It’s that time of year again, peoples! Where that last smidgeon of sanity us writers have gets flung out the window and locked out for a month. That’s right, NaNoWriMo is coming! Which means October is NaNo-prep month. I’m a wee bit behind on my prepping this year, but I’m starting to get into the swing of things. It hasn’t been easy though, this year’s novel is being stubborn, but I’m starting to discover its secrets and pull a story out of it. As I know I’ve mentioned, every year of NaNo since my first in 2010 I write each book from a fantasy, dragon rider series dubbed the Colors of a Dragon Scale series. Each book follows a different pair of dragon riders and I’m quite excited about this year’s cast. So excited that I thought I’d share a little bit about the characters who will be fighting my family and friends for all my attention next month, and basically taking over my life. (But that’s okay, I love my babies.) . . . Iavin Most of the story is from Iavin’s POV. He’s the poor dear that gets dragged around to strange places by even stranger people and spends the majority of the story in complete cluelessness. Some may say his life has been full of ease and pleasure, but that’s certainly not how he’s seen it. Iavin’s elvish mother came from a well-to-do family in an elven community where her seamstress skills were renowned, so much that she was asked to be the official seamstress to the royal family. His human father was a dragon rider himself and almost singlehandedly prevented a war between their kingdom and another one, making him an instant legend. Our little half elf Iavin has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, his short stature and regrettable lack of muscles isn’t much to compare to his father’s great physique or his mother’s height. Besides which, he’d much rather spend all day in seclusion reading a good book than attempting any form of greatness. He knows he’d just mess up whatever he tried anyway. To be part elf, he’s awfully clumsy. Embarrassment is a well known emotion to him. With parents such as he has, he’s thrust into a depressing amount of social events where his anxiety and insecurity get the best of him. He thinks he’s a failure to his parents, which results in a lot of self-conscious problems. But then the unthinkable happens. He’s chosen by a dragon, and a white dragon at that, the rarest and most sacred of the species. One would think he’d be very proud of that fact; maybe now he can finally prove himself worth something and make his parents proud. In reality, he’s scared out of his wits. I mean, how is he supposed to live up to his legendary dragon rider of a father? Especially when he can barely hold up a sword. Overall, Iavin is a shy, insecure little thing that wants nothing more than to be alone with a book about adventures instead of living one himself. But despite not quite living up to his parents’ standards, he has a beautiful heart for others. He may think he isn’t worth anything and people look down on him, but anyone who spends a lot of time with him cannot help but be drawn in by his kind, gentle nature. To be perfectly honest, I kind of love this precious boy to death and I cannot wait to start his story (even if I feel a teeny tiny bit guilty about all the peril I’m going to thrust the tenderhearted lad into *cough*). Sayleth Sayleth is Iavin’s dragon rider partner and our second main character. I’ve had the idea of Sayleth for years and yet I only just figured out who she is a couple days ago. She’s a mystery girl, even to her author. With her almost white hair, unnaturally light blue eyes, and extremely pale complexion people are a bit wary of her. Her pointed ears suggest she’s an elf, but rarely is an elf so small and pale. She merely showed up the day the dragons chose their riders. When one chose her, and a white one at that, people decided she must be trustworthy, dragons only choose the best of the best. Still, most keep a distance of caution between themselves and her. She never attempts to explain herself, but it’d be pretty difficult being as how she’s a mute. Her peculiar appearance, unknown background, and inability to speak wraps her in a mysterious aura. She doesn’t interact with people often, and no one is quite sure if it’s because she’s shy or just prefers keeping to herself. And yet, despite her mysteriousness, she has a charm that gravitates people to her, wary or not. There’s a peaceful pleasantness in her company that can never quite be explained. She’s gracious and kind in whatever she does, and as graceful as doves. Because of this, it’s a bit of a surprise when people discover this tiny, pale, delicate girl surpasses almost all the other riders during fighting training. I’m looking forward to the challenge of writing Sayleth. I’ve never had a mute character before. It’s going to be an interesting thing to work around, but I’ve got quite a few things in the works. *grins* I can’t say what all her mysteriousness is about because spoilers and all that, but I will say it involves stars and snow and another character. . . Cael This guy. . .I don’t even know. I had absolutely no intentions for this guy to exist. I was simply minding my own business, outlining my NaNo quietly, when boom he appears out of nowhere and demands to take over the story that supposed to center around Iavin and Sayleth. And not only that, he’s attempting to take number one place in my heart out of all the characters in the entire series! Rude much? I always tend to fall for the ones that I don’t even plan. Am I the only one that does that? Ah well, at least he’s making things. . .interesting. Technically Cael is the antagonist for this particular novel, but to call him a villain is kind of stretching it. He thinks he’s doing the right thing. He’s not, but at least he gets points for trying, right? And he can actually be a likeable fellow. In fact, Iavin likes him a whole lot when they first meet. Until Iavin discovers what he’s up to that is. Things go downhill from there. Cael is an interesting person, to say the least. He’s cocky and snarky and carefree and optimistic, in a sinister sort of way. He’s quite the manipulator. But there’s still something about him that can’t help but be liked. He’s a charmer, I suppose. He makes himself friendly even while he’s doing dastardly deeds. I mean, if you’re going to imprison your friends the least you can do is lock them in a fairly nice room and give them plenty of torches to stay warm, right? That’s Cael for you. He makes it almost impossible to call him evil even though he kind of is. He’s quite a character, that’s for sure. (And I sort of totally love him and can’t wait to write about him. Why oh why do the antihero types always capture my heart? It’s a problem.) Also, Cael is not his official name yet. I’m having the worst time settling on a name for him. I’ve also considered Cerus or Serin. What do you think? . . . So that’s my main cast for NaNo 2014. They’re going to be quite a group to spend November with. And I’m only about halfway through the outline, so who knows what other characters decide to leap from the blue and steal my heart. Oh, the things we writers must endure. What about you? Are you participating in NaNo this year? If so, are you excited about this year’s characters in your novel? Or if you’re not doing NaNo, are you working on a novel right now with some interesting charries? Tell me about them! Characters is my favorite subject!