So I’ve decided I want to have a little fun with all of you. Whoa! I don’t think I could’ve written a creepier intro. That was as disturbing as a lurking neighbor watching your every move from behind their curtains. Which by the way, if I can jump this train off the tracks for a moment to voice a serious complaint of mine (of course I can – it’s my blog, right?).
I promise my tangent won’t end up like this.
To all those people that have nothing better to do with their lives but sit and watch from the security of their window, waiting for someone to screw up so you can report it/make a stink about it/be nosey about it, and you all know who you are, please find a hobby. It can be anything really. I don’t care – puzzles, crosswords, working on cars, writing, etc., just something other than being “that neighbor.” Okay?
Man does it feel good to get that out. Sorry, that’ll be my only PSA for the blog…and for those of you not old enough to recall what a PSA is, that’s a Public Service Announcement. Go ask your parents what those were…actually, if you’re not old enough to know what that is, you shouldn’t be on the computer this late reading my blogs to begin with. What are you doing up this late?! Go to bed! Now, where we? Ah, yes…my creepiness. Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to have some special guest blogs posted from some very unique…you know what, let’s just call them characters. : ) They’ll be writing their blogs as sort of a Dear Diary-type post; giving some background on themselves, giving us a peak into their psyche, why they agreed to write their pieces for me, and whole lot more!
But before I ask them to come out and join us on this tumble down the rabbit hole, I want to give you a little background on some of the personalities in the Orion Chronicles series and where my inspiration came from. I needed characters for a book, so I imagined them. Done. The End. 
What are you still doing here? I said The End. And kids, WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING UP? I said go to bed!
Alright fine, I suppose I owe you a little more than the above. I mean you are still reading this, so it’s only fair. When I first sat down and started storyboarding for this series, I set out to instill a little piece of myself in each character. I’ve always heard/been told, “Write what you know.” So what do I know better than anything else?
I said you DON’T have to raise your hand, Eugene!
Go ahead; I’ll give you a moment to think about it. You don’t have to raise your hand, just shout the answer out. This isn’t 2nd Grade.Myself! Correct. I know myself better than anything.
So when I began to draft up my characters and where I wanted to take them, I wanted each of them to be a representation of me in some way. For instance, with Orion, his ultra-inquisitive nature—that came from me. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that I ask a lot of questions and I’m certainly not afraid to ask a tough question. With Grayson, his crass humor and prankster nature…yes! That’s me again. Now you’re catching on. I like it. I’ve always had a bit of a dry sense of humor and I find things funny that I probably shouldn’t; a guy getting hit by a car, someone in pain, wrestling someone when they’re sick and weak (“No, I’ve never tried to do that to my wife while she had a horrible cold,” he said, avoiding eye contact). I know, I’m sadistic, but I can’t help it. It’s just who I am…and Grayson. See what I did there? Yeah you did. I worked it back into the point of this blog.
Most of the characters are a compilation of me with a sprinkling in of some traits from others that I may know. The key goal that I was trying to achieve with each one was that I wanted them to all have their own distinct and separate personality. Sometimes when you read a story with a bunch of characters in it, they begin to overlap because really, how many different personality traits can you create? So I made a concerted effort to really setup 2-3 main character traits that I wanted to drive home every chance I got; Cremmel with the animals, Zora with her compassion, Eagen with his calculatedness (that’s not even a real word, but I am going to use it because it helps make my point). The majority of the main characteristics that seem to repeatedly pop up, like those aforementioned, are me…in a nutshell. That reminds me of Austin Powers when he’s told “That’ you in a nutshell,” and he starts acting like he’s confined in a cramped space, saying, “Look at me. I’m in a nutshell. How did I get into this nutshell?” Man I am awfully random tonight.
So as you read each story, keep an eye out for some of the recurring traits that keep coming out in the characters. There’s a good chance that it could be me you’re reading about.
Jeremy Shory
@JeremyShory
Jeremy@TheOrionChronicles.com
photo credit: aussiegall, rbbaird, and Dan4th via photopin cc
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.