Characters, the gods
November 24th 2006 09:34
Am I sane or not? To tell the truth I don’t know. After all what sane person would undertake not one, but five novels. Six if we count the sci-fi as well.
It started when I was in a class called Myths and Symbols. Virtually on the first day, we were set the task of creating a world and twelve Gods. Yes, an even dozen of the little buggers. Sometimes I wish they would leave me alone. It’s, nag, nag, nag. This one complains about her wardrobe, another wants top billing and they all want to be the hero in every story.
Well I’ve got news for the bastards. Some of them won’t even appear in any of the stories and if they join the union there won’t be any stories at all.
Oh well, enough bitching about the hired help. Why develop a character if they aren’t going to appear in a story? Beats me. All I know is that there are twelve gods in this series of novels. Why? Why not? It’s just the way it started, a world and twelve gods.
Another way to look at it is this; I have a world. It has people, people are by their nature insecure, so they create gods so they can. . . well, you know, say things like, “it’s the will of God”, when they stuff up or want to tell others what to do. You know, just being human.
Let’s look at the development of a god. The god is “Mal the God of Bad Luck”. Where would such a god come from. Here is a sneak preview of the god Mal’s beginning.
From “The Last Fork Inn”
‘What’s my dad doing?’ asked Thomo.
‘Watching those other trucks that were behind us,’ Ian said.
‘Well, I was but it looks as though they have made camp for the night,’ Thomo’s father said as he stepped into the light of the fire. ‘Let’s eat. You got any idea, Ian, who might be in those trucks down the valley?’
‘The only one I can think it might be is Malcolm McDonald and his Kids. But he only has the one truck. The others could be anybody.’
‘Oh shit. It would almost have to be, wouldn’t it. Bloody Mal, “the god of bad luck”, McDonald. Well, whoever it is we get an early start. If there’s going to be any trouble I would like to be in a stronger position than here. Thomo, I want you to take the first watch on the valley. Just in case. Wake me at midnight.’
It’s from such humble beginnings that mighty Gods grow. From a nick name to a god in six generations. Not bad work if you can get it. Is it really important to develop characters to such an extent? Yes and no. All the characters that appear in your story should have some degree of back ground. That back ground should be consistent with your story line and plot.
So which came first, the god or the nick name? Well in this instance the god was the beginning that lead to the character of “Bloody Mal, “the god of bad luck”, McDonald”. If I didn’t already have the gods for my world poor old McDonald might have ended up as a complete non-event.
If you have a character that appears just once, say the “Door Man” at a hotel, and is never seen again, then yeah, you don’t need to worry about his back ground. But, if your hero always stays at the hotel when he is in town, then the door man may need some back ground, is he gruff or surly? On first name basis with the hero? Is he always prim and proper? He might only be seen two or three times, but if he shares any sort of a back story with the hero then he needs some history.
Why? After all he is just a bit player when all is said and done. But then all of a sudden your first novel makes a good showing, a second novel sounds like a good idea, your publisher has even offered an advance for it. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could remember all of your characters foibles with out having to thumb through your first book while you’re trying to write the second.
Here are the gods of my world, as described by Don Mal;
‘It is thus’, he said, ‘In the beginning the world was void and the great God Mal looked upon it and was pleased.
The great God Mal caused there to form in the heavens a holy ball of fire with which to smite the earth with the hammer of creation.
With one mighty blow was created the mountains and the valley.
Yea even the water and the land where we live. Such is the power of Mal.’ ‘Oh Master, what happened then?’ Asked the chosen boy.
‘Well my son, when the other Gods saw what perfection Mal had wrought upon the earth they were mightily impressed. But the God Judas Goat became jealous and sent warriors to despoil the land. Mal sent warriors of his own to protect the land. Mals warriors were defeated at aL saud Bakahn beach and forced to hide in the northern mountains and today are known as the Lost Tribe. When the other Gods saw the destruction that was wrought upon the land by the battle they were saddened. And so it was that they each gave of themselves to heal the land.
The God Ziff gave to us the wisdom to live with care upon the earth.
Zenor, the God of Souls, gave us the gate to the overworld to ease our passage in death.
Syble, the Goddess of Children, gives us childhood that we may learn to love our elders.
The Goddess of Sandals, the omniscient Shole, gave us sensible foot ware that we may walk without fear.
Rupert, the God of fertility, gave us the Phallic Mushroom to insure the future of our people.
The Goddess of Fish, the bountiful Piscus, filled the sea that we would not starve.
Peonie, our beloved Goddess of Grain, gave us the Holy Rye Bread that we may talk with the Gods. Not to forget the spirit whisky to keep us warm during winter.
The Goddess Nanny gave to us the skill of flint that we may prepare the salt fish for the time of storms when we cannot fish.
Judas Goat, though he be bad of heart, gave us the strangler vine which binds our boats.
The great Chuck, God of Lost Love and Missed Opportunities, looks over those that make bad decisions.
The God of Mountains, the mighty Bob, protects us from the winds of the Great Waste.
And the greatest of all. The mighty and just Mal, the God of Bad Luck, may he leave us alone, who created our world for us.
These are the gods of my world. Having given them life and a world, they and myself are chained together. Five novels form the links of that chain, my only hope of freedom is in writing those novels. The only option is to fail and live in eternity with twelve of the worst neighbours you could ever imagine.
P.S. The quality of these gods is not guaranteed the size and specifications may change do to circumstances beyond the control of the manufacturer.
It started when I was in a class called Myths and Symbols. Virtually on the first day, we were set the task of creating a world and twelve Gods. Yes, an even dozen of the little buggers. Sometimes I wish they would leave me alone. It’s, nag, nag, nag. This one complains about her wardrobe, another wants top billing and they all want to be the hero in every story.
Well I’ve got news for the bastards. Some of them won’t even appear in any of the stories and if they join the union there won’t be any stories at all.
Oh well, enough bitching about the hired help. Why develop a character if they aren’t going to appear in a story? Beats me. All I know is that there are twelve gods in this series of novels. Why? Why not? It’s just the way it started, a world and twelve gods.
Another way to look at it is this; I have a world. It has people, people are by their nature insecure, so they create gods so they can. . . well, you know, say things like, “it’s the will of God”, when they stuff up or want to tell others what to do. You know, just being human.
Let’s look at the development of a god. The god is “Mal the God of Bad Luck”. Where would such a god come from. Here is a sneak preview of the god Mal’s beginning.
From “The Last Fork Inn”
‘What’s my dad doing?’ asked Thomo.
‘Watching those other trucks that were behind us,’ Ian said.
‘Well, I was but it looks as though they have made camp for the night,’ Thomo’s father said as he stepped into the light of the fire. ‘Let’s eat. You got any idea, Ian, who might be in those trucks down the valley?’
‘The only one I can think it might be is Malcolm McDonald and his Kids. But he only has the one truck. The others could be anybody.’
‘Oh shit. It would almost have to be, wouldn’t it. Bloody Mal, “the god of bad luck”, McDonald. Well, whoever it is we get an early start. If there’s going to be any trouble I would like to be in a stronger position than here. Thomo, I want you to take the first watch on the valley. Just in case. Wake me at midnight.’
It’s from such humble beginnings that mighty Gods grow. From a nick name to a god in six generations. Not bad work if you can get it. Is it really important to develop characters to such an extent? Yes and no. All the characters that appear in your story should have some degree of back ground. That back ground should be consistent with your story line and plot.
So which came first, the god or the nick name? Well in this instance the god was the beginning that lead to the character of “Bloody Mal, “the god of bad luck”, McDonald”. If I didn’t already have the gods for my world poor old McDonald might have ended up as a complete non-event.
If you have a character that appears just once, say the “Door Man” at a hotel, and is never seen again, then yeah, you don’t need to worry about his back ground. But, if your hero always stays at the hotel when he is in town, then the door man may need some back ground, is he gruff or surly? On first name basis with the hero? Is he always prim and proper? He might only be seen two or three times, but if he shares any sort of a back story with the hero then he needs some history.
Why? After all he is just a bit player when all is said and done. But then all of a sudden your first novel makes a good showing, a second novel sounds like a good idea, your publisher has even offered an advance for it. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could remember all of your characters foibles with out having to thumb through your first book while you’re trying to write the second.
Here are the gods of my world, as described by Don Mal;
‘It is thus’, he said, ‘In the beginning the world was void and the great God Mal looked upon it and was pleased.
The great God Mal caused there to form in the heavens a holy ball of fire with which to smite the earth with the hammer of creation.
With one mighty blow was created the mountains and the valley.
Yea even the water and the land where we live. Such is the power of Mal.’ ‘Oh Master, what happened then?’ Asked the chosen boy.
‘Well my son, when the other Gods saw what perfection Mal had wrought upon the earth they were mightily impressed. But the God Judas Goat became jealous and sent warriors to despoil the land. Mal sent warriors of his own to protect the land. Mals warriors were defeated at aL saud Bakahn beach and forced to hide in the northern mountains and today are known as the Lost Tribe. When the other Gods saw the destruction that was wrought upon the land by the battle they were saddened. And so it was that they each gave of themselves to heal the land.
The God Ziff gave to us the wisdom to live with care upon the earth.
Zenor, the God of Souls, gave us the gate to the overworld to ease our passage in death.
Syble, the Goddess of Children, gives us childhood that we may learn to love our elders.
The Goddess of Sandals, the omniscient Shole, gave us sensible foot ware that we may walk without fear.
Rupert, the God of fertility, gave us the Phallic Mushroom to insure the future of our people.
The Goddess of Fish, the bountiful Piscus, filled the sea that we would not starve.
Peonie, our beloved Goddess of Grain, gave us the Holy Rye Bread that we may talk with the Gods. Not to forget the spirit whisky to keep us warm during winter.
The Goddess Nanny gave to us the skill of flint that we may prepare the salt fish for the time of storms when we cannot fish.
Judas Goat, though he be bad of heart, gave us the strangler vine which binds our boats.
The great Chuck, God of Lost Love and Missed Opportunities, looks over those that make bad decisions.
The God of Mountains, the mighty Bob, protects us from the winds of the Great Waste.
And the greatest of all. The mighty and just Mal, the God of Bad Luck, may he leave us alone, who created our world for us.
These are the gods of my world. Having given them life and a world, they and myself are chained together. Five novels form the links of that chain, my only hope of freedom is in writing those novels. The only option is to fail and live in eternity with twelve of the worst neighbours you could ever imagine.
P.S. The quality of these gods is not guaranteed the size and specifications may change do to circumstances beyond the control of the manufacturer.
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Comment by K.L. Almeroth
Motherhood
Hi Mad Editor,
Finally got round to visiting!
In my defence though, I had absolutely no idea that you wrote on Orble...I just thought I had a fan out there!
Just one!
Really liked this post....am about to go check out your others...
Your writing pal,
K.L.
Comment by ChrisM
Comment by Bullamakanka
Hughie's Ziff
Bagman's Gazette
Well, the way I go about it is that the gods are made by people to explain the unexplainable.
When it doesn't rain people invent a rain god so they have someone to blame, and someone to ask for help.
In the case of Mal the God of Bad Luck. it's his fault if I hit my thumb with a hammer, and has nothing to do with my eyes straying to the shapely bottom of a passing woman.
In my series of books the gods take on more negitive aspects. This is due to the first god being fashioned on a person in the first story, 'Bloody Mal, “the god of bad luck”, McDonald,' who always blamed bad luck for everything caused by his own ineptitude.
I have often thought that the seven deadly sins could be made into some quite good gods.
Thank you for reading my humble post and your excellent comment.
George