{"id":803,"date":"2012-11-15T12:42:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T20:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?p=803"},"modified":"2013-02-12T19:06:04","modified_gmt":"2013-02-13T03:06:04","slug":"anatomy-of-a-character-antonia-milos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/anatomy-of-a-character-antonia-milos\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Human X<\/em>, 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\u2019t even exist. In fact, when I typed the words \u201cChapter Two,\u201d she still didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

Before I finished chapter two, however, I needed to fill in a bit of Collin Jeffries\u2019 back story. He was a lawyer, and a hot-shot Beltway shyster at that, so he needed to work for a big fancy-pants law firm. I reached into my brain for a nice Ellis Island goulash of names to put on the letterhead: Hatcher, Linney, and Milos. Perfect. Anglo Saxon, Irish, and Greek. Job done.<\/p>\n

Not quite. A few paragraphs later I needed to recount the results of a conversation between two of the partners, so in that moment, she became Ms. Milos. Before I typed that, the third partner had been basically sexless. Her X or Y chromosome had been a bit like Schrodinger\u2019s Cat. Until I made that decision, she was neither male nor female.<\/p>\n

Even so, at this point Ms. Milos was little more than two X chromosomes with a name and a reserved parking spot, at least on the page. In my mind, she was starting to take shape. It was still blurry, but she already cut an elegant silhouette. Then came a key scene maybe a third of the way through the book, which spins the story off into a new direction, and I knew that Ms. Milos had to step on stage.<\/p>\n

It was here that Antonio Milos gained a first name and a physical presence. And what a presence it was.<\/p>\n

Antonia Milos was almost as tall as Colin, and one associate had covertly compared her to a professional volleyball player. She was pushing sixty if not past it, looked forty-five and, as far as Colin could tell, not one strand of her jet-black hair came from a bottle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should put her picture on the Greek flag,\u201d Sean Linney, her follow partner at the firm, had once told Colin over dinner. Whatever her background, Antonia Milos always sailed through the multiple strata of Washington\u2019s political, business, and legal communities with the grace of a three-masted schooner at full sail.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this point, I was actually crushing on this woman a bit, and somewhat disappointed she wasn\u2019t real. Leaving the sad state of my personal life out of this, the scene also established that Antonia Milos\u2019 interest in Colin is as much that of a lifelong friend than as a boss. Behind the dignified and refined exterior is a genuinely compassionate heart. We also learn that calling her \u201cToni\u201d would be akin to addressing the King of England as \u201cBilly.\u201d This takes place in 2039, if you recall.<\/p>\n

Antonia Milos went from a literal non-entity on page to a person with almost palpable reality (for the writer, anyway) by the end of the book. And her role in the book (and likely sequels) had expanded far behind even what I have told you here. I can\u2019t say too much without major spoilers, but it\u2019s safe to say that her role in Colin Jeffries\u2019 life is only going to get bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Anatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,128,3],"tags":[27,174],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background","category-characters","category-writing","tag-character","tag-human-x"],"yoast_head":"\nAnatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos - Paul McElligott Dot Com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/anatomy-of-a-character-antonia-milos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anatomy of a Character: Antonia Milos - Paul McElligott Dot Com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Human X, the character of Antonia Milos is a textbook example of the organic way I develop characters, especially my supporting cast. 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