Shadows Edge

Over the years, Aiden has garnered quite a few enemies.? Some of them are those he’s sold tools to - having used those tools for illegal means, they’d prefer than no one living knew how they’d succeeded.? Of course, law enforcement would be pleased to catch him - though they know only his work and an alias.

The conflict that most affects his live is Aiden’s own conscious.? He is aware that his work is illegal - that it at best a gray matter. Yet his need to push the boundries of what he creates does constant battle with an innate need to help those less fortunate than himself.

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Okay, so I haven’t been posting everyday on the character challenge. I’ll try to be better about it in the next few weeks! In order to do so, I need some help though. I only have a couple of days left with Aiden. Gemini and I had agreed that the first character would be of our own choice, but the second character would be decided by someone else.

So what I need are suggestions for what kind of character my second attempt should be - you can suggest by genre, role-playing class, description, nationalit. Basically, anything that provides a starting point for the character is acceptable.

For the next few days, I’ve removed the requirement to register in order to post, so go ahead and post a comment with your suggestions!

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The past few days have been hectic and filled with non-writing endeavours. Although I’ve had some ideas and the desire to write, more often than not, I’ve been too tired, or somewhere I couldn’t write. I have managed to get some work done on Dawn. In fact, I’ve almost doubled the word count.

Admittedly, I’m only 5% to where I want to be. But this is what I’m calling the “mind-dump” draft. I’m just trying to get the story down on paper. I already know that there are some major adjustments and changes that I’ll have to make - first and foremost being that I need to add more physical description of the characters - it’s something I tend to forget since I already know what they look like!

What reassures me is that I am 5% of the way there and that tallies with where my outline says I should be in the word count. At first I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to reach my wordcount goal - but once I finish this draft and write the second - adding all the things I’m leaving out - I think I’ll be over by quite a bit. That should leave me with plenty of wiggle room when its time to tighten up the flow and language.

If I can just manage to write a bit everyday, I’ll be happy.

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Just a note - this is completely new character that has nothing to do with any of my existing characters. I’m just hoping he doesn’t decide that he needs a full story of his own!

The information here is what I would consider background information that probably wouldn’t come out directly in a story. It might be hinted at, some of it might show up in a flashback or dream. Largely, it would be used to help me understand what shaped the characters current activities, mindset and personality.

Aiden Domhnull never knew his parents. His childhood memories are of an orphanage. How he came to be there he has never learned. He was always the odd one out - smaller, darker, quieter than the other children. Children, in their brutal honesty, can be cruel; their words cutting each other to the quick. Aiden rarely seemed to care though. On rare occasions, his temper would explode without warning, often leaving him and his opponent in the infirmary. It may have been that unpredictable violence that kept him from being adopted. Then again, it may have been simple prejudice against his throwback appearance.

Though quiet, Aiden wasn’t prone to sullenness… at least not that he showed to anyone else. He kept to himself, endured the taunts and teasing, and made the most of the basic education given to the orphans. More often than not he could be found in a corner of the school room with a book.

The year he turned sixteen, he left the orphanage and never looked back. He worked odd jobs to support himself, spending much of his free time in libraries. In his own way, he was driven to learn, to gather knowledge of any kind. Eventually he began to focus his studies on the area of mechanics and electronics. Whatever was left over after paying rent and utilities on his small studio apartment went to buy tools and gadgets.

Curiosity led him to try his hand at creating tools for less-than-legal activities. The tools he created gave him more income to continue his studies and experiments. His reputation with the darker side of society grew as his tools met and exceeded the buyer’s expectation time and time again.

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Starting today, there is an addition to the sidebar of this blog. Its a progress meter for the writing project I just restarted. While I have several stories that I’ve started over the years, I never seem to get very far with them. Three or four have actual outlines and detailed character descriptions, but as far as writing the actual story goes, there isn’t much there. Even the longest one is only about 10 pages at this point.

Now, none of these stories is new - the oldest probably came about close to 20 years ago - the newest about four. Its the newest of them that I’ve started working on again.

Looking at the outline and what little I’ve already written, this one has the potential to be a good sized novel. But I need some accountability and motivation, and I thought the progress meter would be a good way to provide myself with a little bit of both. As you can see from the meter - I’ve barely begun. The working name of the story is Dawn and its set in an alternate present in which “magic” has been scientifically proven to exist. It not a new theme, but I’m hoping that the angle I’m taking with it will be different enough from most of the others out there to make it interesting.

Wish me luck!

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Aiden Domhnull keeps to himself. He never allows people to get too close to him, physically or emotionally. There is a reserved confidence about him that gives one the impression of stillness. He is neat, almost to a fault, though it is not an obsession. Nearer an obsession for Aiden is keeping active and fit. Aiden enjoys a challenge, determination and perseverance seeming to be his trademarks. He makes deductive, not intuitive, connections. Very little ruffles Aiden’s feathers, but his is a cold temper - calculating and dangerous - when it does surface. He prefers the shadows - to stand in back of the public powers and not be recognized. Money is little more than a tool to him and something that he rarely appears concerned about.

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Name: Aiden Domhnull
Gender: male

Aiden Domhnull is old Irish Celt. Not the tall, athletic type with dark hair, fair skin and blue eyes. No, Aiden comes from an older celtic line. Night black hair falls to his shoulders, often hiding his eyes and expression from others. His eyes are the dark brown of the peat bogs and seem just as likely to be hiding secrets as those peat bogs are. That he spends most of his time outdoors is obvious - weathered skin the color of walnut shells gives testament to it. No taller than five and half feet, his slender form hides a wiry, corded strength that seems out of proportion to his size. Watching him, one is reminded of a predator - a wolf perhaps, though there are few if any of those in Eire today.

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Before I actually start writing anything about my first character, I want to let you know about a great resource for coming up with character names. Names are one of the hardest things for me to come up with for characters - personalities and histories are much easier. One source that I use alot for names is 20,000 Names The only disadvantage to the site is that it isn’t a searchable database. The names are provided in list form, but the number of categories and nationalities they have is outstanding. It had been awhile since my last visit and they’ve added a whole set of categories - every thing from Dragon names to “night” names and magical names to “Guardian” names, including a long list of androgynous/unisex names. There are other sites I use to generate names on occasion, but this is the one I keep going back to.

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Gemini and I have been discussing a creative challenge. Since we both do a lot of role-playing and writing, we’re always having to come up with new characters that we can use. Sometimes this isn’t the easiest of things to do. We got together and discussed the various things that an author or role-player needs to know about their characters.

Over the next 30 days, Gemini and I will create 5 characters. Each character will be created over a 6 day period, with a specific part of the character being developed each day. You can see our progress over the next 30 days on our personal creative blogs at Shadows Edge and FatCat Compendium.

Here are the areas we’ll be tackling for each character:

• Physical Description and name
• Personality
• Past
• Enemy/Protagonist/Opposition
• Current circumstances/situation
• Miscellaneous - this is for information that is important but doesn’t fit anywhere else.

The first character will be of our own choice. We will post a copy of this post in our blogs and title each of the challenge posts in the following format - “Character Challenge: Character name - #”

Feel free to join us! If you do, sign in and post a link to where your character is posted.

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Why do I prefer to inhabit the shadows? Because the shadows are where everything is possible. Bright light leaves nothing to the imagination, revealing every detail there is to see. In utter darkness, there is nothing to see - no hints or possibilities.

Very little in the world is black and white - most everything is a shade of gray. The widest range of experiences, concepts and potentials is found in that meeting place in between. . . In the shadows.

Why should I limit myself to just the light, where there is no room for supposition and what if?? Should I limit myself to the narrowness of the dark, where nothing can be seen?? Would you?

I choose the multitude of possibilities that can be found in the shadows - the scary and the calming, the ugly and the beautiful, the chaotic and the logical. I choose to not to limit myself, except to what my imagination can conjure. And I continue to search out ways to stretch my imagination and my limits.

So, that’s me and my blog, in a nutshell. Any questions?

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