Guest author, Bianca Sommerland

Unbuilding a Character

Whether you’re a full-fledged author, or a hobby writer, or someone who stalks authors to see if we’re going to screw up—I know you’re out there—you’ve probably heard plenty about building characters. It doesn’t take a genius to spot a cardboard character:

‘she was 5’4 with DD and a cumsucking mouth’  Source-the dregs of porn.

And we all have well developed characters that we know and love, who make us sit up and take notice the moment they grace a scene:

He was a fine, tall, slim young fellow of eighteen or twenty, with black eyes, and hair as dark as a raven's wing; and his whole appearance bespoke that calmness and resolution peculiar to men accustomed from their cradle to contend with danger.  Source- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

How does one build a character? Well, to my mind, it’s simple. Create a person and imagine their life from infancy to adulthood—put down that pen, you do not need to write this down—and let the readers come to know this person as well as you do while ‘telling’ them as little as possible. If your character—let’s call her Sue—hates fish, then she should wrinkle her nose when she smells it cooking. Nowhere in the text should it say ‘Sue hated fish’, but in the dialogue, you may have her say ‘Oh my God, please excuse me—I can’t stand the . . .” Sue slapped her hand over her mouth as the vile scent of lemon and trout flooded the air and seemed to slosh down her throat. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

What’s the point of scenes like this? Well, as you’re learning about the character, so are the people he/she is interacting with in the story. If Sue meets a man and this is her reaction when he takes her out to dinner, there next date better not be on his daddy’s fishing boat.

So building a character is easy—yes, I tell myself that little lie to keep myself sane—but what about unbuilding a character? What could possibly be the point? What does it even mean?

Let’s take The Count of Monte Cristo for example—if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, please do so now, I’ll wait . . . done? Good <g>-- Edmond Dantès is introduced as a really nice guy who gets screwed by his best friend. Nothing sexy about it, just in case you’re wondering, but you M/M writers might find some plot bunnies there ;). Anyway, during the fourteen years Edmond is in prison, the character as we know him is unbuilt. The Conte of Monte Cristo is born, a man whose only goal is vengeance. Most of Edmond’s ideals have been abandoned; the Conte doesn’t need them anymore, so it’s almost like going back through Edmond’s past and erasing all the things that made him who he was. Which is what I call unbuilding.

In Deadly Captive, the main character, Lydia, is unbuilt from the start. I had to know her inside and out, know her past—then take and axe to it and get to know her from the pieces that were left. Because, you see, Lydia can’t remember her past. She can speak perfect English, knows details of history and geography, but she can’t remember how old she is, where she was born, or if there’s a single person who will miss her.

Here’s a little excerpt from the book, just to give you an idea:

"Lydia."

The abrupt way Joe said the name sent a frisson of fear straight through me. My eyes shot to the door. There was no one there.

* * *

Joe chuckled and deftly shot to his feet. "Well, that answers that question."

I bit my lip and shook my head. What question? Why suddenly say a name when no one was . . . ?

Lydia. I mouthed the name, rolling my tongue around it, and waited for a spark of recognition. I felt nothing. But he would know my name, wouldn't he?

My eyes narrowed. "You were testing me."

Shrugging his shoulders backward in a lazy stretch, he nodded. "Yes, but you

passed. Don't worry about it."

Surging forward, I drove the heel of my palm into his sternum. He stumbled into the wall by the bed, staring at me as he righted himself. I smirked.

Didn't see that coming, did you, asshole?

His eyes narrowed. A muscle in his jaw ticked. I scrambled off the bed when he strode towards me, but he caught a fistful of my hair and jerked me against his front. Then, he forced me into the space between the bed frame and the wall. The metal frame felt like a bar of ice on the bare flesh of my side. I tried to wrench out of his grasp and dodge him. He hauled me back and trapped me with the press of his body.

"Don't ever do that again," he said, through gritted teeth. "This situation hasn't left me with much tolerance."

My eyes teared, but my gaze never wavered. "Right back at you. I didn't sign up for your games."

He eased his grip on my hair. "Neither of us signed up for any of this, Lydia. I wanted to make sure I could trust my cell mate."

"Of all the . . . ." I shook my head. "Please, I need to know. Some kind of morbid curiosity, I guess. Why in the world would I fake memory loss? What purpose would it serve?"

With a shrug, he rested his arm on my shoulder, still loosely holding my hair. "It would be a clever sympathy card."

Damn it, he's right. I felt the tension ease from my body, no longer feeling very combative. "How do you know I'm not faking it? If I was, it would be pretty stupid to acknowledge my name."

"No. Actually, it wouldn't have proven much. It might have made me suspicious, more than I already was. It would be strange that you'd remember your name, but not your own face. I was hoping your reaction would be revealing." He closed his eyes and dropped his head. "It was, but not in the way I'd hoped. The loss is worse than I thought. There wasn't even a glimmer of recognition."

Grazing my teeth back and forth along my bottom lip, I glared at his chest. "It could be an act."

Fingers under my chin, he tilted my head up. "No, Lydia. You couldn't have faked the fear I saw. You thought it was one of them."

Writing this kind of character, whether they’re unbuilt by choice, or by circumstance, isn’t easy. But it’s never boring and from my experience unbuilt characters are some of the most complex. And the most interesting.

Don’t know if I’ll ever try that again though! lol!

Tasty tidbits about Bianca Sommerland

-If you could be any animal what would it be?

Can I choose a bug? Well technically, it’s an arachnid. I’ve always been fascinated by scorpions. There’s just something about them that appeals to me.

If I had to pick an actual animal, I’d probably pick a panther.

-What is your shoe size?

Depends on the style of the shoe. I’ve got everything from 6.5 to 8 in my closet.

-How many pieces of jewelry do you wear on a daily basis?

Three. I wear a leather wrist band, big silver loop earrings, and a hematite necklace.

-What is your favorite junk food?

Cookies! My favorites are Maple Leafs and Pirate cookies.

-What is your favorite movie?

Dangerous Liaisons.

-Who is your favorite musician/s?

I have a few, some more modern than others, but Bon Jovi has a special place in my heart.

Interview with Bianca

-Do you think there is a difference between making love and having sex?

Yep. Making love is usually pretty boring! lol!

Honestly, there’s just something raw and exciting about the idea of two characters just ‘having sex’, giving in to pure lust whether they’ve been together for an hour or an eternity. An undertone of love is nice, but the whole ‘I want to take it soft and slow to show how much I care’ thing is overrated.

Sometimes it works, really depends on the situation.

-What is your current project?

Another ménage, with some serious BDSM elements. I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the lifestyle and learning all I can. With Deadly Captive, the BDSM elements were warped—intentionally so, but it was fantasy. My current project is contemporary, so realism is important. I’m feeling really good about it though :)

-Do you have any series out? If so what is it about?

Not yet, but I am planning sequels to both Rosemary Entwined (my first book) and Deadly Captive (my most recent release).

-If you could go on a date with one of your characters who would it be and what would the date be like?

I’d probably go dancing with Felix from Rosemary Entwined. I’ve had so many dreams about the way he moves I would just love to be in his arms and feel his body…*shudder*

We probably wouldn’t be on the dance floor long. ;)

-Where do you see yourself in five years?

Either in a padded room or living in a secluded cabin where no one can find me—just when I’ve got edits and deadlines though. When I’m not writing I would love to be travelling all over the world.

Realistically, I’ll probably be exactly where I am now—with a few more books under my belt.

Contest details

If my host would be so kind as to pick one commenter, I’ll be giving away a copy of Deadly Captive. Please indicate your interest in your comment, Deadly Captive is not for everyone and I really want the winner to be someone who is comfortable with the content. 

Where to find Bianca Sommerland

Blog: http://imnoangelauthorsblog.wordpress.com/

Buy link Deadly Captive: https://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.aspx?i=269

Buy link Rosemary Entwined:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1102

Deadly Captive

Lydia awakes, bound and blind, to the whispered urgings of a man who has his hands on her. His words confuse her at first, but she soon understands they are both in the middle of a performance that will determine whether she remains in captivity or dies. The crowd must be entertained, and her cellmate makes sure it is.

Forced submission is not the only horror Lydia endures. She has no memories of life before her imprisonment, and Joe, her cellmate, is her only comfort as the powerful creatures that hold them captive torture and debase her. Together, she and Joe cling to the will to survive long enough to break free and seek revenge. Their desire to sustain one another triumphs over their wardens' efforts to destroy them. There is no pain, no suffering, that can tear them apart.

Beyond their cell, their love is tested. Can they hold strong in the face of the challenge of the new powers they have gained along with their freedom?

 

 

Rosemary Entwined

One kiss might save her, but if Rosemary has to lose even one of her men, she doesn’t want a prince.
The only role of Rosemary's nest of men is to feed her insatiable hunger for lust, but that's not what she wants for them. Or what they want from her. While Rosemary presses for them to live their own lives, they each find ways to steal into her heart. With the threat of her mother's nest hanging over them, Rosemary decides to surrender to the love they offer and focus on building their combined strength to stand against the inevitable attacks.

When her control over her powers slips, another problem arises. The nest is incomplete. A prince must be chosen, and if he is not among her men, she'll be forced to let one of them go.
She once feared her heart wasn't big enough to hold them all. Now she fears she's not strong enough to release even one. Even if it costs her her life.