So, I thought I’d give y'all an insight into how my brain works (or doesn’t sometimes)... and take you through how I typically create a character. Mainly because I thought it’d be a bit of fun, and I know how I create characters is wildly different to how others might.
Normally I have some sort of idea of what I want the character to be like, and the story I’m shoving them into before I sit down at a keyboard (or with some paper) to write. Today, well, I have no clue, my muse and health went on holiday and left me with two words ‘Space Pirate’. Let’s have some fun.
So knowing that my main character is a space pirate - and, as most of my main characters are female, I have a nice starting point. The next natural point is to search for her name right? Every writing advice thing I’ve read has told me to pick a name that means something. I’ve named a water sprite Assana - waterfall, a Queen Regina - Regal, a conquer Victoria - Victorious. You get the point, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel right, who names their child for what they will accomplish by the end of their lives? (Unless you're a fortune teller, no one). Parents pick a name that sounds nice, that goes well with the other kids, that they think is pretty. So, sometimes I do that, for example, Tierre, Vaile, and Iris, they were named by their uncle - who wanted very little to do with the triplets who were abandoned. He jokingly called them ‘Terror, Evil, and Distress’ which their toddler selves twisted. I named my first ever character Rose because I liked the name (so much that I kept it long after the story was abandoned).
But I don’t have a name for my Space Pirate just yet, how can I? What do we know about this mystery character? Well, she’s a pirate, right? So how does one become a pirate? She could have been born into it, sold into it. A runaway turned stowaway turned captive, the choices are endless really. I kinda like the rags to riches type tale, most people do, it’s a popular story type.
So, then, why was she in this position? What made this seem like her only option? This is where I break away from the normal way to make a character and have some fun. (Note, cuz she still doesn’t have a name, Imma just call her Main Character, or MC because I’m lazy).
Life was no fun, _MC_ decided, holding the tin can she’d stolen from a bin towards the thousands of strangers that rushed by, watching them ignore her as they raced to get out of the acidic rain that burned their flesh. Why the colony had decided to make it rain acid, only the gods knew, she’d heard rumours that it was to punish those who’d tried to rebel. _MC_ didn’t know, she didn’t really care, all she knew was, for once, what hurt those around her didn’t hurt her.
Where the acidic rain injured those that huddled in the safety of rapidly closing buildings and steadily melting covers, drawing screams from those unfortunate enough to be trapped in it. Not _MC_ though, the acid just seemed to roll off of her body, dancing along her skin that left colourful lines behind it.
Desi would be furious, he preferred his subjects to remain hidden in the shadows, especially if she ever intended to move up the ranks from beggar to pickpocket. Those kids were treated better, got first pick of food, and, most importantly, respect. The others would spare her no kindness if they knew what was happening to her now, she’d be called a freak, beaten and abandoned from the only home she’d ever known. There was no question in it, _MC_ would have to flee the planet, start anew elsewhere. It wouldn’t be the first time.
As you can tell, I like to take a step back and let the characters talk. (Also because, if I don’t the characters take over and change all my careful planning anyway). Now I know more about our, as yet, unnamed space pirate. MC clearly isn’t human, I don’t know what she is, but she doesn’t get burnt by acid rain, those around her do, so she isn’t on her home planet, and she runs away in fear of what this mysterious Desi will do if he finds out she isn’t normal.
Normally I write Characters that are close in age to myself, so I would assume that my MC has been a space pirate for a while if the ship she got on was then raided by pirates and she was kept as one of them. Or I could go a totally different way... which I think I just might.
_MC_ sighed, staring at the stars that sailed by through the window of the spaceship, dancing across the distant sky as the multicoloured patterns did across her skin.
“_MC_,” she turns as her name is spoken, raising an eyebrow at the man who had adopted her years ago. “Something troubles you.” He set aside the journal he was writing in to give her his full attention.
“Aye, the planet you seek, it is one I am familiar with, one I wish we were not returning to.” She twisted her hands in her lap, looking back towards the solar systems. “Surely there are places you are needed more than here.”
“Your mother gives the orders _MC_ you and I both know better than to disagree.” He set aside the journal, standing and stretching, “and if you run into any trouble you can claim you are protected by the international allegiance.”
“That would matter little to those I owe a debt father, or do you forget the circumstances in which you found me?”
“I will never forget the day I found you, Carina.”
Okay, so I just decided on the name... oops. I was writing and realised that I wanted her name to mean star. So a quick google, open a web page, pick the one’s I like the sound of, Aurora and Carina, and decided that I liked Carina more. I am, however, very tempted not to make it her birth name. As in, when she was adopted by this family, they gave her a new name, and due to her fascination with stars, they picked that one.
Carina does actually mean ‘dear’ or ‘beloved’, and it is Latin in origin (upon further research, it can also mean keel of a ship). It also has the second brightest star in its constellation and is part of a bigger constellation that resembles a ship.
All things appropriate for my soon to be Space Pirate.
Now, I also have a rough starting point. I’m going to have the ship Carina’s on boarded by space pirates. I’m thinking I want a bounty on her head and Desi as the ‘big bad’.
So in summary:
Carina:
Carina was orphaned by her parents, and spent her life as a stowaway, travelling from planet to planet until she found a home with Desi, and his band of beggars and thieves. Upon discovering that she was resistant to acid rain and that it reacted with her skin, she abandoned the group. She was uncovered as she tried to stowaway again, and instead of being killed or punished, she was adopted by the man in charge, and an agent of the International allegiance.
Under his hand, she grew into a mature and intelligent young woman, who never forgot her roots until she and her father were attacked by a band of Space Pirates.
I like to write little segments of story, and learn about the characters through that, and quite often I’ll write a few of them before I start writing the story - other times I dive right in and learn about the characters as the story unfolds.
A method I prefer over filling out pages of ‘character bio’ sheets, and thankfully, none of these need ever see the light of day.
I suppose, all that's left now, is to take her out for a little spin. ;)
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