Monday 23 June 2014

Meet My Main Character

+Grace Buchanan (Weaver Grace)  tagged me to continue a tradition of bloggers on the Meet My Main Character Blog Tours.  This tour asks the author of works-in-progress to answer questions about their main character and then tag another author to do the same.

Grace's character is a real historical figure, her grandmother's grandmother.  She lived in a fascinating part of American history, when the USA and the people coming to it, start to truly found a nation.  Funny thing is, history books are stuffed with rulers and power brokers, yet Nations are formed, changed and protected by the millions who never get a mention.  I'm a history nut so I'm biased and her character was interesting.

Here's my go at answering the same questions...

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Jeptha of Nonewharl, everyone calls him Jep.  He's a fictional character based on the many young men who did, and still do, go to sea in search of adventure.

2. When and where is the story set?

It's set in the early seventeenth century, at first on the fictional islands of Nonewharl, which are much like the Faroe Islands, set in the stormy North Atlantic Ocean.  Jep and his people are descendants of Nose settlers and shipwrecked 'strays'.  Then he ventures into the Atlantic and then the North Sea on his first, fateful voyage as a professional sailor.

3. What should we know about him/her?

He's a strong, tough lad from a hard land that breeds strong, tough folk.  He's a skilled sailor growing up in and around boats, mastering the harsh conditions of coastal sailing.  He tends to act without thinking and that, coupled with a strong sense of what's right, gets him into trouble.  Like all his people will look a King or an enemy straight in the eye and not bend before either.  That tends to get him into a lot of trouble.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

He joins the wrong ship.  At the equivalent of an apprentice fair he signs on with the crew of a galleon called Cornucopia.  Far from being full of good things, it is an evil ship, engaged in an evil trade.  His challenge is whether to set aside what he thinks is right and join wholeheartedly with the bad that they do or stand alone and confront them.  It comes to head when he is ordered to kill a helpless prisoner.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

He dreams of becoming a ship's master and sailing the world.  In the story, it boils down to simply surviving and not being drawn into doing evil.

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

I'm rubbish at titles.  Currently its call Voyage or Blood and Seawater, both I feel are rather lame.  The first three chapters are available at www.youwriteon.com.

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

The book is complete and I'm going through the usual, agonising agent/publisher rejection mill.  I wish I could give you a date of publication.  I'm examining other options, if I manage to get it out there in a sensible form, this blog will be the second place you'll hear about it.  First place, probably be the news as: 'Man jumps over own house in excitement at receiving an acceptance letter.'

The Tour Continues...

A bit of a twist on history:  Alternative history.  Graeme Shimmin has just published an action/spy story set in a different kind of Europe.  He takes a twist on the Meet My Main Character theme too.
 
Meet Graeme Shimmin's main character 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for such a nice intro, Roderick. I regret that I couldn't find your chapters at youwriteon.com. Please give us more direction. By the way, that website looks like a great opportunity. Best wishes with it!

    Thank you for continuing this blog tour :) I look forward to reading about the authors whom you recommend.

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    1. I think the youwriteon.com stuff can only be accessed if you join the site, sorry about that. Second apology: I'm still waiting on some authors to respond. I'll carry on the tour no matter what!

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