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@karthmin

Haha, Sarah-Narnathron and I aren’t related, but I can see why you thought so. You should see my siblings–there’s six of us, and all our names start with S. It’s confusing for everyone, including our parents. XD

Shadow is possibly my favorite “villain” I’ve ever written. He’s kind of like a rival/anti-hero character that would normally be on the “good” side taken and shoved on the “bad” side, so it creates some interesting dynamics. 😉 As for his inspiration…. honestly, I just write what I like. I needed a way to tie my main character to the villain in some way, as the main villain is more of a looming shadow than an active player during the first two novels, unless it comes to strategy. I also adore sibling dynamics in literature, especially when one is good and one is bad.

So Shadow was born. Originally, he and my MC, Kirin, were actually going to be twins. But I thought that was to cliche for me to pull off well in a novel like this, so I changed it to having him be the twin brother of my only female MC of the novel–Vyrn. She was going to be a princess anyhow, so tying her to a noble line felt more realistic than having to come up with a whole other backstory that once it was made didn’t really relate to the story as a whole or the other character’s stories very much.

To be honest, most of my writing/developing is done by instinct or random epiphanies. These discussions have also helped my development a lot, since they’re forced me to confront problems in my WIPs that I had been avoiding dealing with until now. Like Vyrn’s origin/motivations. I had been struggling with trying to develop her into a strong, realistic character without making her unrelatable or cliche. But now thanks to multiple discussions, she’s getting there.

When I create characters, they tend to first be created due to a need for character in the story. Sure, my ex-assassin character may have just been “that one really cool character” at one point, but now due to the story’s need for conflict, relationships, theme, and even a little romance have made him a central part that cannot be replaced. If I pulled him out, it would topple the entire story on it’s head.

I guess that’s the point I’m trying to get too–when I write characters, I write them for a purpose. The way they come together is slap-dash and messy, but once they make it past that stage and actually develop, they are central to the story. And Shadow’s internal vs external development is like that. A lot of my story-telling is done by instinct, but I had a specific reason for making him the way he is–I wanted a character that was good, but bad, but not bad in the typical anti-hero sense. Shadow is an honestly good person. I wanted a character that was like my main character, but on the wrong side. Who had had similar circumstances, but hadn’t taken the “narrow path” if you can call it that.

A foil, or a mirror image of my main character, with similar circumstances, goals, and motivations–but on the wrong side. So that’s mostly where Shadow’s internal and external needs came from. I wanted to show how a person who was considered a good person could turn to the wrong side with the right prodding, and in turn make my MC’s path more high stakes because the readers then see how easy it would be for the MC to in turn change sides.

As for when that happens in the story–I like to develop my characters mostly before I start writing. I want their motivations and parts in the story defined at least before I start writing. I love to focus on character dynamics in stories, so that’s another thing that plays into part. Also. Parents. I was sick of there always being that one character that was trying to be good but had a bad past or something. I wanted a character that was good natured, but was a “bad” guy. I wanted a villain who wasn’t trying to redeem himself–who was using his power to do good things, but still didn’t really want to be “good”. And then, I wanted to redeem him. Because I love complex character arcs, so of course I had to write a complex one. XD