Due to a (crazy, wild, bludgeoning) hectic, season of life I like to call, “last month,” I didn’t get to share something about taking risks, and the success or failure as a result of those risks when our group of writers pontificated on the subject in September. Too bad. I’m a risk taker, and it would have been a fun and contemplative exercise to review how that characteristic is panning out.
Interestingly, most of what made it such an insane time was the colossal implosion of a particular risk taking venture. We were buying a farm. We were selling our house. And it all went sideways at the closing table. It doesn’t always turn out that way—more often than not our risk taking as a family has paid off. Now we’re making a comeback, dusting off our breeches, and leaning on good old Winston Churchill, who once said, “Pass the biscuits,” (meaning what we Americans would call “cookies”), but he also said, and this is perhaps more applicable, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Although, a biscuit does sound nice.
So, I missed out on talking about risk taking.
Now it’s October and our tiny band of merry writers is going to take what could be verbose, and make it concise. Simply for your pleasure. We actually love being verbose. I mean, just look at this introduction. But we especially love yarning on when it comes to our supporting characters. And that’s what we’re diving into today…
Parker Broaddus
Author of A Hero’s Curse & Nightrage Rising
Braxton
The supporting character I’d like to throw a spotlight on today is from my upcoming novel and 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. (You might recall I did a character sketch of “Doc” from the same story a couple of months ago. Yeah, I’m excited about this story.)
Today, I want to introduce you to Jim Braxton, a retired Orlando chief-of-police, and the “Braxton” of “Braxton and Houk Private Investigators.” He’s the perfect supporting character to Lucas Grayson, the headstrong and detail oriented younger brother to Mikey Grayson—who has disappeared.
Braxton teams up with Lucas as they follow clues and hunt for older brother Mikey—along with several other missing persons.
I like Braxton a lot. He’s gruff and a bit cynical due to years of police work that ended in injury and a premature retirement, but he cares about his work and is good at it. Despite what he says, he even cares about Lucas and the Grayson family. He offers a check to Lucas’ immaturity and impulsiveness, but he also comes to respect Lucas’ ability to contribute to the case in a way that we might have missed as readers if Braxton hadn’t been there to point it out.
I don’t know that I had a particular character or inspiration in mind when I created Braxton, but I feel like I saw an echo of my character in Jim Hopper, (portrayed by David Harbour), a fictional character from the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things. Hopper is the chief of police in Hawkins, Indiana, who, throughout the first three seasons, investigates the strange occurrences in the town.
Hopper’s cool. But Braxton is, as they’d say in Hawkins, Indiana in 1983, “Totally tubular.”
Robin Lythgoe
Author of As the Crow Flies
“Girl”
I am neck deep in the writing of Crow’s Nest, another novel about the best thief in all the glittering empire. (According to himself.) Crow is a little bit of an attention hog, so today I want to cast some light on one of his supporting characters: Girl.
First, I promise you that “Girl” is not her real name. Second, I promise that you’ll find out what that is in the new book. And that’s it for spoilers today! But how did she come by such an awful moniker?
Patricia Reding
Author of Oathtaker
Velia
by Patricia Reding
Copyright Patricia Reding 2020
Velia is an Oathtaker who I first introduced in Book One of The Oathtaker Series. Her unique magical powers include the power to discern truths from falsehoods, and the power to take on the pain of another. She also has limited ability to communicate with …