A Cast Of Characters

One of the challenges of any story is to create characters that make the reader feel something. For the good guys, you want the reader to be invested enough to cheer them on when they win or perhaps shed a tear when they die. For the bad guys, you want someone who is despicable enough for the reader to absolutely hate. Both attributes in a character have to be realistic and believable, or else they become a caricature, bordering on cliche or cartoonish.

Sometimes I think that, if written well, the characters’ personalities will start to develop more on their own, as will the story along with them.

More than once I have been asked where I come up with some of the stuff in these books. ( Usually this is followed up with, “How do you sleep at night?” ) It’s always a fun conversation to have, but what I really like talking about is the characters. I touched on the topic briefly at the end of In Times of Trouble: Crossroads, and actually had originally written more about it. But I needed to trim the book down, so that ended up in the trash. ( Literally… my dumb ass didn’t save it, which I now regret. )

So now that I have more time and a lot more room, I’d like to give you a more in-depth look at the characters of the In Times of Trouble trilogy.

At the beginning of every book, you’ll notice a disclaimer that reads something like, “The characters and events portrayed in this book are ficticious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidential and not intended by the author.”

A large part of being a writer is observing the world around us. This is especially true when it comes to people. In order to write how a character acts or responds to various situations requires you to see how people act in real life and then, if necessary, extrapolate that into an imaginary situation. Describing facial cues, tone of voice, body language, all play a part in telling a story.

So while the legal disclaimer is true for the most part, I think it’s only natural that, as we draw on those observations, we can’t help but give the characters attributes based on the people we know or have observed.

I some instances, two of which leap to mind, I couldn’t help but add to the dialogue things I’ve heard someone say in real life. The first was an outrageously arrogant statement that fit perfect with the plot, the other a more grandmotherly saying that I felt would help endear the character to the reader even more.

As I wrote at the end of Crossroads, I have intentionally left out physical descriptions of the characters for the purpose of allowing you, the reader, to form an image of them in your head. It’s only now, three books later, that I realize that in having done so, doing this may have, in some way, allowed them to become more real to the reader.

I have an idea for a virtual group activity in the future. So for now, start thinking about what these characters look like to you, in your imagination. We’ll come back to that another time.

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I suppose it’s true that many of the characters have a little bit of me in them, some certainly more than others. That said, it’s important to note that Jim and Jen Crane née Miller, are not based on my wife and I. Yes, my wife was an emergency room nurse for most of our marriage. And I suppose there’s some similarities in the Cranes’ interactions that are arguable similar to ours. But really, the resemblances are unintentional and more a product of the storyline than anything.

You may find it interesting to know that, by and large, I’ve had a clearer image of Jen in my head at any time more than Jim, despite writing much of the story from his perspective. If asked, my description of her would be far more detailed than his, largely because he was conceived and written to be “the everyman”. Even the name “Jim” is about as average as you could get without being a John or a Joe. This was by design, in the hopes that the reader would maybe see a little of themselves in him.

The one character that I’d say has more of my and my personality in them would be Gary Sherman. His very name is kind of an “Easter egg” of sorts. For starters, more than once someone has screwed up our last name and said “Sherman” instead. But his first name comes from a memory I have of a childhood friend’s mother telling me I didn’t “look like” a “Chris.” To her, I looked more like a “Gary.” Now, I haven’t a damned clue what one name or the other should look like, but that stuck with me over the past thirty-plus years and thus, Gary Sherman was born.

Much like me, if Gary wants to know something, he’s going to ask. If he likes you, he’s gonna bust your balls now and then. He’s got a penchant for gallows humor, or saying what polite company would deem inappropriate for whatever situation as it arises. ( It’s a defense mechanism left over from my days as a paramedic. One of those things where if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry or go nuts. Psychological experts say this is an unhealthy coping mechanism. I say until they’ve seen some of the shit I’ve seen, they can stick it in their ass. )

Because of these similarities, Gary was a fun character to write; a comic relief when needed while also fiercely loyal and serious when needs be. However difficulties arose for me towards the end of Aftermath. Writing the part when Jim comes upon Gary running towards him, carrying his son’s lifeless body in a futile effort to save him, was tough to write. Because in order to describe it to you, I have to envision it, and as a father of two sons in their late teens at the time, my imagination went there. If any tears were shed by those reading it, there were even more shed writing it, I assure you. When that chapter was done I had to push away and go outside for fresh air.

How do I sleep at night? Beats the hell out of me, folks.

On a happier note, another character appears at the end of Crossroads who is also an “Easter egg” herself, Emma Carter, Jim and Jen’s grandaughter. Her name at least.

There was a time when my wife and I were expecting a child, we got to thinking of names if we should have a daughter. I liked the name “Sarah” and she liked “Emily.” So at some point a compromise was reached. Or maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know. It’s been a long time. But if I remember correctly, the two were combined into “Emma,” a name I still love. We never did have a daughter but in the end, I got my Emma.

I’ve been going on for quite a while here, but there’s so much more about the story’s characters I want to write. So I think I’ll end here for now and in the next installment talk about other characters in the book. Some of the other women to be precise.