Melanie Nilles

I’ve been working on the character interviews and must say that it’s fun. On the one hand, I get to revisit the character while also being outside that character, like writing a scene from an observer POV.

In a way, I’ve already done this while writing the story.  When I write, I start out with some basics about the characters–but I don’t know everything–and put it in a brief bio. They surprise me with details as I write. If I planned everything from the beginning, I wouldn’t have half the fun I do writing. Discovery is the aspect of writing that keeps me going. I love to learn new things about the characters and world I’ve created. Sometimes I have to really exercise the gray matter to make sense of something that popped up, while other times the characters “speak” of their own accord as clearly as if I was interviewing them. Most writers have experienced this at some point. In that point of discovery, we do conduct a micro-interview.

However, this is a regular interview in which the interviewer (sort of me but not quite, more like a neutral character, since I know both sides already) sits down with the character and ask questions and receive replies.

The first is nearly done. I’ll give it the final polish this weekend and post it by Sunday evening.

Who is it? Well, I have about 30 candidates–yeah, a lot!–and they include four dragons (two elder drakes and two younger), a few darker creatures, and a couple dozen humans (non-magical and magi First Race and some from the Second Race). I had a hard time deciding from among all those!

The first will be Damaera Isolder, queen of the country of Cavatar, at least for a while. I promised no spoilers, so that’s as much as you’ll get out of me until February 2008 (after the release of the first book, Dragon Prophecy). For information on who will follow, you’ll have to wait and see!

Check back in three days for the first character from Legend of the White Dragon!