In Human X, the one and only time we see Ted, Colin’s original partner, he say he’s headed to Della and Lisa’s house. Presumably, Della and Lisa are friends of Ted’s and acquaintances of Colin’s. Their role at first is twofold. First they symbolize the estrangement between the two partners, as the two men seem to live in separate worlds. Continue reading “Anatomy of a Character: Della and Lisa”
Anatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos
In Human X, the character of Antonia Milos is a textbook example of the organic way I develop characters, especially my supporting cast. I put a fair amount of a planning into my major characters, while still giving them room to develop with the story. I knew who Colin Jeffries was and where he had come from before I wrote a single word. When I started typing chapter one, however, Antonia Milos didn’t even exist. In fact, when I typed the words “Chapter Two,” she still didn’t exist.
Before I finished chapter two, however, I needed to fill in a bit of Collin Jeffries’ back story. Continue reading “Anatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos”
Of Comic Foils, Sidekicks, and Tragic Figures
I’m not the most attentive watcher of LGBT characters in mainstream media, but I’ve been paying a little more attention than usual lately, especially since the publication of Human X. I have one observation. It’s true that gay characters are springing up all across network television, but I’m not seeing a whole of diversity in their numbers, either. And by diversity, I’m not speaking of skin color, ethnicity, religion, or any other check box on the census form.
The range of gay characters on television in the post-Will and Grace era seems to span the spectrum from A to A. Continue reading “Of Comic Foils, Sidekicks, and Tragic Figures”
What Do Your Characters Look Like?
One of the hardest things for me as a writer is to describe the physical appearance of my characters. I grudgingly understand the need to do so, if only because I’ve had readers complain that they don’t know what my characters look like.
So, about Colin Jeffries…
If you’ve read the description of my first published novel, Human X, it probably hasn’t escaped your notice that the protagonist begins the story dealing with the end of a committed relationship with a man named Ted. If you still need someone to connect the dots for you, the hero of the book is gay.
So what possessed you to write a book with a gay hero?
The story for Human X began life about seventeen years ago, and the original concept was just “a guy discovers he was the product of genetic engineering and now people are trying to kill him.” That’s still the same “elevator speech” I use today to describe the book. The second thought was that the main character would be the son of someone important, so the senator father was born.
Then my muse leaped up from where it lay in ambush, and piped in with, “Why don’t you make him gay?”
Okay, it wasn’t quite that random. Continue reading “So, about Colin Jeffries…”