Julianna Keyes's Blog - Posts Tagged "time"
RELEASE WEEK POST 3!
THE FOURTH DIMENSION
We all know we’re supposed to write three-dimensional characters, and if you read my books, you know I like to write character arcs and mess with tropes and general expectations. That’s why Finn starts this story as little more than a cardboard cut-out in the shape of a prince (which is, in fact, the number one item stolen from the local airport by his fans).
When he’s first described with his lapels and epaulets and brass buttons, that’s my childhood memory kicking in, transcribing its earliest memories of what a prince was. A sketch, a concept, but not a real, flesh and blood man. And Brinley, despite having known Finn since childhood, knows him as little more than this ideal as well. I’ve gotten comments that it took a bit of time to get to know Finn, and that’s very much intentional. Not only did I want someone more reserved to balance out Brinley’s impulsiveness, I wanted to play with the concept of a “cardboard” character and slowly use the fourth dimension to show his third dimension.
See how clever I am? I know about the fourth dimension! (The fourth dimension is time, if you’re wondering.) I read about this in a gardening article once—you plan your garden for all its 3D glory, but need to factor in time, the way the plants will grow, change, die. In this story wanted to use time to transform that cardboard into not just a prince, but a man.
When we first meet Finn he’s in a formal suit, greeting Brinley politely but cautiously. On their wedding night he eats a burger while wearing his royal wedding pants and a plain T-shirt, straddling the line between traditional prince and regular person eating a burger. He wears funny socks and boxers, hidden beneath his royal finery. He explores the castle’s hidden tunnels with Brinley, and the farther they descend, the more they leave behind the royal expectations, the more real they become with each other. He slowly reveals tiny parts of himself, becoming more accessible to Brinley, and accordingly, the reader.
With Brinley leaping off the first page without a care as to what awaits her, I wanted to counter that with Finn’s slower, more methodical approach, and transform him from a cardboard idea of Prince Charming to a real prince we can believe and invest in. I think I accomplished that, but I’ll leave the final judgment up to you fine (brilliant, beautiful, hilarious, generous, incorruptible) readers.
Do you have a favourite type of hero? Alpha, beta, billionaire, dom, athlete, computer whiz? I used to lean toward the strong, silent (sometimes jerk) type, but the more I write the more variety I want, so my “favourite” is much more flexible.
We all know we’re supposed to write three-dimensional characters, and if you read my books, you know I like to write character arcs and mess with tropes and general expectations. That’s why Finn starts this story as little more than a cardboard cut-out in the shape of a prince (which is, in fact, the number one item stolen from the local airport by his fans).
When he’s first described with his lapels and epaulets and brass buttons, that’s my childhood memory kicking in, transcribing its earliest memories of what a prince was. A sketch, a concept, but not a real, flesh and blood man. And Brinley, despite having known Finn since childhood, knows him as little more than this ideal as well. I’ve gotten comments that it took a bit of time to get to know Finn, and that’s very much intentional. Not only did I want someone more reserved to balance out Brinley’s impulsiveness, I wanted to play with the concept of a “cardboard” character and slowly use the fourth dimension to show his third dimension.
See how clever I am? I know about the fourth dimension! (The fourth dimension is time, if you’re wondering.) I read about this in a gardening article once—you plan your garden for all its 3D glory, but need to factor in time, the way the plants will grow, change, die. In this story wanted to use time to transform that cardboard into not just a prince, but a man.
When we first meet Finn he’s in a formal suit, greeting Brinley politely but cautiously. On their wedding night he eats a burger while wearing his royal wedding pants and a plain T-shirt, straddling the line between traditional prince and regular person eating a burger. He wears funny socks and boxers, hidden beneath his royal finery. He explores the castle’s hidden tunnels with Brinley, and the farther they descend, the more they leave behind the royal expectations, the more real they become with each other. He slowly reveals tiny parts of himself, becoming more accessible to Brinley, and accordingly, the reader.
With Brinley leaping off the first page without a care as to what awaits her, I wanted to counter that with Finn’s slower, more methodical approach, and transform him from a cardboard idea of Prince Charming to a real prince we can believe and invest in. I think I accomplished that, but I’ll leave the final judgment up to you fine (brilliant, beautiful, hilarious, generous, incorruptible) readers.
Do you have a favourite type of hero? Alpha, beta, billionaire, dom, athlete, computer whiz? I used to lean toward the strong, silent (sometimes jerk) type, but the more I write the more variety I want, so my “favourite” is much more flexible.
