Three Faces

Lately I've been thinking about two of my favorite characters and why I like them.  In 2009 I started writing my first real novel.  Everything I wrote before was a poor and recognizable copy.  It started with my older sister telling me to write something about WW2 because I was so fascinated by that time period.  I came up with a story that I liked and told chapters of it to myself every night before I fell asleep.  When one of the characters died I actually made myself cry.  My sister encouraged me to write it down and finally I started it.  Without a title we called it German Brothers for the lack of something better.  In 2011 when I finished the first draft I finally found the name; Harder to Win.  I got it from the Bible verse that says "A brother offended is harder to win then a walled city."  The main character was named Johann and he was the first character that really became real to me.  He is the sober, mature side me.  In 2012 I started a long series of books about a family of brothers.  In the second book a villain showed up that I had not been prepared for.  Searcher Maze Mirrorson came in as a bounty hunter and turned into a funny, sometimes crazy young man who is insecure and lonely. 

These two characters are based off two different sides of my own personality.  I read somewhere that every person we bring to life on the white page is a version of us.  We put a bit of ourselves in each character.  At first I was a little skeptical.  So I tried to make up someone based on someone else.  His name is Journey.  And he is by far my least liked character.  He is really annoying.  What ever happens you can be sure Journey will do the one thing that bugs me the most.  Guess what? As I learned more about him I discovered that instead of being completely different, Journey actually has almost the same personality as me.  Now how irritating is that?  That is so like him.  After all the trouble I went to he turns out to be the opposite of all I was trying to make him.  He is like my evil twin.  But, I will not waste this post in ranting on how much I dislike this guy.  Searcher is so much fun to write and when I'm not writing about him I actually start to miss him.  Johann is like my perfect big brother.  If I had a big brother I would want him to be like Johann.  In Johann I put all the characteristics that I want to cultivate in myself.  Searcher got all the mischievous qualities that I enjoy.  Most of the time the Johann side of me won't let me do them but every once in awhile on weekends I can get away with being a little silly.  The part of me that relates to Johann keeps me moderate and mature and matter of fact.  While the bit of Searcher in my head keeps me laughing and having fun.  I love one because he is a better version of me.  And I love the other because he is just fun to hang around, and he gets to do all the things I would be too scared to do.  (Like turn all the lights off in school when everyone's talking.)

I'll see you all in a few weeks,
Morgan J