Over on LexValentine.com I talked about world building and how I ended up doing that through Twitter and Yahoo Instant Messenger. Over here, I wanna talk about the people. I touched on it a little over there but what I blog about there is the mechanics of writing. Here I like to show off my characters and focus on people. The world where my characters live is called the Darkworld. Sometimes, the things that happen there are like a twisted fairytale. (Remember Fractured Fairy Tales? Anyone old enough?)
So in the first novella of the series, Max the Pixie Prince finds a mattress and his mate. You may recall that I posted a couple of short excerpts from the beginning of that story where Max and his best friend Alex are looking for a mattress and end up at a restaurant where a helpful waiter named Marty tells him about a special mattress. We also find out Marty’s real job is fairy godfather…
At Carpe Noctem, Marty sat the bar nursing a drink. A faraway light gleamed in his emerald eyes, and his expression was distant, as if he was tuned in to something others couldn’t see. A smug smile played about his lips as he realized that he had accomplished his mission with Max and Bliss.
Since he’d taken on the matchmaking job, he’d found a lot of satisfaction in his work. His grandmother had warned him that he would. Still, it was unusual for a man to take on the job of fairy godmother… well, godfather in his case. The women in his family had done the job for eons, but now no one was left but Marty.
Being a fairy on a mission in the Darkworld could be difficult as he’d discovered with the first few couples he’d tried to match. Max and Bliss had been easy, as he’d known they would be. Their problems had never been insurmountable because both of them had willing natures. Both of them had been accepting of the fact that they were mates. It was the couples who couldn’t accept the truth who gave Marty sleepless nights.
His eyes blinked sharply back into focus, staring down the bar at a dark haired man who seemed intent on drinking himself into oblivion. He’d been resistant to Marty’s brand of magic for years. And truthfully, Marty had never been sure until recently that he had the right mate for Olivier. Now that he did, things had gotten even more complicated.
Marty sighed and finished his gin and tonic. Max and Bliss had been fun. Olivier and Alexa would rip his heart out. He could already feel it. He was headed into some serious trouble with those two, and he wasn’t sure he could pull off a happily ever after. There was so much darkness to overcome… even for a fairy godfather.
In the second book (which I’ve already started), Marty has his work cut out for him. He even has to bring in some reinforcements from the fae realm, his girlfriend Raine who is an elemental fairy. Still, Marty’s just not sure he can bring about a happily ever after for Alexa and Bliss’ younger brother Olivier Wilde. They are both dark characters with painful pasts. Book #2, tentatively titled Never Been Bit, isn’t a very happy tale like Max’s story was.
So that’s one happy story and one darkly emotional one. For the third book, I was trying for something partway between the first two for Bliss’ oldest brother Lucien. He’s a little stuffy being the head of the household and all. And he’s had lots of issues he’s had to deal with in regard to his younger brother. Lucien is a worrywart, kinda anal, and over protective. The woman who turns out to be his bloodmate is Hillary St. Cloud, the author of these very popular books that portray vampires as the undead. Lucien’s family isn’t crazy about the books, even though his sister’s club caters to people who like the whole trendy notion of undead vamps. Alexa hates the books. It stands to reason, Hillary and Lucien are not gonna have a smooth courtship.
Another new character shows up in the third book too. Hillary St. Cloud’s cynical gossip columnist friend, Karl with a K, who is a pot smoking, troublemaking, wickedly mischievous elf. He amuses Hilly. He does not amuse the Wilde family. Hilly, who is descended from the Valkyrie, is tall and buxom, and the queen of snark. She’s pretty ruthless with poor Lucien, but we discover that the reason for her behavior is that beneath the snark lies a woman with very deep, uber sensitive feelings. Somehow in this story, I need to work in a redhead because book 4 is a twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with a hunky woodsman, and a bi-sexual wolf (Weylyn).
You’re all laughing about now, aren’t you? I know you guffawed when I described Hillary’s gossip columnist friend, right? Well, it is supposed to be funny. Book 3 will be amusing, but with a dark undertone, so that it balances out both of the first two books.
I know you recognized names too didn’t you? Yes, Hilly agreed to star in book 3, and Karl agreed to be sidekick. The characters aren’t really Hilly and Karl, just bits taken from their personalities to help fill in the gray areas of the story characters. Yes, Marty is our own Marty too. I keep thinking the hunky woodsman needs to be Gooster… it was his idea after all.
If I ever need a deity, I’m gonna have to make him Othurme. I just see him as a kind of Zeus, hanging out with Bacchus (Jester), lord of the biggest party in the universe. When I get into dragons, I’ll have to tap into some Vahid, and if I need a pixie female there’s always Cissa. And maybe Avitable as the spider and Miss Britt as Miss Muffet (didn’t they do that already in the car?)… Dave2 as an Indiana Jones type adventurer with a sidekick named Mean Monkey, who are constantly fighting off legions of asshats in airports around the world… TechBabe in a twisted version of Snow White that casts Whall as the Wicked Tech Wizard. And how about Hellohahanarf as the most sensuous Rapunzel ever? And Mr. Shiny as a handsome version of Rumplestiltskin… and as See All Evil, Hear All Evil, and Speak All Evil - the unlikely trio of Kapgar, Dawg, and Matt-Man. And last but not least, Jason X as the star of a male version of Cinderella that’s more porn than fairy tale and utilizes Always Home and Uncool’s Kevin as the evil stepfather aka video director.
Me likey. I’m bursting with ideas now and it’s all YOUR fault, so feel free to throw some outrageous fairy tale or legend at me on Twitter. You never know, I could be DM-ing you asking to make you the hero of the next twisted tale from the Darkworld.
Have a great weekend!
