Character Profiling: Each Endless Universe

Back for another round of character dissection/summarization/profilimication!  This world takes on more of a modern sci-fi aesthetic, a world of busy young adults looking to make their own way through a world no longer in need of heroes. This one focuses on the scattered remnants of a culture with an ancient secret and the struggle to assimilate.

I mentioned in the last profile post that this one is a bit trickier to present, so I'm going to stick to the base characters in the first book of the trilogy. It might be a little vague in places to preserve my goal of not spoiling anything.

COLE

Hair: Black

Eyes: Spring Green

Short Intro: Scouted by a family friend for his intelligence, Cole works as an engineer for Merschenez Castle, a governmental building that boasts the latest in technology and a center for progress. His long work days are often interceded with his usual lunch buddies- boss and ex-gf Rhysa and the often traveling Zephyr. Another family friend cuts into his usual routine and sends him on a mission that takes him away from the conflicted feelings he has about Rhysa announcing her engagement to a lawyer.

RHYSA

Hair: Fiery Red

Eyes: Blue

Short Intro: Despite her Bryfolk blood, Rhysa's only inherited Bryfolk feature is a tail. Chief engineer at Merschenez Castle, she is the polar opposite of her twin sister Anisa; responsible, uptight, and a workaholic. Not to be put-off by Cole's odd reaction to her engagement, she goes on a vacation with her fiance, a big step considering her vow to keep the relationship platonic until marriage.

ZEPHYR

Hair: White and black

Eyes: Grey and yellow

Short Intro: Despite the jokes about his split coloring (a rare form of chimaerism) hiding a dual nature, Zephyr endeavors to keep up a mellow and level demeanor and maintain professionalism. Sent away to Wheryf on a routine work trip, he is given the great opportunity to assist in the rewiring of a corporation looking to update their security. After bumping into a woman several times, he suspects he is being watched.

HARLOK

Hair: White

Eyes: Silver

Short Intro: Arctic Kitfolk and older brother of Merik. Bartender and openly gay, he is also Cole's best friend. When the family friend calls Cole on a mission, he is asked to go as well and it's clear that it's not just his bartender skills called to task. Harlok's day job might be bartending, but he's moonlighting under a very different life.

ASH

Hair: Maple Brown

Eyes: Violet

Short Intro: A bit of a loner and astrophysicist, twin brother to Alder. Unlike their twin sisters, they did inherit more of the Bryfolk features from their father. He seems to have a crush on Kerys, but never seems all that sure of what he wants. As a kid, he was the more outgoing twin, but it is his brother that took on a more social career. Nevertheless, his skills are called to use when a family friend enlists him to go with others on a mission.

KERYS

Hair: White

Eyes: Yellow

Short Intro: Sigh. Kerys... Anthropology student and psychopathic pain in the ass. If there is any possible way to attract trouble, she seems likely to find it. Also asked to go on the mission, the family friend is hesitant to rely on her due to that unpredictable nature. It's literally in her blood to be a target for a much bigger problem. Sister of Zephyr, Lyric, and Shiori.

LYRIC

Hair: Chestnut

Eyes: Smokey Grey

Short Intro: Often called the spitting image of her grandmother, it didn't come as a surprise that she  decided to go into law enforcement. Unaware of what her siblings are up to most of the time, she is enlisted on a murder case that puts her in the direct path of dangerous cult activities. The only one of her childhood friends she still runs into is Alder, who asks her to check in on his grandparents from time to time. When he turns out to be a consultant on the case she is working on, it leads to a blast from the past.

ALDER

Hair: Maple Brown

Eyes: Violet

Short Intro: Small-town doctor with his own practice, he prefers a simple life. Concerned about one of the leads Lyric has on the case he is consulted on, he insists on looking after her in concern for her obsession leading to neglecting her health.

SHIORI

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue

Short Intro: The youngest of her siblings, she appears to be a studious girl but has an underlying wild streak just as her siblings do. Despite going to different schools and having very little interest in each other growing up, she shows up at Reyn's school, enticing him with the information that she learned about a place where his uncles' bodies may hold answers to a greater mystery but she needs his help to sneak back in.

REYN

Hair: White and black

Eyes: Red

Short Intro: Usually a quiet, uptight nerdy sort, he allows Shiori to convince him to go on a search for his family history. What should be a piece of his past actually becomes a larger mystery in hers, but this discovery is not only kept secret between them, but he endures her presence to explore the mystery deeper. It involves his own fascination with geology after all. Being the only one of his siblings without a twin (he's the youngest sibling of Ash, Alder, Anisa, and Rhysa), he is content to avoid confronting the lifelong feeling of isolation caused by it.

ANISA

Hair: Fiery Red

Eyes: Blue

Short Intro: Anisa, the hot-tempered impulsive twin sister of Rhysa, is making haste to leave her job, calling frantically on her friend Merik to confess she is in hot water. She works as a make-up artist and scars the face of a notorious model when he harasses her and she slaps him wearing her wedding ring. She is a widow and Merik was her husband's best friend. Merik lets her stay in one of his condos and gives her cash to stay out of the radar while he looks into how to bail her out.

MERIK

Hair: Red and white

Eyes: Blue

Short Intro: Usually content to jump from his job at a casino to whatever odd jobs catch his interest, Merik manages to amass a fortune with his string of good luck and opportunistic ways. Aside from his attempts to help Anisa, he is also contacted by Lyric about the trouble her sister Shiori has gotten herself into. This leads him to take on the job as a teacher in Shiori's school, a decision that absolutely no one is thrilled with but can't deny there aren't better options either.

AISEN

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue violet

Short Intro: Also a friend of Merik's, he wakes up in bed with Anisa, neither of them particularly happy that Merik neglected to mention he'd set them up in the same condo. Despite his work as a casino bouncer, he originally went to school and practiced as a lawyer so Merik encourages him to take on Anisa's case despite their unsatisfactory introduction. He also has a family secret that keeps him from getting close to people so involvement with anyone conflicts with it.

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I realize the base cast grows a little more each time but in this one, I purposely brought on the conflict of a growing technological world making large families and large populations an issue. Each of these stories tie into the larger one once more, even if they do seem separate at first. This particular format was also how I was able to tackle the planning complexities I faced while writing UnSung. While an idea may be complex, a writer's burden is to simplify it for the reader. I truly endeavor to smoothly roll out big ideas into a manageable and enjoyable flow.

I've had writing group members ask that very question: how does a writer manage to maneuver stories with large casts? I come from a big family. It's chaotic and variable, but it's also life. While I couldn't easily explain to you my whole family in one sitting, I could certainly manage to help you understand it with planning and time and that's the magic of novels. While it might seem overwhelming tying all of these people in from short descriptions, it becomes more organic when I handpick the important and interesting information and incorporate pace to initiate the reader.

Despite my penchant for logic and stoicism, I'm a real lover of psychology and a bucket of emotions. When I roll out stories, I really delve into those realms. I also enjoy using private interactions as grounds for revealing the vulnerabilities in the characters.

I've talked about discomfort and organic writing and the offended masses and the futility of trying to please everyone before. I think that every writer is delving deep in trying to shed ignorance, trying to resonate with an audience, trying to be true to the characters shouting to be heard. I don't think it's at all the fantasy writer's duty to make a real world statement, that it's absolutely okay with using our experience and curiosity to offer both escapism and a different take on the logic that does align with our reality. I'm going to tell you now, it's also okay to tell the ones with agendas on your content to fuck right off or ignore them altogether. I don't want literature to become sterile and safe. I want authors to put out shit that makes the masterpieces shinier. I don't want PC SJWs to determine what is okay for POC or white authors to write about or how they do it. All it does is create racial division we don't fucking need or want.

If you can remember who said it, I encourage you to comment, but I was watching a talk show like Bill Maher or Trevor Noah where the guest said the most enlightened and simple statement I've ever agreed with. People didn't come to America to create white culture or black culture or isolate themselves in their beliefs, but to practice them freely. A great deal of us born here have never known anything but 'American culture,' an idea, as this guest pointed out, is woefully untapped for its advantages. This is a place that, rather than trying to create a divide of cultures fearful of each other, we could be creating a culture that blends our similarities and celebrates our differences. Why do we use concepts like 'culture' to isolate ourselves, using words like privilege, guilt, etc. to create more inequality? I don't want social sterilization in any sense. We are always going to have advantages and disadvantages, people who use their disadvantages to empower themselves and people who benefit from being victims.

Depth of character does not come without controversy. Not a one of us is stumbling through this world with a perfect map and our beloved (and hated) characters are not going to have the same effect on everyone the same way. If you are a Harry Potter fan, Harry Potter may not have been your favorite character. Sometimes people resonate and sympathize with the supposed villains (Snape) while others are going to wish the story was about a quirky side character (Luna Lovegood). If the analogy means nothing to you, let's get general. The stories that do resonate with you aren't always going to resonate with you for the same reasons they do (or don't at all) for someone else. If you happened to catch my review of Solo, I was stunned that it wasn't a hit movie. I absolutely loved it and the characters and cast had a lot to do with it. 

I don't know if I'll continue to do character profiling for later books, but I do want to at least leave you with some serious considerations. Do yourself a favor as a writer and just write. You might run into the occasional person accusing you of something you're not. Know yourself and brush it off. Your characters and their ignorance is not yours. Absolutely try to avoid injecting ignorance as the narrator, but it's absurd that you should ever have to defend characters acting in their element. Profile away and know you aren't responsible for people who ignore the context or forum of a story.

Keep writing.