I thought I’d spice up my sharing blogs a bit. For ages they’ve been excerpts from my books or other creative endeavours. I’ve never really written anything especially for these blogs, just showcased something I’d already made. I’d like to try something new in every other sharing blog, so once every 24 days roughly I thought I’d do a character spotlight. I may also do a few location spotlights but they won’t be so regular.
All my stories are character driven so for me the most important thing when starting work on a new idea is getting to know the characters involved. Sometimes this can take a while and I can have imaginary people floating around my head for ages. Occasionally they come back after a few months break with some fresh information but mostly I sit down and chat with them during the planning and plotting stage of each book.
When I first started out as a writer I wrote a lot of this information down and even did interviews but as I get better at my craft I’ve been doing this less. Now I just chat to them and let them unfold a bit more as I write.
One of the characters who came to me quite suddenly, let me write her story and then left again without even much of a goodbye was Bronwen. She’s the main character in The Path Home, one of the shorts in Innocent Hearts.
In this blog I’m going to put the spotlight on her, who she is, why she’s where she is at the start of the story, plus anything else I think you might like to know about her. This is going to talk about aspects of the plot and things mentioned in the story, although I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum it may be better to have read The Path Home first. If you’ve not and would like to, you can pick up an ebook copy of her story and Learning to Fly for just 77p here
Bronwen
At the start of The Path Home, Bronwen is alone in her small cottage, upset and packing to go on some kind of journey. I don’t really fill in a lot of her past in this short. I never really intended to as in my head there was always going to be some kind of novel sequel. Almost two years later I still have no idea what that sequel would really look like, so I’ll start with some more backstory of hers.
Bronwen is half elf and half human. Her mother was the elf side of things and her father, human. She’s grown up with both parents in her cottage (Probably a lot like this cottage <– by Thomas Kinkade). To start with she had a pretty basic home life, with the exception of few visitors and no other people living nearby.
The lack of major social interactions coupled with the fact elves live a lot longer than humans means she’s not as emotionally mature as she should be for her age. Although I never specified her age in the books, she’s about seventeen, maybe eighteen but she acts more like thirteen. A very lost and alone thirteen.
Being in a house so far from other civilisation does kinda beg the question why. Unfortunately, Bronwen herself doesn’t entirely know. It seems to have had more to do with Dad than Mum, as Mum regularly went to visit her kin in the elf city Invareph, to the north of home. But neither of them ever explained it to her and before she had thought it might be good to ask they were both dead. Needless to say there’s obviously something about her past she needs to find out and I imagine it bothers her that no one can explain it for sure.
Bronwen had been feeling restless and not quite satisfied with being at home ever since her mother died. Before then her mother would satisfy her vast curiosity with a few odd tales and letting her see the ornate elvish jewellery she had. Her Dad, out of the pain of losing the woman he loved, closed up and never told her anything. As such Bronwen’s curiosity grew worse and worse.
Before the story only two things have stopped Bronwen leaving home. Her love for her father. He does dote on her and is fiercly protective, maybe a little too protective. Also her inability to survive. Mostly because her father is so concerned for her she’s never been out in the wilderness without him. She’s never had to hunt for food and can only cook a little and knows very little about surviving for more than an afternoon out in the wilds.
When her father dies too she finds not only are her two reasons for staying put gone but she has no choice but to leave and find others if she wants to survive. Fate pushes her out the door to go find her mother’s people, just like she’s always wanted.
It’s the only thing she’s ever really wanted, to go to Invareph too and be surrounded by all the other elves her mother told her about. And like all good stories, in The Path Home, that’s exactly what happens by the end. Some other stuff happens along the way and it’s not all plain sailing but by the end, she’s achieved what she set out to do.
So there’s Bronwen and what I know about her so far. Maybe she’ll visit again sometime. If anyone has any more questions about her feel free to put them in the comments below and I’ll see what kind of answer I can give.