NOTES FROM AN AUTHOR | PAUL MAGNUSON
What’s Next…Ventriloquism?!?!? No!!!
Ok, not ventriloquism. But character development. Not all that different from ventriloquism in ways.
I’m working on a 2nd book. I actually have a trilogy in mind when it’s all said and done. I plan on calling the 2nd book “Mother Marq - A Work of Social Science-Fiction”. Might take another year or two before it’s available.
The aspect I’m enjoying now is formulating characters. Some of the best book reviews I’ve seen highlight an author’s ability to develop characters while laying out a believable plot while also adding a mixture of twists we didn’t see coming, and somehow leaving us satisfied.
Tall order, I know. But that’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in my series.
So, how do I develop a character to say things that I might not say myself in real life? (See, there’s the ventriloquist reference.) I guess I’ll have to rely on my imagination. For the 2nd book I’m imagining a social outcast who meets up with the main characters from Book 1. Why is he an outcast? Well, he finds a way to offend nearly everyone eventually. Not all at once. But eventually. For example, he’ll say stuff like “marriage is hard…but it’s harder when women don’t have the right to vote.” Not offensive to everyone. Probably not offensive to many. But offensive to some. He’s not left leaning or right leaning. Not a centrist really either. Just very blunt. Over time he gets around to offending just about everyone to the point he’s an outcast. Loveable? No. Hateable? Good question. But my task is to make this otherwise unlikeable character a part of the team somehow. Yes, that’s a challenge. But that’s part of what I’m trying to do with Book 2. And he’s not even the main character. But he plays a part. And I want that part to fit, not be forced.
I hope to tread on other topics to expand our imagination, sometimes using fairly current talking points. Remember the bear or man encounter in the woods question posed to women? And the outrage when some women expressed their preference to encounter a bear instead of a man? Well, what if that situation was addressed from a Lakota woman’s point of view? Can you imagine her answer if she was asked to choose between encountering a bear or a white man in the wilderness?
I’m going to cover that kind of topic and many others in my 2nd book of the series. That’s part of why I’m subtitling it “A Work of Social Science-Fiction”. Wish me luck.
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