In my last post, I talked about what inspired me to start writing the James’s Adventure series. For this post, I thought I’d dive into what went through my head when developing the personalities for James and his friends.
I knew that the interaction between these characters was going to be a big part of making this story work. When there wasn’t any action going on, they needed to be able to interact with each other in an entertaining way. I also knew that they needed some pretty contrasting personalities and tendencies to really get a good dynamic going between them.
I already had a basic idea for each character’s personality from the sample scene I wrote, so it wasn’t too difficult to take what worked there and fine tune it a bit more.
For James, I wanted him to kind of be the reluctant leader, who tries his best to keep everything going smoothly, but in reality, he has no idea what to do. He pretty much takes everyone else’s ideas and suggestions and molds them into a course of action, usually when the group can’t agree on what to do next. Since the story is being told from his point of view, I wanted him to always be a bit unsure of what’s going on and what to do next. It gave me a bit to work with when we’re inside his head, processing everything that’s going on around him.
I also wanted him to be best friends with the plan maker, in this case, Bentley, so when Bentley came up with some crazy plans, James would want to lean more towards supporting him rather than shooting them down. Also, with James being the leader, he could convincingly get everyone else on board with these terrible, but entertaining plans which 9 out of 10 times is what starts their adventures.
Next character I started fleshing out was Bentley. I needed Somebody to come up with all kinds of crazy ideas that end up getting the group into trouble. I also needed somebody to be the groups muscle. The one that would be the last man to run, the guy who isn’t afraid to sacrifice himself to let his friends escape.
Having him be one in the same just seemed like a natural fit. I figured that characteristic was something that I could have everyone else play off of, and kind of be the running joke that can be used throughout every quest or adventure they go on. He also needed to be very, roll with the punches, always see the bright side of things even when they’re going wrong, otherwise he wouldn’t keep come up with crazy plans time and time again after the first few failed.
After Bentley came Ryry. With Bentley being a magnet for trouble, I needed somebody who was forever annoyed by that fact, and would call him out on it every time something went wrong. Somebody who was perpetually grumpy about everything they were being dragged into by the rest of the group. But in the end, even though Ryry doesn’t show it much, she really does care about her friends, so she has no choice but to go along and make sure everything turns out alright.
The idea to eventually make her the best technical fighter out of everybody came later on in the writing process. With her being the smallest out of everybody, I thought it would work well with her personality, and lend a little something more to her interactions with Bentley with him being naturally bigger and stronger than everyone else.
EJ was next to be fleshed out. I knew I needed a brain for the group. Somebody who was really into the Questworld game and read up on everything that came out for it. Somebody who knew all the skills, and could coordinate when everybody should use them. He’s the guy you want in your party when you’re going against a giant boss monster and need somebody to keep everything running perfectly, because one mistake means game over.
I was always planning on making him a berserker, which is usually a crazy, muscle bound warrior who’s not too bright. I thought that contrast of him being the brains but playing a character who Is usually portrayed as having the least amount of brains, would be pretty fun to play around with. The idea to make EJ afraid of anything and everything, despite him being a berserker, came from a friend of mine who thought the concept would make a great Dungeons and Dragons character.
Last one to be worked on was Brie. With her I wanted somebody who was a little shy, a bit insecure, and someone who keeps her opinions to herself most of the time. When push comes to shove though, and she loses most of her insecurities, she quickly becomes a scary, powerhouse of magic. Not being able to control the effects of her spells 95% of the time because she’s so reserved also gave me a bit to work with when it came to the group interacting with each other. I decided to make her more of a girly girl as opposed to another tom boy like Ryry because I thought it just fit her personality better.
And that was pretty much it, really. I think gave myself a ton of stuff to work with between these characters and I’m really looking forward to writing more adventures with this group of friends.
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