It took some time but I finally found what I was after. My new character, to be only casually introduced in the first book and then become pivotal in the second book is to be an Eclectic Witch.
What is an eclectic witch? I'm glad you asked.
One definition (from OzWicca) has it as: A person (or the practise of a person) who combines attributes from various cultures or Pantheons to create a unique spiritual blend of paganism or witchcraft that suits them best.
My young lady won't be combining attributes from various Pantheons as she isn't a believer in Gods and Goddess as such (very Pictish of her), but she will be combining the heck out various cultures and practises.
Many of you may be asking why the big fuss over nailing this little detail down?
I want to write a series of stories which will resonate with young adults. To accomplish that it must have elements based in reality. I am combining physics, love, adventure, magic, danger, death and a whole bunch of other things that anyone can face, and have to deal with, on any given day - only in a much more concentrated fashion. And it has to be done with three dimensional characters readers can grow to love (or hate). And to create 3D characters, we need to know them in much more detail than we may necessarily reveal on the page.
Sorting out the fundamental belief system of this soon to be major character is a big step forward.
I can now move onto removing the placeholder character currently used in the story and start weaving this new one into poor young Nathan's destiny - or at least I will be able to start as soon as I figure out her name!
The Time Machine Australia Bound
2 weeks ago
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI know I owe you an email - I'm just taking some time today to do personal stuff. :) But...eclectic pretty much covers what we do... clothes on. ;)
I don't know how much help it'd be, but my other website (hasn't been updated in ages) is
sacredtriskele.net. There's stuff there, somewhere.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this character! Or more to the point, what she does with you.. hehe.
Sounds interesting! An eclectic witch - sounds dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fascinating character. Now you get the fun of writing an eclectic witch (sounds like she could do anything!).
ReplyDeleteYou're not off the hook yet, Jodi. I still want to pick your brain over this. I'll check out your other site - thanks for the pointer.
ReplyDeleteJeremy - dangerous in all the wrong ways for a young boy...
KC - she's still a work-in-progress so only time will tell but I am having fun with her - in my mind, kind of - I think I'll stop now because nothing sounds right!