together. Hundreds of years, really, as I've written about him in Victorian London and in the wild west and across all of the decades from the 1920s to the present time. Even if I haven't written the adventures down yet, I know what he's been doing and I know that he is having a rather pissy time of the whole thing.
Crowley is the character most likely to get sand kicked in his face by the author. he is also, if it were possible, the one most likely to hunt down said author and torture him to death.
I like him because he constantly surprises me. Oh, I know what he SHOULD be doing, but he gets a few past me just the same. He is a teacher, a lover, a fighter a sadistic bastard, a man with a very dark past and a long history of walking away from his duties. He is immortal, keeps coming back even if he doesn't want to, in fact. I've killed him in a few books, but it never sticks, you see.
I actually started one of his forthcoming novels, BOOMTOWN, with him dead. He got better. Thing is, he's never overly happy about that fact.
One of the other reasons I truly enjoy him is that he often says the things I won't. Oh, I would, but there's this whole "polite society" thing to consider. Crowley is capable of polite. he's often very polite, but he has no edit button when it comes to stupid. Once somebody proves that they deserve no respect, he gives them exactly that.
Also, he carries through on his threats. Always. It might take him a while, but he is a man of his word, especially when it comes to impending violence. I just sort of respect that in my antiheroes.
Here are a few of the covers with Jonathan Crowley. There are more. Way more.
I'm going to give honorable mention to two more characters from the Seven Forges series. First there's Drask Silver Hand. Drask is a bad dude to mess with, but he's seeking balance in his life, as a result he is more like'y to have a rational conversation than most of the members of his people, the Sa'ba Taalor.
That's Drask.
The other honorable mention is for Swech. Swech is easily the deadliest character I have ever written. She's killed more people in one scene, in one fight, and in one book than anyone else I've ever written about. Actually that's not true. But she's done a higher body count than anyone else I've written about without supernatural abilities. She's a lovely young lady, who will gladly tell tales and share stories. She'll cook for you, she'll even help sharpen your weapons if you're feeling a bit under the weather, but she'll also kill you in an instant if that is the will of her gods.
I actually had no idea how dangerous she was until I started writing the first book. In one scene she kills over a hundred people by herself. There are ten of her kind against well over a thousand and she leads the raid that ends their lives.
Still, aside from being a very efficient killer, she's a sweetheart. I kind if love her. I'm not alone, by the way. I actually had a poll on facebook to find out who people wanted to see on the cover of CITY OF WONDERS and she won handily.
Here's Swech.
That's the problem with this kind of question, by the way. I can always find something about the characters I write that I enjoy, It's seldom the same thing twice.
Well, damn, that's not actually all that easy to answer. You'd think it would be, but, no, not really. That's like saying what's your favorite chocolate? Or which single topping on an everything pizza sings most clearly to you?
The character I've certainly come to know the best is Jonathan Crowley. We've spent a lot of time together. Hundreds of years, really, as I've written about him in Victorian London and in the wild west and across all of the decades from the 1920s to the present time. Even if I haven't written the adventures down yet, I know what he's been doing and I know that he is having a rather pissy time of the whole thing.
Crowley is the character most likely to get sand kicked in his face by the author. he is also, if it were possible, the one most likely to hunt down said author and torture him to death.
I like him because he constantly surprises me. Oh, I know what he SHOULD be doing, but he gets a few past me just the same. He is a teacher, a lover, a fighter a sadistic bastard, a man with a very dark past and a long history of walking away from his duties. He is immortal, keeps coming back even if he doesn't want to, in fact. I've killed him in a few books, but it never sticks, you see.
I actually started one of his forthcoming novels, BOOMTOWN, with him dead. He got better. Thing is, he's never overly happy about that fact.
One of the other reasons I truly enjoy him is that he often says the things I won't. Oh, I would, but there's this whole "polite society" thing to consider. Crowley is capable of polite. he's often very polite, but he has no edit button when it comes to stupid. Once somebody proves that they deserve no respect, he gives them exactly that.
Also, he carries through on his threats. Always. It might take him a while, but he is a man of his word, especially when it comes to impending violence. I just sort of respect that in my antiheroes.
Here are a few of the covers with Jonathan Crowley. There are more. Way more.
I'm going to give honorable mention to two more characters from the Seven Forges series. First there's Drask Silver Hand. Drask is a bad dude to mess with, but he's seeking balance in his life, as a result he is more like'y to have a rational conversation than most of the members of his people, the Sa'ba Taalor.
That's Drask.
The other honorable mention is for Swech. Swech is easily the deadliest character I have ever written. She's killed more people in one scene, in one fight, and in one book than anyone else I've ever written about. Actually that's not true. But she's done a higher body count than anyone else I've written about without supernatural abilities. She's a lovely young lady, who will gladly tell tales and share stories. She'll cook for you, she'll even help sharpen your weapons if you're feeling a bit under the weather, but she'll also kill you in an instant if that is the will of her gods.
I actually had no idea how dangerous she was until I started writing the first book. In one scene she kills over a hundred people by herself. There are ten of her kind against well over a thousand and she leads the raid that ends their lives.
Still, aside from being a very efficient killer, she's a sweetheart. I kind if love her. I'm not alone, by the way. I actually had a poll on facebook to find out who people wanted to see on the cover of CITY OF WONDERS and she won handily.
Here's Swech.
That's the problem with this kind of question, by the way. I can always find something about the characters I write that I enjoy, It's seldom the same thing twice.
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