So here I am, trying to complete Elsbeth as a character, trying to figure out all these stupid little details. But then I stepped away from all these questions and asked something that might actually matter: What kind of a mother was she?
I did a little backstory freewriting, and I learned some things. The most important of which was that the protagonist of this tale was orphaned at the age of 12, and since he was her son's best friend, Elsbeth took him in. He became like another son to her. And her boys always had each other's backs. Until they didn't.
Now, see, there's this extra layer of betrayal, like a nougaty center. Now, when whatever happened to the son happened, they both not only lost him, but they lost each other. This is way more dramatic than anything I've ever done. And I love it.
I'm sure I'll find a way to make this boring, or I’ll realize that it's too much family drama. But until then, I'm going to enjoy this feeling of having a great idea. I finally feel like I have enough of this character to hold onto. I said in a recent post that I needed one particular piece of Elsbeth that I could build everything else around. There had to be this elusive fragment that would make everything fall into place.
I think this was it.
It tells me who she was before. I now know that she was kind and protective and generous. And now it's so much worse that she isn't that anymore. Now the question is how far she's willing to go for revenge, and what she's willing to do to someone she once considered family.
This is going to be a short post, because I don't have a lot of time.
I'll see you Friday.
Title Source: Woe, Is Me - Family First
To be quite honest, I never had the patience for the character quizzes/questionnaires. If anything, I've preferred a more interview style of character summary, as if they're getting the hard-hitting questions from a seasoned reporter: "Why'd you do it? What motivated you? Did you have ulterior motives? Where were your parents? Did you really think that driving in reverse would get rid of the mileage?"
ReplyDeleteExciting to see you get that spark that makes a character click.
Even when one of your posts is short, it is still quite excellent and definitely inspiring to see such motivation in action. This continuous act of writing makes you a writer more than anything else.