Reader Question: Is there a character from your books you would not want to meet in real life?
I received this question from someone in my Facebook group a few weeks ago, and while it at first seems straightforward, my answer is a bit complicated. There are a few reasons why I wouldn’t want to meet some of the characters in my books, if they were real people.
I write some pretty horrible villains.
This is the easy part of my answer. Some of the villains in my books are terrible people, sociopaths without conscience. I wouldn’t want to meet them for reasons of self-preservation.
Dranamir, with her penchant for murder, wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the person responsible for her world. She wouldn’t think twice. So she’s definitely on the list of characters to avoid. (Dranamir is a main character in The Relics of War.)
Garin isn’t much better. He’d be apt to apply torture first, which might be worse than a run-in with Dranamir. Again, someone to avoid. (Garin is another of the Soulless in The Relics of War.)
Moving on to The Caein Legacy, I’d do my best to avoid Robert Claybourne. He’s a different sort of villain from the previous two, but just as ruthless in some aspects. Simply put, he’s a vile man. It would be unsafe for me to meet him in person.
Then there are the characters I couldn’t face for reasons of guilt…
I am the destroyer of my characters’ happiness. I’ve put some of them through absolute hell. So there are a few I’m not sure I’d want to meet because I am the one responsible for uprooting their lives. And I doubt some of them would forgive me.
Andrew Caein is the first who fits this category. I love his character and his story, but he also suffers more than almost any other character I’ve written to date. During the first two chapters of Exile, his wife divorces him, he loses his title and his surname, and he’s faced with the prospect of being labeled the late queen’s bastard son. And I didn’t stop there. He loses others he loves during the series. At one point, he’s tortured almost to the point of death. And later, he sustains an injury that even his dragon blood can’t heal. So, yeah, I’m not sure if he would want to see me, even though he does have a happy ending after 4 books.
Seren do’Vox from The Mage War Chronicles also fits into this category. While he does achieve happiness around the midpoint of the book, in classic me fashion, I took it all away and left him stranded hundreds of miles from his home and family, with no easy way of returning. And he misses what should have been one of the most important events of his life because of it. Given his personality, he might be more understanding than Andrew, but I’m not sure I’d want to risk it.
Thank you to the members of my Facebook group for your Friday questions. It’s fun to answer things like this.