Welcome, Nelson Stewart (07/11)
Today I set about writing a post to introduce you to my main character. It was a wonderful post, providing a great deal of backstory, insight into him as a person and why he is currently involved in this adventure of mine. However, it also weighed in at over 1000 words, and told you very few of the things I was hoping to actually share. Hmm. The good news is, those 1000 words are likely going to appear in “A Week In Port Amble”, but I’m also back at square one for today.
My initial card (yep, those cards again!) for the protagonist read as follows:
“Middle aged. Can’t run. Boring.”
This is not to say that I wanted my protagonist to be JUST this, but it was the details that I had decided up front needed to be present. From here, I fleshed him out with a job, a backstory to get him to that job, a mentality and skill set, but always keeping in mind how old he was, and how unexciting he had to be. This was a conscious effort to stop him turning into some super-sleuth who could out-think, out-run and out-fight anyone else I could think up.
And then his name cemented it. With a big apology to anyone called Nelson, he was christened such because it’s a boring name. You cannot shorten it into an informal, friendly nick name, you can’t really do much with it at all, and it fits a child badly. He was then going to be surnamed Flinders, however that surname is a bit too important to Australian history, so it was dropped for another name that I felt didn’t lead to any real conclusions. Later, and again today, it was pointed out to me that this is the surname of a very good friend of mine. Thankfully, his first name is quite dynamic, and so he doesn’t suffer the subtle social stigma that I’m saddling my hero with.
Continuing with the three-aspect profile, he is a man in his late 40’s, the receding hairline and dark eyes made him look older than he was. He dresses in suits, usually shades of grey, the material usually worn, but still comfortable and presentable. His white shirts are not ironed, but straight. His ties are knotted immaculately, a sharp detail that clashed with his otherwise sombre demeanour.
He is friendly, polite. A man of paperwork, his mind is usually thinking one step ahead, but only in territories bureaucratic, or administrative. With people, he lives in the moment of the conversation, no agendas or social engineering. When it comes to socialising, he has a small group of very good, close friends, no acquaintances. Some are colleagues, some are people he has known all his life. If you were to ask any of them of their impression of him, they’d all tell you he was extremely dependable, very good at what he did, and a great friend, but a little…boring.
The final thing to know about this man, is that he such experience and passion in researching the unusual and unexplainable that he has an iron will, and does not scare easily. Having said that, he’s never quite pushed himself to find his breaking point…yet.
Please welcome Nelson Stewart.
End of Day Word Count:9,858. (Plus 1,000-odd that were written for…something else…)
Thoughts In The Key Of N 