This July, our group is sharing a character sketch with you from an upcoming work-in-progress! I’m excited, as I haven’t shared anything publicly about this particular story…
Parker Broaddus
Author of A Hero’s Curse & Nightrage Rising
At first blush, you would think the beard is his defining feature. He growls any introduction through a tangle of grizzled brush that looks like it would have taken high marks at a ZZ Top concert. The little bit of skin that can be seen behind his face wig is a cross between bark and old leather. He only introduces himself as “Doc.” Combined with the gray streaked beard you get the hint that he might have already come home from Vietnam when Pink Floyd formed in 65′. A faded bandanna that could have been blue with stars on it at one time holds back a mop of hair. An old hippie. Except then you see a flash in his eyes. Almost black in the shadows, but with an unsettling spark. Cunning. Intelligent. Watchful. This is no peace and love and weed hippie. A live-and-let-live Big Lebowski.
This is a fighter. A hunter.
He whistles and a black-and-white collie romps through the underbrush and dances impatiently at his feet, grinning up at the leather and brush and shadows that is Doc’s face. He scratches her behind the ears, and you catch a flicker of tenderness and affection.
Something snaps in the shadowed trees. Immediately they are both still. Every muscle tight. Doc’s eyes seem to bore into the rainforest around them, seeing what can’t be seen, measuring, analyzing. That’s when you understand something new. You see he’s not just a hippie, or a fighter, or a hunter. He’s all of these things, and something more – some complex past that you can’t know has formed him into the only thing that can live in this alternate dimension jungle teeming with teeth.
A survivor.
____________________________________
I love Doc. He’s a principal character in my upcoming work-in-progress, “The McGalliard Street Gate.” It’s a fast-paced, action-adventure novel about two brothers, Mikey and Lucas, aimed at 2nd, 3rd, & 4th graders that’s a fabulous explosionary mashup of Jurassic Park and The Hardy Boys.
Introduced in Chapter 3, Doc explains that he had been living as one of the homeless on the streets of Orlando with his dog Jackie when, through strange circumstance, he found himself pulled through a time-dimension portal on what had previously been the quiet, unassuming, road named McGalliard Street. Now he shepherds the other refugees who have found themselves jerked into the dense jungles and sharp claws of the alternate dimension. However, there may be more to this homeless hippie and his mysterious background than meets the eye!
Robin Lythgoe
Author of As the Crow Flies
KipKap… What would you like me to tell you about him? We are friends, I think. Some people find that distinction uncomfortable, for he is also a foreigner to our world. The term “demon” is insulting, for he is no such thing, though that is what he is labeled by most. He possesses a sublime sense of subtle humor, a keen mind, and a remarkable tolerance for idiots. This is, perhaps, what makes us so compatible.
’KipKap’ is not his proper name. When he says it, it’s longer. He makes the K’s more guttural and the P’s more spitty, which I find altogether too messy for my mouth.
“Did you name him?” Tanris asked…
Patricia Reding
Author of Oathtaker
We are pleased to be with you again, and just in time to wish America a very Happy Birthday, indeed!
The topic we chose this month was to put together a character sketch. I am currently in the process of introducing someone new, Athan Eamon, in Volume 4 of The Oathtaker Series, (for now, entitled, Blue Gloom), so I thought I would use Athan as a subject. I’ve known about Athan for a long time, although I was uncertain as to when he would actually show up. Then, wouldn’t you know it, a door opened and … there he was …
What follows is the beginning of a rough character sketch for Athan, and beyond that, an excerpt from my current work-in-progress. I do hope that you enjoy it.
Pingback: A Drift of Quills – Supporting Cast – P.S. Broaddus