I haven't had a guest blog here for a while, and it's a genuine delight to have Mia Darien swooping in for the day, and blogging about the origin of Nykk Marlowe. It's a pretty fascinating development process.
Take it away, Mia!
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I then brought her to an original world that I created, a game I ran. She was a unicorn rider, traumatized by the demons of the world. I worked her into a major plot line, but she was still difficult to write. That version ended up dying.
See, she has a fascinating history (to me, at least) but to write her too close to the trauma I inflicted on her was hard. She was traumatized, and withdrawn. In a role-playing environment, you write back and forth with other people. She didn't do well socially.
Take it away, Mia!
************************************************************
The RPG History of Nykk
Marlowe
The road that
any character takes, from being a vague concept in their writer's mind to the
three-dimensional creation you read on the page, is a long and winding thing.
Some are a little longer and more winding than others. Many of my characters,
for example.
Anyone who
knows me, or has read certain interviews I've given, knows that I have a long
history of role-play games. (I never did table top, but play-by-email and
play-by-forum/collaborative writing style games.) It started with something
called Minidragon Isle about fifteen years ago, then moved into McCaffrey's
world of Pern, before landing in Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time and also
Star Trek.
I've since then
written in fandoms and original creation worlds, and many of the characters
that started in novels ended up in my role-play and many that started in
role-play ended up in my novels.
Nykk is one of
the latter, but it took longer with her than most.
In 'Written All
Over Her,' there are about five segments called the Prelude, Interludes, and
Postlude. These stand out because they are written in Second Person and we
"see" Nykk as a teenager. The reason I included these segments was
because it was the character biography (tweaked for the book) written at the
first RPG I applied to write Nykk as a character at.
Inspired, a
little, by Chelsea Cain's "Heartsick," I created Nykk and she started
at my game set in The Wheel of Time. Her name was Nykkolaia Zeran, and for
those who know the series, she was a Novice aspiring to the Blue Ajah. (The
Ajah of Justice, which lets you see how her ending up a cop was no surprise.)
However, when I started the character, I wrote her as a fourteen year old, and
newly freed from her traumatic past. She was difficult to write with other
people.
 |
| An early version of Nykk |
I then brought her to an original world that I created, a game I ran. She was a unicorn rider, traumatized by the demons of the world. I worked her into a major plot line, but she was still difficult to write. That version ended up dying.
See, she has a fascinating history (to me, at least) but to write her too close to the trauma I inflicted on her was hard. She was traumatized, and withdrawn. In a role-playing environment, you write back and forth with other people. She didn't do well socially.
Despite this, I
couldn't let her go. She then went into the World of Warcraft, as a mage who
preferred using ice, because she had an aversion to fire. This time she was
older, still a little withdrawn (think Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) but
better than before. She took on some slightly...twisted tendencies, modeling
herself a little after what had happened to her, but I had to stop playing the
game for a while and thus had to stop writing her there.
 |
| Another early Nykk. |
What, oh, what
was I to do with Nykk? I liked her very much as a character, and thought she
was a fascinating character study, but after three venues, where could I put
her next?
Adelheid!
A lot of
characters have ended up here, and it is a place of strange beings, yes? It
took a little work to take her from a high fantasy setting and put her into a
paranormal world, as well as build a mystery on her history, but it ended up
working a lot better. Not that she's been any easier to write, of course, but
it just seemed to work so much better. Plus, writing her as a thirty-something
established adult helped immensely, and the solo-writing novel avenue avoided
that social part. All this just seemed more suiting for her.
Now I can't
think of her being anywhere else!
* * *
Author Bio: Mia Darien is
an indie author of speculative fiction, and a New England Yankee transplanted
into Alabama clay. No matter her geography, she continues to stubbornly and
rebelliously live the life of her choosing along with her family and pets. She
doesn’t miss the snow.
Author Site:
http://www.miadarien.com
"Written
All Over Her"
...on Amazon:
http://amzn.com/B00D0STF28
...on Barnes
& Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/written-all-over-her-mia-darien/1115426539?ean=2940016443461
...on
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318808
...on
CreateSpace (Print): https://www.createspace.com/4290137
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