I’ve been thinking a lot about William’s character lately. In a romance novel, men have a role to fill, especially if you are writing a paranormal novel. They have to be a little bit larger than life. Joe the plumber, unless he is 6′ tall and has a secret life as a super-hero, need not apply. No offense to Joe, of course. He might be the perfect guy in his own novel. He just doesn’t belong in this one.
One of the biggest obstacles with Will was finding him a job. He needs to have a steady source of income. At the same time, I couldn’t put him in a career that would take up most of his time; he needs to have time for falling in love. I considered a few different ideas. Own his own business? Work part-time for the fire department? He needed something that complimented his talents. His well paid side-job with the police department fit perfectly.
Which led to another problem I’ve been having with him. I’m still not entirely certain what his “unique talents” include. I wanted someone who could fit into normal society without drawing attention. I need there to be the possibilities of late date nights, without the risk of him turning into a mythical creature. Whatever I came up with, it needed to have an aspect of manliness to it. Oh, and he needed to be able to accidentally bring Suzy from her world into his.
That narrows it down a bit. What I ended up with is a man with much higher brain function than the rest of the residents of his world. I’m still exploring what he can, and cannot, do. I think he’s still trying to figure it out, too, as evidenced by what happened with Suzy. He doesn’t really know what his powers are yet. I think that there’s a lot more than what meets the eye with this character.
One of the big parts of Will’s character is his backstory. I’m not going into details (you’ll just have to keep reading), but there are definitely a few parts that I’m going to have a lot of difficulty writing. But each little event has added up to the man he is now. If I try to rewrite his story, it wouldn’t work out right. More than most any other character I’ve ever worked with, he showed up on my doorstep with almost all of the details in place. There have been a few details he’s been hesitant to share, but I think those are the same things he’d be hesitant to share with anyone. He’s a very private man.
It’s disconcerting to be writing about a man I don’t know everything about. But it’s also fun. It’s like getting a gift that I just get to keep opening.
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