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The Best Fictional Characters Seem Utterly Real to Me
That is why the characters that writers create matter.
In 1998, I was sitting at my desk at work. And I was bored.
At the time, I was the sales manager for an itty-bitty audiophile record label. Though I was good at my job, it came with long periods where I had nothing to do.
A vision popped into my head. There he was — a man in a robe, with a staff — the stereotypical sorcerer. And a company of armed men was hell-bent on riding him down.
He raised his staff, cast his spell, released his power — and rolled the ground like ocean waves under his pursuers — throwing them like dandelion spores into the wind. But it was too much power — and the sorcerer collapses and passes out.
Thus began the first draft of — book one of the Source Chronicles. From there, I had a powerful character who had lost his power choosing to live rather than die — and seeking to restore what he was.
Oh, and in the process fulfill the prophecy that is his destiny.
This scene now only appears in part and as a flashback in the finished novel. But it began with a character that, to my mind, is just as alive as you and I.
