Meet my Character Blog Tour!

So way back a couple Mondays ago (heavens, that long?!), the always lovely Jennifer K. Marsh tagged me in the Meet My Character Blog Tour, where writers take the time to introduce their readers to their beloved characters from works in progress. I was supposed to write this post the following Monday buuuuuuuut… that obviously didn’t happen. Exams, I tell you!

My true work in progress right now, codename POTS, isn’t quite ready to hit the world, so instead I’ll be telling you about a different story–the NaNo novel I wrote last November, remember that? It’s called A Fairytale, is about 72 000 words long, and is awaiting editing. It was a joy to write and is a piece I’m particularly proud of, and I’m excited to introduce you to it’s characters!

Q1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Well, seeing as how there are two main characters who are equally important, you get to meet both of them! They’re both fictional.

Hailey is a female warrior and

Tunaren is her male partner, guardian of the forest.

Q2) When and where is the story set?

The story is set in a world that doesn’t exist… at all. As in, I didn’t even go to the effort of making a fictional world. Heh. There are a few names tossed around in the book, but they’re more placeholders than anything. When I get to editing, that will be changed and a world will be made, but the scenery–the giant forest, the barren wasteland, the underground petrified city–is the most important part anyways.

As for when is it set, well that doesn’t really exist either. But it happens twenty years after a prophecy was made determining both of the characters’ fates. They’re twenty years old in the book.

Q3) What should we know about him/her?

Hailey–she was trained to be a fearsome warrior, learning how to be strong, capable, fearless, and at times as cold as iron. Her training often forced her to spend long amounts of time away from her loving parents, but she handled the isolation with determination and bravery. She embodies the traits most associated with males, those being physical prowess, emotional insensitivity, and a willingness to fight. She also has a scar from a cleft lip that slightly impairs her speech, but despite this, she is outgoing and inclusive, constantly trying to coax Tunaren to talk to her.

Tunaren–he is the guardian of the forest, taking care of baby animals in need and blessed with an innate empathy for the wild. His mother wanted nothing to do with him when he was born and so he was raised by his anxious, melancholic father. Because of his troubled family history and the fact that he lives in the trees, he is quiet and introverted, finding it difficult to express himself. Opposite to Hailey, he embodies typically more feminine traits–physical weakness, strong sensitivity, and a timid nature. He can also commune with the forest and feels its heart beating with his.

Q4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

When they were born, a seer prophesied that the two babies would grow up to be saviours–the girl would learn to fight and the boy would learn to protect the trees, and together they would save the world from evil. This starts to have effects even before they leave on their quest, as it takes Hailey away from her parents and their love, and forces Tunaren into a painful solitude. It also looms over them, as they both bear a tremendous responsibility that they don’t fully understand.

Then, when their quest actually starts, they have to deal with a lot of struggle and pain as they fight their way to the royal crypts. Especially when they discover this one teensy issue: the seer prophesied that good would win… but at the same time he foresaw that evil would win too. They then have to figure out what the heck that means and how it’s going to affect them.

They also have inner conflicts that are what drive their character developments.

Hailey–she struggles with the fact that she needs to be so strong. On one hand, she fears her strength because she thinks it will change her and make her less of the loving daughter her parents think she is. On the other hand, she needs her strength, so that she will come home alive and well and her parents won’t be devastated at her loss.

Tunaren–he struggles with his feelings. He sees the world passing by, feeling the pain and suffering of the baby animals, of Hailey, but he is unable to release the same emotions from himself. He has issues understanding love (he can thank his mother for that), doesn’t know how to connect with others, and constantly doubts himself.

Q5) What is the personal goal of the character?

At first, they both share the same goal, to reach the royal crypts before the villainess does, so they can save the world. But as they begin to learn about each other and subsequently themselves, their goals change quite a bit.

Hailey–her goal becomes a desperate need to return home–and not be a different person than when she left. One of her biggest fears is that she’ll have changed during their quest and she is determined to do whatever it takes to save the world and go back to her parents so she can live happily, while at the same time keeping Tunaren alive so he can do the same thing.

Tunaren–as he sees Hailey’s desperation to go home and understands the tenderness of her heart, Tunaren becomes determined to protect the sensitive parts of her, her emotions, the same way he would care for an animal in need. He sees the brightness of her future and the love she has for her parents and wants nothing more than to see her return to that happiness and joy, even if it costs him everything.

Q6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Well, the working title is A Fairytale (a title I’ve grown very attached to, I might add), and you certainly can read more. At this link here, you can find the synopsis and an excerpt of my favourite scene, as well as my “mission statement” when writing this story.

Q7) When can we expect the book to be published?

It already is!

Haha, I kid, NaNoWriMo was just giving out codes for free copies of the book for the authors, and that’s why I have a pretty print copy :) You can expect it to be published when it’s ready, folks, and that’ll likely be a while. It’s a rather polished draft without too much overhaul required (as well as being quite short, phew!) but POTS is my first priority and so the editing for A Fairytale will have to wait.

Anyways, that’s all for this blog tour. Here are the people I’m tagging to continue the tour:

• EmeraldCity–actually, she just did a post talking about characters, but perhaps you’d like to do more, Emerald? :P
• LOQUACITÉ–care to share? :)
• TJ Edwards–I know you have some characters!

To those I’ve tagged, no pressure–you don’t have to do the tour if you don’t want to (although I would be interested to meet your characters for sure!). Ideally, you’re supposed to post the tour on the upcoming Monday but I bent those rules already so do as you please.

To those who read this through, thank you plenty! I’m happy to share.

Read anything good lately?

May your upcoming Friday be as relaxing and fun as mine’s going to be ;)

-Alex