For the first time in al my years of writing and with all the different things I have written, I have characters who are moving from one book to another. When I started writing my Radwinter stories… I had no idea that they would be ‘stories‘, I was going to write ‘a story‘, singular… but somehow the characters had unfinished business and they progressed into a second book, Magick, and then to my amazement into a third ‘Raddy and Syl’.
Because the characters were so vivid to me, I was able to show how their personalities developed, but I wasn’t actually aware i was doing it. Thomas, the narrator, begins his story at the age of thirty-four, rather depressed, very lacking in confidence, shy, awkward, silly, and very unhappy without really knowing why. As his life unravels, his true character actually begins to emerge, and by the start of the second novel, he is no longer depressed but optimistic, beginning to become more confident, and his shyness and awkwardness are falling away too, and although he is sometimes silly, it no longer upsets him when people laugh because they aren’t laughing at him as he used to think they were. Above all, he is very happy, very, very happy. Now in the third novel, he is a year older, newly married, with a step-son he adores, and a new baby on the way. He is happy and brimming with confidence for the future, and excited about the challenges life might bring. He still has his silly bumbling moments, when he gets in a muddle or says the wrong thing, but now he can cope with it and laugh at himself.
The changes in Thomas are apparent by the way he introduces his stories:
My name is Thomas Radwinter; I’m just really ordinary, and nobody would really notice me… I’m about five foot ten… well, maybe five foot nine, reddy-brown hair, and hazel eyes. I’ve grown a beard because everyone said I was baby-faced and when you’re thirty-two and look like a giant baby it’s a bit ridiculous.
In the second novel:
My name is Thomas Marcus Radwinter; I am just an ordinary person, there is nothing special about me. I was born in 1980, so I’m nearly thirty-four; I’m about five foot nine and I have brown hair and hazel-grey eyes and a reddish sort of beard. I’m a bit dubious about the beard really, but I think I would look like a fat fourteen year-old without it.
… and in the third novel I’m working on now:
My name is Thomas Marcus Pemberton Radwinter; I was born in 1980, so I’m thirty-four; I’m about five foot nine and I have brown hair and hazel-grey eyes and a reddish sort of beard.
I can’t imagine there will be another book… but supposing there is, how will Thomas continue to develop?
Lois Elsden 
The whole process of developing a character for a novel then having his characteristics evolve or morph simply intrigues me. I know we are weathered by time and experience but to superimpose it on a fictional character is amazing. I have enough trouble asking myself how I got here and who I really am?
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Thank you! xx
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