C. L. Norman

I picked up a copy of the January issue of The Writer magazine and thumbed through it during my break at work. An entry on page 20, in the middle of the Lee Child interview, caught my eye. In this entry Mr. Child talks about starting with an unlikable character, it could be your best character ever.

I thought about that for a moment before I realized how true that is. At least for me. The two characters I remember best and that ’speak’ to me the loudest started with a flaw.

Mouse–yes, she will make another appearance soon– started with insatiable curiousity. I knew that I wanted her to be curious because I was new to gaming and I wanted an excuse for all the trouble she was going to get into. Then I shaded the curiousity with cowardice. She’s non-confrontational and prefers to avoid or run away from fights. She lives and breathes in the world inside my mind.

John St. George began with sarcasm and middle age. This led to bad knees and a fatalistic view of his job, dragonslaying. John is the protaginist in a short story that I wrote last spring and he has been sitting in a corner in my mind patiently waiting for another story of his own. And making snarky comments about other projects I’ve been working on since.

The other characters I’ve made have started with generalities and good traits. Bravery, nimble fingers, a need to protect the innocent. These characters all feel like cardboard, dry and flat.

Next character I write up, I am going to take Lee Child’s advice and work backwards. I will start with an unlikable trait and move out from there.

        

I finished up the third book in the Dante Valentine series last night and I wanted to share my opinion with you.

First off I’ve gotta say that I make a terrible book reviewer as I don’t like saying much bad about a book. I admire every author who has gone through the process that ends with their novel on my shelf. That said, here it goes.

I like Dante. She is a very interesting character with a lot of flaws and interesting powers. She kicks butt and takes names and isn’t afraid to cry alone in her room when things are bad. Japhrimel, her love interest, is also kinda neat. Very mysterious and not human and as we never spend any time in his head we have no idea what is going on with him. Or almost no idea.

The setting is neat. Hover cars, plasguns, magic users, and demons all mix into a gritty world that’s a little too scary to physically visit but peaking through the window that Lilith Saintcrow has provided is exciting and gripping. I will continue to peak through and finish out the series.

Two things I had trouble with, one relatively minor and the other a bit bigger.

It is mentioned several times how the magic users are so rare in this world and yet shopkeepers, people on the street, and most other folks Dante has run into all had the characteristic tatoo on their cheeks that indicates their status as a magic user. I had to make excuse that with the idea that maybe Dante just doesn’t notice humans as much as she isn’t one. It works but it is one of those little things that niggle away at me when I am reading.

The other thing is the situation Dante gets into in this book with her demon lover, Japhrimel. She is put in the situation of being the battered woman. I am not familiar personally with this position but I believe this was very well done. The shock and depression that Dante spirals into was very moving. It was also realistic from what I have heard. Including forgiving Japh and going back with him. But Dante is a hero! I thought Japhrimel would have to work harder to attain forgiveness and a place with Dante again. It seemed all so very easy for the two getting back together. I would have liked to see that process take longer. Just my opinion.

All in all, the book is good and I recommend it to any fan of urban fantasy. Have you read this book? What did you think?