Another character that appeared quite suddenly, and unexpectedly, in my first novel, “Journey To The Black City” from my new “After: Earth” series, is a man named Daniel. Dan lives in one of the tribes, but he’s a man with a haunted past. As he leads my two main characters to the Black City we all learn things about this man…and that includes me! As I once mentioned, I don’t outline my stories. Dan came along suddenly, and I originally expected him to deliver Kel and Lyria to the Black City, and that would be the end of it. But that wasn’t to be. As they travel, and Dan reveals his life to his traveling companions, I discovered he was a man with something to say! So, instead of being a mere ‘plot device’ to move the story along in my Steampunk/Fantasy novel as I originally supposed, he became an enduring character who will travel from the first book in the series right to the last—much like it is in our world with someone becomes one of your best friends after a mere, chance encounter.
I’ve been discussing my characters I’ve written into my Steampunk/Fantasy novels. The man we’ve been talking about is Daniel Hendricks. Now if I have a suddenly enduring male character, I thought there should probably be a female character to balance him. That character is a woman named Sharrone Cushing. Sharrone, like Lyria, is also a strong woman. She wants to become a reporter in the Black City. To that end, she begins investigating the Cathedral and their trafficking in young girls and narcotics. Dan rescues her from a very bad fate, and they then move together through my Steampunk/Fantasy series, from the very first novel, The Age of Ice: Into the Black City, to the end. Sometimes I find it quite surprising when characters like Dan and Sharrone suddenly appear. I start writing, and who knows where the computer keys will lead me!