Hello, lovely readers of Emily’s
blog, I’m Michelle. Emily was nice enough to tag me for the All About My Main
Character Blog Hop, only, silly me, I don’t have a blog yet. (I should think
about changing that.) For the sake of this exercise, Emily has been nice enough
to lend her blog to me.)
This exercise is a way to get to
know the main character in my most recent novel. Since my current work in
progress is in the very early stages, so the main character and I are still
getting to know each other, but I’m happy to share him with anyone else
interested.
1) What is the name of your
character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Zakar (Zak) Turani, an entirely
fictional character. He’s mostly human, but he may or may not have a bit of
mage or dragon in his family tree somewhere.
2) When is the story set?
A fantasy novel, the story is set in
its own world and its own calendar, but I’ve based it mainly off of the
Achaemenid Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire, around 550-330 B.C.
With a few significant differences, of course.
3) What should we know about
him/her?
Zak, by virtue of befriending one of
the few mages in one of the city’s Hordes (gangs, basically, although super
organized), joined a Horde at a young age, and went through training for quite
a few different areas before settling as a thief. Now he runs that part of the
organization, and is very loyal to his people, who are, in turn, very loyal to
him. His mage friend, Arach, is an honorary member as well. This, of course,
causes some conflict with the leader of the Horde Ludek, who hasn’t liked Zak
since Zak abandoned his training as an assassin. His life, for a few years now,
has been in constant conflict with Ludek, and only because his leaving would
cost the Horde a mage has kept him alive and a member of the only family he’s
ever had. And he knows it, and walks that fine line carefully.
4) What is the main conflict? What
messes up his/her life?
In Zak’s world, the main conflict is
dragons, who are, in this world, humanoid creatures as deadly and dangerous as
the dragons of our mythology. They’re systematically taking over the conflict,
and are getting closer and closer to Zak’s home. When the rich and the refugees
from other countries start abandoning the prosperous city, he knows it’s only a
matter of time before the dragons arrive. Unfortunately, his horde leader and
many of the powerful members of the horde are secretly working with the
dragons. Zak’s sense of honor means he can’t abandon the city and the people he
cares about while so many people close to him are working to destroy his home.
The question is, what can he do
about it?
5) What is the personal goal of the
character?
Growing up as an orphan, in a
culture that has a strong emphasis on family, has left Zak with a deep-seeded
need to belong. To a place, to people, anything. He wants a home and a family.
With his band of thieves, he has that, to a certain extent, but the dragons
definitely threaten it. His personal goal is to not lose the only family he’s
ever had.
6) Is there a working title for this
novel, and can we read more about it?
This novel is in the very early
stages of it. A vast majority of the first draft hasn’t even been written yet,
so I haven’t even started thinking about titles. I am, however, querying
another novel, Matters of the Soul, about a powerful djinni living in
modern-day Seattle, which is in the querying stages. More about it can be found
on my twitter account, @michelle_beahm.
7) When can we expect the book to be
published?
In a few years, I’m hoping. I want
to get the first draft done by the end of February, at the latest, and then I
plan on dedicating much time to revisions and edits, so that hopefully by this
time next year, I will be ready to submit it to the agent I hope to have by
then, or to query elsewhere if s/he isn’t interested.
Now, to pass this along, I tag JennyFerguson for this fun exercise.
