One of the hardest things about writing a story sometimes, is coming up with good believable characters. Everyone has their own quirks, stories, histories, and millions of little things in their background that inform who they are, and what they'll do in their life. You're essentially creating a whole person. It can be a little daunting. Oh sure, for some characters you can basically come up with the most basic of traits and let it go at that, but for the important characters you really need a balanced well rounded individual.
Er... balanced and well rounded in the sense of completeness of the character. Truth be told all the best characters in history are flawed in some very significant ways. It's those flaws that make a character interesting, and real.
So to get there we're going to borrow some advice given to one of my favorite writers, Jim Butcher, who had a teacher who told him to pick two characters that you really like, and blend them together. Sound advice. The character I'm going to create today is the Prodigal Son, the one slated to be the next Grand Master, or "Santa" (Latin pronunciation) by right and tradition, hand picked by the previous Grand Master to have the right qualities to lead the family the non-profit.
So for the first character I'll be choosing Aragorn, the rightful king of Minas Tirith. (The Movie version, just because I haven't read the books in a while) One of the qualities I love about him is his self doubt. I know that sounds a little strange, but it makes his journey so satisfying. He starts out reluctant to accept his fate, but finds his reason in saving his kingdom, but mostly his friends, and Frodo from a terrible fate. He's also very confident in the element that he's chosen for himself, and takes his duties very seriously, to the point that he is willing to give his life for those whom he is sworn to protect. The pain and loss he feels when feels that he has lost Merry and Pippin is palatable. That's the kind of selflessness I want in my character, and the kind of conflict over that selflessness and reluctance.
The second character is a bit more obscure, but fits in this situation. Carl Johnson, aka CJ from GTA San Andreas left home because he was trying to save himself from a life that might have killed him otherwise. His friends and family saw this as cowardice, but for CJ it meant giving up everything he had and starting over in an unfamiliar place far from home. But he did it, and make his way in the world for about 5 years before the unfortunate events that led to his return, the death of his mother. Everyone assumed, incorrectly, that he would just pay his respects then turn tail and head back to Liberty City. But he didn't. He stayed, and did his part for the family and for gang he was a part of. It's that tenacity and dedication to his family, but also his creativity and willingness to take things further and push the boundaries of possibility for his gang.
But of course my character isn't going to be a gangster. He's heir to one of the greatest secrets of Christmas.
So who is this guy? Well using this name generator I've come up with the name Isaak Georg Weber. I like the name Isaak, and it's different enough. But that's not really important. Isaak is the son of Miriam Klausenn, and Jaan Weber (pronouned like Yon). Jaan wasn't part of the Society prior to his relationship with Miriam, and while he was always willing to keep the secrets of the Society, he was always extremely frustrated with it. He felt that the Society could do far more good for the world if people knew about them. When Jaan died when Isaak was 17 Isaak blamed it on all the stress that keeping so many secrets but on him.
His father left him one third of his $450,000 life insurance policy, so when he turned 18, he was able to take that money and he moved to Seattle where he went to the Puget Sound Conservatory for Jazz Composition. His specialty was composition and direction. He created several large symphonies for Jazz Orchestra, and composed several songs for various groups, but mostly for the schools orchestra, and for the class that he started teaching in the subject after he graduated when he turned twenty five. He has kept in touch with his mother, and despite her status, his grandmother, who always understood his need to be apart from the rest of the Society, more than anyone else. She was worry for Jaan's loss, and agreed that keeping so many secrets must have been terrible for him, and though she maintained that his heart failure was inevitable due to a congenital defect, she never contradicted him when he disagreed.
However many of his cousins were very resentful at his leaving seeing it as a betrayal of the family, and a selfish act that he should ignore his duty to the family and the Society. Some of them had refused quite lucrative job offers when they left college, as many of them had graduated near the tops of their classes due in part to the extra tutoring that their family members could give them, not to mention firsthand experience. They had studied logistics, accounting, IT, business infrastructure, management, several different varieties of engineering, from Civil to Electrical to Mechanical to Industrial, and so on. In short all the skills needed to be part of a global industry, like the Santa Society.
And Isaak went and studied Jazz. They were a little resentful.
But Isaak didn't care. He came with his to Thanksgiving and Easter every year, skipped Christmas, the busiest time of the year for the family, and even managed to make it around for the occasional 4th of July or Labor Day. His grandmother played his CDs in the house, and in the hall they rented every year to house the Thanksgiving and Easter get-togethers and gift exchange. Because of their business they did gifts at Thanksgiving, and agreed that the gifts should not be bought, or traded, or anything like that. Isaak delighted every year in giving his grandmother and his mother his CDs, which he was producing nearly each year.
He was making a decent living with the music, but part of him didn't want anyone to know it was him, which is why his name was left scrupulously off the band name, and none of the songs were ever directly attributed to him, except on the copyright paperwork, of which he had read a LOT.
So that explains what he does, but what about who he is? How does he react in certain situations?
First off, when faced with a problem, he tends to think outside the box and tries to consider all the possibilities. If there is a simple answer, he uses that one, but if the answer is not so simple, he tends to be the first one to see the unconventional solution that others would deem absurd.
Next, he has a mouth that would get a nun into trouble. He cracks wise with the best of the best, and delights in the discomfort of others, when he feels they deserve it, and if it doesn't cause too much public embarrassment. (or sometimes even if it does)
He can't keep a girlfriend because of a relentless perfectionism of chaotic order. His house looks like a disorganized mess, but in fact it is MEANT to appear that way. So when the women he brings home inevitably try to clean up his place, and can't stand to be in such a filthy location, they go. He doesn't try to stop them, and often times he holds the door open.
He is calm and collected, level headed and stable on the surface, but bubbling just below the surface is the pen hurling, music stand flipping, shouting, tantrum machine the students call Mr Hyde, after the alter ego of the famous Dr Jekyll, and after what most of the front row are forced to do when the tirade begins. Mr Hyde will call students to the front of the class to play something, and you never EVER know whether its to show the class the right way, or the wrong way. If it's the wrong way, god help you, you might be standing in front of the class till you get it right. But he's never abusive, which is the secret. He seems to blame himself mostly, but loudly, and it tends to hold a mirror up to the students own failings, which in turn makes the students blame themselves, and want to live up to his expectations. And at the end of the year the orchestral performances are raucous, wild, and seem to be teetering on the brink of disaster, but they are always performed perfectly, because it's the composition that makes it sound so chaotic.
If he were older he would be considered irascible, but his youth just makes him seem passionate, feisty, irritable, but at the same time considerate, nurturing, good natured, and somehow likeable.
When the story opens he will have to return to the Society at the behest of his Grandmother, who is dying. She has chosen him to be her successor as Grand Master of the Society.
This will anger a lot of people of course. And many will believe that he has no interest in returning. In some ways they would be right. But what they don't know is that once his schooling was paid off, the rest of his inheritance had gone right back to the charity part of the society. He still received all the newsletters and read them diligently, and has always kept one eye on the goings on of the society mostly thanks to his Grandmother. He won't be happy about leaving his post, but he'll do it. And many people will see his grudging nature as a sign that he doesn't want to be there, but that's just his personality.
Well, that sounds like a good start.
I didn't have any of that until I typed it all out just now, made it up as I went along. So of course some things may not mesh perfectly, but this is just a start, not the final thing.
Tomorrow: I need to make up my D&D character for Sunday game. I might as well do that here, though it will depend greatly on how the world works for the game, and some of the details I come up with will need to change, but I think it will be a good exercise in character development and back-story.
As always comments and suggestions are welcome, here, on Facebook, or on Google+.
Thanks for reading!
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