TIME TO CREATE A CHARACTER (Chuck Wendig Challenge)

This week’s challenge? To create a character. That’s it. Some total. Keeping it under 250 words.

So here you go:

Luísa de la Cruz is the only child of the famed swordsman Severo de la Cruz. Her mother, Adriana, was a minor noble. Their elopement created a fair amount of scandal, and mercenaries were dispatched to make Adriana a widow and return her to her home. By the time the mercenaries tracked the two down to a remote village, five years had passed, and little Luísa was five years old. Her father, outnumbered, managed to buy time for Adriana and Luísa to flee, but at the cost of his own life.

There weren’t many options for a young mother with no connections and a small child, but Adriana found a small village by the sea. She took up work as a seamstress, and Luísa took up with the children of sailors and merchants. She learned to fight early, the locals teaching her with fist and foot. The older men, bemused by the tomboy, taught her how to use a knife. Some of her father’s skill must have been with her, because she quickly surpassed her teachers.

Soon after Luísa turned sixteen, Adriana fell ill. On her deathbed, she informed Luísa of her birthright, and told her of the sword kept under the floorboards, the only inheritance from her father. Her teenage blood set aflame, Luísa swore to avenge her parents. The only problem? She doesn’t know where to start.

Roleplaying is Good for You as a Writer

Roleplay, if you are into it, and you’ve got a like-minded partner(s)  can add a bit of variety to the bedroom- Wait. No, this isn’t that article. Whoops.

 

Right, back on track then.

 

What I meant to say is that playing role-playing games is good for you as a writer. I’m not talking about computer games either (though they can be useful in other ways, especially when looked at as a piece of media and you want to parse out the character and story elements), but the old pen and paper games where you get together with a bunch of friends, get a bunch of dice and go on and adventure together.

Writing Against Type

I have a certain style of character that I tend to write.  That type can be described as male, heteronormative, and nominally white. They also tend toward liking knives, cigarettes, and having a drink or three.