Yet as I venture into the strange, strange world of Tempus Regina, I thought I would do a Dramatis Personae post for it. I don't expect this to be accurate to the finished product, or even the 50,000 word product; but it will give everyone a tiny glimpse into the story, and I'll be interested, sometime down the road, to look back and see the differences.
tempus regina
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Regina
Regina has appeared on Scribbles a few times, but not being of a very open or sociable turn of mind, she hasn't featured much. She has a spotty history; she can still remember (when she cares to) the time before she, her mother, and her brother moved to London from the country, but since then her life has been full of fog and dirt and hard labour. Nine years of taking care of her mentally-ill brother on her own have lent ice to her personality, and no matter how turbulent the waters may grow underneath, she keeps that ice intact. Not even being hurled through time, tangling with history, and falling in with an assassin can break her of that.
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The Assassin
The Assassin has also featured, with some success (little wonder: would you look at that guy's cheeky grin?). He's a nebulous fellow, with a past about as spotty as Regina's and a present that exists primarily in the dark. He dabbles in a little bit of everything - a little alchemy, a little astrology, a little assassination. For a price, he agrees to help Regina find the answer to the riddle of the pocket watch, and thus hurls himself headlong into a hunt that will muddle past, present, and future and change the face of his world.
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Morgaine
Morgaine is something wholly different from either Regina or the Assassin, but her path runs into theirs, and after that there is no separating them. She is quiet, not with Regina's stoniness, but with the air of someone who has learned to hold her tongue and prick her ears. As tied to Britain as an oak tree, there yet remains something in her that has nothing to do with that world at all. She feels it rather than knows it, and the knowledge of her own self, somehow entangled with the life of a woman from the future, shakes her foundations.
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A Fisherman
Living in a hut at the edge of a river, this man passes for a sort of strange fisherman - only, he fishes for knowledge and not trout. Like the Assassin, he keeps to his shadows; he is the man above the stage, not necessarily making the puppets move, but watching them as they do and perhaps giving the strings an occasional tug. He knows more about the Dragon watch than the other three characters put together, but there remains a large gap in his information; and until he has filled it, he keeps back and watches the puppets move. When he comes out, though, I do believe he'll come out with a roar.
Wow! Can't wait to hear more about the plot. It sounds rather chilling right now! (And by the way, that asassain looks like a love-hate character!)
ReplyDeleteYour characters sound so interesting. Just from reading this I think the Fisherman would be my favorite, or maybe Regina. What genre is this story?
ReplyDeleteMorgan J
Love the characters. I'm really looking forward to hearing more about this book.
ReplyDeleteRachel - I love him already, so hopefully that's a good sign!
ReplyDeleteMorgan - Thank you! The Fisherman should be an interesting fellow to write, but he hasn't shown up much. The story is speculative - a kind of historical fantasy, without any alternate historical events. It's hard to explain, but I think that the farther into it I get and the more it pops up here on Scribbles, the more sense it will make. (We hope.)
Gabrielle - Thankee! The beginning of a story is always the most uncomfortable for me, so I don't know how much this will feature on the blog until I reach that lovely 50,000 word mark.
Oh wow! How intriguing. Do you start your stories with characters and then have them help you develop the plot? Or are you just giving us a foretaste of your characters as a way to introduce your new story? The question "which comes first, characters or plot?" is interesting because it's different for every author, don't you think? And they overlap in so many ways!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tantalizing preview! I think Morgaine catches me the most at this point. Though the other girls are right - they all sound so interesting. :)
I love the characters! Morgaine (how do you pronounce it?) reminds me just a little of one of my own characters, except mine is younger, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe story sounds really cool!
You're welcome! Same here. I have the hardest time figuring out how to start a novel. Good luck with it! And I hope to see more of it around your blog.
ReplyDeleteElinor - Oh, that's a difficult question; generally the two are so integrally related that I couldn't say which came first, plot or character. It's been a while since Tempus Regina first started percolating, but I think I'd have to say that I had the inklings of a plot, then the title, and then the characters.
ReplyDeleteWriter - I'm glad you think so! Her name is just pronounced "Mor" (as in morbid) "gain" (as in to gain). The men really do have proper names as well, I just can't share them.
Gabrielle - Thank you!
You're welcome. I like how you said the men have proper names and that you can't share them. It makes me want to read more!! You have me most certainly hooked with this story.
ReplyDeleteThis was fascinating to read, Abigail! I loved to get a better "peak" at what 'Tempus Regina' might be... it is thoroughly intriguing!
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of Regina's character a lot and the Assassin has piqued my interest too in that he seems to me half fearful half comical (forgive me if I am wrong!). But Morgaine and The Fisherman sound like morbid and terrifying folks indeed... I would shudder from a close acquaintance with those two :)
Joy - How do you always manage to hit the nail on the head? It's almost disturbing how well you follow my train of thought.
ReplyDeleteDid I? Oh well, that's nice indeed! I did it completely unintentionally (following your train of thought), but glad an I that I did anyway :).
ReplyDelete