What's your journey?
Today is Saturday in the UK, and I'm travelling into the city of Chichester today. It's a journey of ten miles, no epic outing, but it's got me thinking about the journeys our characters do in our stories.
Character journeys can be internal or external. In Panthera : Death Spiral my characters journey physically half way across human space, searching for somewhere safe for Ren to place her kingcat cubs. In Panthera : Death Song, the journey is through vast rainforests. These books are about the physical journeys my characters take. They already know who they are inside, and the long journey confirms their essential natures rather than changing them.
In Eyemind, the physical journey takes places across one continent, but the internal journeys of the characters are just as important. Keri arrives on Latoya as a sophisticated A-list artist, and finds that the planet, and Bi's friendship, changes her so much that she decides to stay on Latoya at the end of her Intel contract. Bi, a quadriplegic, has his life transformed by Keri's acceptance of him and her friendship, and by her willingness to fight for his freedom.
I'm currently working on Panthera : Death Plain. That book has both internal and external journeys for the characters. This time they're travelling around the vast savannahs of New Africa, but they're also travelling back in time to their childhood and earlier memories. Their earlier actions dictate some of what they do, and force them to take some unplanned and unexpected journeys.
Soon I'll be heading out on my real-life journey, but I'll be looking out for ideas to add to my characters' journeys as I travel through my day.
Character journeys can be internal or external. In Panthera : Death Spiral my characters journey physically half way across human space, searching for somewhere safe for Ren to place her kingcat cubs. In Panthera : Death Song, the journey is through vast rainforests. These books are about the physical journeys my characters take. They already know who they are inside, and the long journey confirms their essential natures rather than changing them.
In Eyemind, the physical journey takes places across one continent, but the internal journeys of the characters are just as important. Keri arrives on Latoya as a sophisticated A-list artist, and finds that the planet, and Bi's friendship, changes her so much that she decides to stay on Latoya at the end of her Intel contract. Bi, a quadriplegic, has his life transformed by Keri's acceptance of him and her friendship, and by her willingness to fight for his freedom.
I'm currently working on Panthera : Death Plain. That book has both internal and external journeys for the characters. This time they're travelling around the vast savannahs of New Africa, but they're also travelling back in time to their childhood and earlier memories. Their earlier actions dictate some of what they do, and force them to take some unplanned and unexpected journeys.
Soon I'll be heading out on my real-life journey, but I'll be looking out for ideas to add to my characters' journeys as I travel through my day.
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