The Creative Process II: Character Development

​Characters have always been my primary interest as a writer. Though I’m incredibly meticulous when it comes to story structure, and I’ve read Save the Cat enough times to have a pretty firm grasp of plot sequencing, character creation is what gets me up in the morning.

The two characters central to Into the Known Universe: A Cosmic Love Story, Kinda are among my favourite in the known universe.

Once I hit on the novel’s premise of a guy who gets offered a promotion in exchange for retrieving a stolen cargo freighter only to discover that it was stolen by his boss’ wife, my first task was figuring out just who the hell this guy was. I envisioned him as something like Bilbo Baggins in space—a man so comfortable in his little sandbox of a world that being dragged through the cosmos by some stranger would seem like a living hell. Welcome to the universe, Stuart Bode. I also took inspiration from Terry Gilliam's glorious dystopian satire Brazil (one of my favourite films), in which Jonathan Pryce plays Sam Lowry, a low-level bureaucratic drone who dreams of flying to the rescue of a beautiful damsel in distress and escaping the drudgery of his existence. Whereas Lowry rejects a promising promotion and is willing to throw away his career for Kim Greist’s Jill Layton, Stuart covets a promotion above all else, is perfectly content with marching to the tune of a totalitarian regime, and resents the supposed “woman of his dreams” for obstructing his professional development. 

With Stuart fully formed from the creative dust of my imagination, I turned to his counterpart—the runaway bride. If Stuart was orderly, predictable, uncomfortable, naïve, hygienic, judgmental, and borderline repressed, she would have to be the total opposite—chaotic, spontaneous, carefree, street smart, slovenly, easygoing, and absolutely unhinged. I saw her as something like Kim Greist from Brazil meets Catherine Keener from Being John Malkovich meets Harley Quinn meets Bugs Bunny—a sexy, tenacious, self-assured, bona fide shit-disturber with a near-supernatural knack for worming her way out of impossible situations with all the grace and poise of a cartoon rabbit. I set out to create a subversion of the blonde bombshell archetype—a woman who outwardly embodies attributes that men would find desirable, but with a personality they’d want to switch off. As she developed, she became a little more complex—to my surprise, my initial commentary on certain men trying to bend the women of their desires to fit a certain idealized mold ended up becoming central to her character. I named her after the brilliant Dutch astronomer Janna Oort, who furthered our understanding of the galaxy we call home. This seemed like a fitting nod considering my Janna’s discovery-based character arc (though in light of how crass she turned out to be, I sometimes wonder if the real Janna Oort would have appreciated the homage). 

Thus it was that Stuart Bode and Janna Oort were born. Theirs would be a true odd-couple dynamic, a pairing of unlikely allies who through trial and adversity would slowly come to appreciate each other, possibly even like each other (or, would they??). The adventures would practically write themselves. By the time I finished the final part of the original Pulp Kings serial in 2020, I felt like I could write them in any situation. When I returned to the serial in late 2022 for a heavy expansion and revision, I was delighted at how easy it was to slip back into writing them. Some of my favourite scenes, particularly the impromptu games night on the Havan ark, were added during the overhaul.
​
Writing Stuart and Janna was some of the most fun I’ve ever had at the ol’ keyboard. I grew to love them, and I hope you to do—in spite of their numerous and glaring character flaws.