Episodic Characters — Character School Part 3

In the previous two articles from this series, we looked at general tips for believable character interactions, and the basic fundamentals of creating solid main characters.

Both of those articles give a number of useful starting points for the kind of things that need to be taken into consideration when we are trying to craft characters the reader will enjoy and respond to.

But what should we do if we want to develop a character across several books? How can we juggle the opposing goals of creating a reader-character relationship, and not giving away too much too early?

I might just be able to help with that.

"The Ravening Deep" Teasers

Just before the release of List of the Dead, I posted an announcement for the title of the next book in this series, The Ravening Deep.

You may remember that at the time I did not provide any plot details, for fear of dropping spoilers about the major events which occurred at the end of List of the Dead.

Well... enough time has now passed!

Let's have some teasers...

• Euryce Eilentes will be the flashback character in this volume, and as was strongly hinted at in List she will be coming into her own in major ways.
• As far as the dreadships go, the heavy defeat suffered by the Empire at the end of List prefaces what is coming next.
• The story unfolding on Guathelia, which so far has occupied only the prologues and epilogues, will collide with the main narrative.
• Maber Castigon will also collide with the main story, in a way you might not expect.
• You will hear more from Voice and The Emptiness, and also see more of Earth.

Deep is the middle volume of this five-part story, and it will very much be the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Dark days are ahead for our plucky protagonists!

Worlds Will Fall.

A Progressive Learning Experience

This is a blog post with two purposes, and one that I have been thinking about writing for a couple of months now. It's partly for the fans of the new universe I've apparently unleashed, to tell them what to expect next, and partly for other independent writers who are either headed towards their first release, or thinking about how to get on with their next book.