Post by Jocelynn Drake on Mar 20, 2009 13:28:18 GMT -5
Beware:
If you haven't read Nightwalker, this post could be seen as somewhat spoilerish.
I'm serious.
Do you really want to read this if you haven't already read Nightwalker?
This is your last chance to click away.
There's an endless debate raging between the plotters and the panzers about outlining novels ahead of time. One of the arguments is that outlining ahead of time takes away the chance of encountering surprises along the way of writing the novel.
I have to disagree. Sometimes I think I truly know my characters, and then suddenly, they decided to do something that I didn't plot out, positively stunning me with their brilliance and/or devious nature.
If you've read Nightwalker, you know that I have absolutely no problem killing off a character when the scene needs it. Sometime I'll kill off someone because I need it. You know, a bad day. (Just kidding) So, when a character that was supposed to die lives to see the end of the book, I'm a little stunned.
That's Tristan's story. I created Tristan for one purpose. His job was to help me give a deeper description of Sadira. The way he reacts to Sadira, his stories of her, his behavior, all work to back up Mira's hatred of the nightwalker. He was simply around as a secondary source of description.
In the big battle at the end of the book, he was supposed to die. I kept that thought rolling around in my head while I wrote the book. And yet, when I checked to see who was standing at the end of the book, I was surprised to find that he was still among the living. "How did he do that?" I wondered. I sat back and stared at him on the page, scratching my head. So, since he managed to slip past me, I decided to leave him alive and see what else he was capable of.
After completing Dayhunter, I realized that he was one of my favorite characters. He was a scrappy survivor. I've seen some not-so-nice things said about him and I shrug. Just give him a little time. I think he'll grow on you, too.
Tristan never gets as much face time on the paper as I would like to give him. But when he's there, he usually has something very important to say.
He's proven to be quite resilient. While he's not immune to the chopping block should it be necessary, I have to admit that a part of me hopes that he lasts a little while longer. I'd like to see him at least briefly happy.
If you haven't read Nightwalker, this post could be seen as somewhat spoilerish.
I'm serious.
Do you really want to read this if you haven't already read Nightwalker?
This is your last chance to click away.
There's an endless debate raging between the plotters and the panzers about outlining novels ahead of time. One of the arguments is that outlining ahead of time takes away the chance of encountering surprises along the way of writing the novel.
I have to disagree. Sometimes I think I truly know my characters, and then suddenly, they decided to do something that I didn't plot out, positively stunning me with their brilliance and/or devious nature.
If you've read Nightwalker, you know that I have absolutely no problem killing off a character when the scene needs it. Sometime I'll kill off someone because I need it. You know, a bad day. (Just kidding) So, when a character that was supposed to die lives to see the end of the book, I'm a little stunned.
That's Tristan's story. I created Tristan for one purpose. His job was to help me give a deeper description of Sadira. The way he reacts to Sadira, his stories of her, his behavior, all work to back up Mira's hatred of the nightwalker. He was simply around as a secondary source of description.
In the big battle at the end of the book, he was supposed to die. I kept that thought rolling around in my head while I wrote the book. And yet, when I checked to see who was standing at the end of the book, I was surprised to find that he was still among the living. "How did he do that?" I wondered. I sat back and stared at him on the page, scratching my head. So, since he managed to slip past me, I decided to leave him alive and see what else he was capable of.
After completing Dayhunter, I realized that he was one of my favorite characters. He was a scrappy survivor. I've seen some not-so-nice things said about him and I shrug. Just give him a little time. I think he'll grow on you, too.
Tristan never gets as much face time on the paper as I would like to give him. But when he's there, he usually has something very important to say.
He's proven to be quite resilient. While he's not immune to the chopping block should it be necessary, I have to admit that a part of me hopes that he lasts a little while longer. I'd like to see him at least briefly happy.
And then once before her, he looked to Mira, as if a final plea, but then had not choice but to go to Sadira, hehe.