Steve Grobschmidt's Blog - Posts Tagged "inspiration"
The Inspiration Behind The Character Darrow
One of my favorite characters to write in the Gamma Trita series is the mercurial mercenary Darrow. I've gotten some feedback from readers echoing their appreciation for him too.
How did I come up with him?
There was always a plan to have a hired gun under the employ of Marco Deed, helping out at the end of Gemini Girl and beyond. However, a revisit to a favorite old sci-fi show over the holiday season of 2022 inspired me how just to write the merc.
The show was Blake's 7. It was a popular British science fiction show from 1978-1981. The setting was a bleak, dystopian future. A very oppressive, totalitarian regime called the Terran Federation ruled Earth and beyond. Among the most prominent dissenters was a ragtag band of freedom fighters led by the titular Roj Blake.
I discovered the show in the mid 80s, on PBS. The effects, even then, weren't very impressive but the strength of the show was the writing and the characters. My absolute favorite was an antihero named Kerr Avon. Not unlike another 80s favorite of mine, Ham Tyler (played by Michael Ironside) in the "V" miniseries and TV show, Avon was a bit of jerk and most certainly self-interested. But he was so captivating and dynamic as a character that he wound up outlasting Blake himself, who went missing and was presumed dead halfway through the show's run.
Avon was played by Paul Darrow. Even after a pretty grim finale to the series, Avon lived in in various books, some of them written by Darrow himself.
Sadly, Paul Darrow passed away in 2019. But I, and many sci-fi fans, will never forget him because of just how cool and cunning Avon was.
So when I came up with my own self-serving, not-entirely-good-but-definitely-not-bad rogue, I looked to Avon for inspiration. My Darrow has similar traits of calling like it he sees it, even if it's blunt and insensitive. He operates by his own moral compass, certainly for money but other reasons too.
I also decided to name him after the great man who played Avon.
Thus became Darrow!
How did I come up with him?
There was always a plan to have a hired gun under the employ of Marco Deed, helping out at the end of Gemini Girl and beyond. However, a revisit to a favorite old sci-fi show over the holiday season of 2022 inspired me how just to write the merc.
The show was Blake's 7. It was a popular British science fiction show from 1978-1981. The setting was a bleak, dystopian future. A very oppressive, totalitarian regime called the Terran Federation ruled Earth and beyond. Among the most prominent dissenters was a ragtag band of freedom fighters led by the titular Roj Blake.
I discovered the show in the mid 80s, on PBS. The effects, even then, weren't very impressive but the strength of the show was the writing and the characters. My absolute favorite was an antihero named Kerr Avon. Not unlike another 80s favorite of mine, Ham Tyler (played by Michael Ironside) in the "V" miniseries and TV show, Avon was a bit of jerk and most certainly self-interested. But he was so captivating and dynamic as a character that he wound up outlasting Blake himself, who went missing and was presumed dead halfway through the show's run.
Avon was played by Paul Darrow. Even after a pretty grim finale to the series, Avon lived in in various books, some of them written by Darrow himself.
Sadly, Paul Darrow passed away in 2019. But I, and many sci-fi fans, will never forget him because of just how cool and cunning Avon was.
So when I came up with my own self-serving, not-entirely-good-but-definitely-not-bad rogue, I looked to Avon for inspiration. My Darrow has similar traits of calling like it he sees it, even if it's blunt and insensitive. He operates by his own moral compass, certainly for money but other reasons too.
I also decided to name him after the great man who played Avon.
Thus became Darrow!
