One of the comments most commonly made about Sedition is the character of Trenna. Everyone seems to love her, and to be honest I’m pretty attached to her as well. She’s quirky and tough, great with a sword, not so great with relationships, and has a sense of humor. In short, she’s a blast to write. But … where did I come up with her?
I’m going to sound a little off-balance, but I think most of my writer friends would agree that sometimes there is a physical object that yanks a character into view. For me, I picked up an old templar sword and ka-boom! there she was. I wish I could say the whole story was like that, but I’m afraid the sword only showed me the character and I was intrigued enough to start writing her story.
In actuality, the first scene I wrote with Trenna in it was the ambush scene from Sedition. I’ll post the little blurby for you all to see what I started with …
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It would have been a well-planned ambush, five archers hiding in the treetops all trained on the trail below with keen and steady eyes. Many wouldn’t have even noticed them, but Trenna, who had been escaping the castle by means of a cross-country walk, had caught sight of a flash of black where there should have only been green. Somewhat bored and aggravated at the state of things between herself and Dalton, she moved to investigate.
They weren’t in uniform, but they seemed well trained. They had at least camouflaged themselves in such a way that they almost looked a part of the great pines they sat in. And it looked as though they’d been planning this for a while because she spotted small, squared platforms under their feet. The question was for whom they were waiting. Politics notwithstanding, living in close quarters with so many people riled a lot of nerves, and there were plenty of powerful people with enough money to hire assassins.
Come to think of it, there were plenty of assassins for hire as well.
She wondered if it paid well.
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That’s the first scene I ever wrote with Trenna in it. Sedition fans will notice that this is actually in Chapter 4, but let’s face it, the rough draft never resembles the finished product. And I knew when I wrote it that I was just testing the waters to see if I liked her enough to spend the years it would take to complete her story.
In Saboteur we get to see the depths to her character. She’s not all about brazen swordplay and drunken bar fights, and I wanted that to really shine in the sequel. That was part of the reason we find out that she’s pregnant in the first chapter of the book. I wanted to limit her ability to fight, forcing her to take aid from her husband, Nelek. ((For those who haven’t finished Sedition yet, I apologize for that spoiler.))
Next up … Nelek Vronat Dyngannon. Tomorrow, I’ll explore where the “warring Prince” came from.
AJMaguire 