Character creation
So where did Rachel of Rachel's Rabble come from?
Rachel was originally an online character I played in a digital text-based RPG almost two decades ago. She was a blunt, plain-speaking, foul-mouthed engineer between ships. The cybernetics were already there, though far less prevalent than they are in Rachel's Rabble
When I was brainstorming ideas for NovNov last year, I came across an old picture of Rachel drawn by a friend from those days, and suddenly the proverbial light bulb went off above my head.
Of course, I needed to add more depth to the character than simply being a foul-mouthed drunk. I already had the idea of an Egypt-inspired science-fiction setting, so I started making pages of notes.
I wanted to explore not only her cybernetics as a cool feature, but how they might shape her personality and what the long-term psychological effects of losing so much of herself might be.
Her blunt, no-nonsense attitude was there from the beginning, but I also gave her CRPS (in honour of my wife, who suffers from it) and a hidden emotional vulnerability rooted in her fear of losing the people she cares about most.
Much of the rest of her personality emerged during the writing process, revealing itself to me as the story unfolded.
Other characters, such as Thalia, Solah, Karoo, and the rest, arrived as little more than rough sketches and developed alongside both Rachel and the story itself. Even now, I'm still discovering new things about them.
I made a conscious decision to avoid forcing any of them into established tropes. If they happen to resemble one, it's purely coincidental. Instead, I simply listened to their voices and followed where they led me.
I learned very early on that writing character-first fiction makes a mockery of detailed plans for plots, character arcs, and story structure. The characters invariably have ideas of their own. Still, I had an enormous amount of fun in the process.
Rachel's Rabble: Book 1 of The Broken Destiny
CJ Millson
Rachel was originally an online character I played in a digital text-based RPG almost two decades ago. She was a blunt, plain-speaking, foul-mouthed engineer between ships. The cybernetics were already there, though far less prevalent than they are in Rachel's Rabble
When I was brainstorming ideas for NovNov last year, I came across an old picture of Rachel drawn by a friend from those days, and suddenly the proverbial light bulb went off above my head.
Of course, I needed to add more depth to the character than simply being a foul-mouthed drunk. I already had the idea of an Egypt-inspired science-fiction setting, so I started making pages of notes.
I wanted to explore not only her cybernetics as a cool feature, but how they might shape her personality and what the long-term psychological effects of losing so much of herself might be.
Her blunt, no-nonsense attitude was there from the beginning, but I also gave her CRPS (in honour of my wife, who suffers from it) and a hidden emotional vulnerability rooted in her fear of losing the people she cares about most.
Much of the rest of her personality emerged during the writing process, revealing itself to me as the story unfolded.
Other characters, such as Thalia, Solah, Karoo, and the rest, arrived as little more than rough sketches and developed alongside both Rachel and the story itself. Even now, I'm still discovering new things about them.
I made a conscious decision to avoid forcing any of them into established tropes. If they happen to resemble one, it's purely coincidental. Instead, I simply listened to their voices and followed where they led me.
I learned very early on that writing character-first fiction makes a mockery of detailed plans for plots, character arcs, and story structure. The characters invariably have ideas of their own. Still, I had an enormous amount of fun in the process.
Rachel's Rabble: Book 1 of The Broken Destiny
CJ Millson
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