Entry 5

I'm positive that some of you are wondering "How the heck did she come up with all these characters?" Well... I could just say it wasn't easy, but that's discouraging, and it was easy. Sorta. It's hard to explain. It really depends on the character. For example, my favorite: Leara.
As mentioned in Entry 3, she started out not so good. It was totally unoriginal, with an attitude and sick awesome fighting skills. She was a princess who didn't want to be crowned. That fact alone was one that made her cliché. The easiest way to fix it was to make her care about her people and want to rule them well. That taken care of, she needed attitude adjustment. That helped a lot. I made her older and more mature, but she's no angel. She still has problems as a person, and I tried to make others see her as I see her: flawed but lovable. Now about those fighting skills... I'm afraid she still has them. But I try to make her not have superhuman abilities. Here was something great about her: she was a good fighter because she cares about training so she can lead her country. I was so happy it worked out!
About inventing people.... yeah, that can be fun. Two in particular come to mind. Ellesänya and Yan. We'll start with Sänya. Her origin is quite interesting. I was designing a poster a long time ago, when I discovered I didn't have enough 'bad guys'. I also happened to be into samurai at the time. So what should arise but an evil lady in a kimono. The art was horrible, I must say. But something about her made me wonder. I was curious. So, I invented a story for her. I eventually scrapped that and made her a 'good guy'. Who wouldn't want the samurai on their side? Along with her I developed the country of Aris. She joined the Council, but when they traveled to Aris, I decided that the plot was going a little too smoothly. So I made her an outlaw in her own land. Now the Council is divided and people and plot are being developed. All because of a kimono.
The other story is Yan. Before him, I had a little problem. Here we have a main character. She's an orphan, living on a farm with her aunt and uncle. Ok. Stop there. Starwars? Eragon? Nuh-uh. That's gotta go. Alright, lemme think... I got it! Her dad is still alive, but her mother died of sickness. Yeah, that's it! No, wait. Cinderella. Fine. Just her and her mom. On second thought, all Disney stories are single parents. Easy to fix that one! She has both parents. They live on a farm, just the three of them. Ok, ok, fine. Give her some siblings. An older brother to help her dad out in the fields so that she can be free to go save the world. Voila! The birth of Yan! It was happy with that one for a while. But then... perhaps too convenient? Ok, little sister. That's how Lilia showed up. And I think it worked. See how everything changed just to avoid repetition? If you have trouble making something original, just work it over and over until you like it. And don't be afraid to make changes. Change is good. I promise.

Leara