Meet the Noob Boss
The best thing about creating a new story is meeting the new characters. We’re all circling the room, weaving through the weirdos. I don’t know them yet, but that’s okay. They don’t know themselves, either. It can be a little odd at first as they change character traits, backstories or even the number of their heads. Some of them pick up strange accents or mannerisms as they find their way. The strangest, most extreme characters tend to cluster around the Normies, who tend to panic and scramble towards the exit.
Sometimes, the characters I had picked for a supporting role end up taking center stage. Some of the best are characters that were created on a whim or as a sideline to the main story. I love those odd ones who grab my attention from their corner of the room. They’re the ones I can’t forget, even if they weren’t part of the original story concept.
I don’t know who all of these characters are going to be, or how they’re going to interact with each other. That’s okay. They’ll figure it out. Trying on different roles and costumes, they’ll develop quirks and grow into themselves. I sometimes think I know them when the curtain rises only to be surprised when they go off script in the second act. My stories are more Improv than High Theater.
My antagonists usually present me with a list of demands that I ignore. Hey, I don’t negotiate with entitled divas. They, in turn, take out their frustration on my protagonists, creating diabolical plot twists that the props department and I didn’t see coming. Fortunately for the heroes, villains frequently find themselves partnered with annoying or incompetent sidekicks. Let’s face it. Working conditions in an evil lair leave something to be desired. Megalomaniac tyrants bent on dominating multiple universes are not always concerned about their underling’s feelings. To be fair, each antagonist is figuring things out as they go. It’s their first time. I mean, things didn’t go so well for their predecessor in the previous book. Sometimes, they study the past, but learning life lessons is not usually one of their strengths.
While all of the characters are milling about, it’s pretty easy to spot the villains in the crowd. They’re the ones studying the rest of the cast, searching for weaknesses. They are also the ones who horde all of the grapes from the craft services table. Of course, that sounds a lot like authors, so I make a point of wearing a name tag. The point is that while they’re examining everyone else, I’m keeping an eye on them. You never know about some characters. We’ve only just met.
