![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/A-Belfrage-alt-3-227x300.jpg\")
Writing your protagonists<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the benefits of writing fiction is that you can make things up. (Duh!) In my case, I have long nurtured a dream to time-travel, and once I came to the conclusion this was not about to happen for real \u2013 major, major disappointment, let me tell you \u2013 I decided to write about it instead. So I whipped up a major lightning storm that propelled my female protagonist in The Graham Saga, Alex Lind, \u00a0three centuries backwards in time. I have a thing about the 17th<\/sup> century; all that political upheaval, all that religious unrest \u2013 definitely a time when a lot of stuff happened.<\/p>\n Dear Alex is not as adequately grateful as she should be. After all, here she is, thrown into a life full of adventure and excitement, very far from her previous rather humdrum existence as some sort of computer whiz. Alex did not leap out of my head like a modern day Athena, fully formed into the character she now is. She came in bits and pieces, evolving from a rather fuzzy image of someone with a lot of curly hair to a woman with more than her fair share of courage \u2013 and a capacity to adapt. Which is why, when I drop in to check on her, I am met by a woman quite indistinguishable from her new contemporaries \u2013 at least on the outside\u2026<\/p>\n Alex sits down on the bench and looks at me. She\u2019s in long skirts, a bodice that is a bit too tight over a rounded bosom, a neat white collar and an apron that is in serious need of a wash. The colours suit her, the muted russet of the bodice brings out the bronze and copper strands in her dark hair. Two blue eyes meet mine, brows pulled together in a frown.<\/p>\n \u201cStill look the same, do I?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cMore or less.\u201d After all, the first time I saw her she was in jeans.<\/p>\n Alex scrapes at a stain of something that looks suspiciously like dried blood on her apron and sighs.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes I no longer even notice. First few months here I\u2019d change aprons every morning, but now \u2026\u201d She shrugs. \u201cSame thing with all my clothes; I wear them well beyond modern hygiene standards.\u201d<\/p>\n I can smell that. At least she bathes regularly, a major difference to most of the people in the here and now.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think it was meant somehow?\u201d I ask her. \u201cYou know, your plunge through time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike some sort of predestined fate? Don\u2019t be ridiculous! It was more a matter of wrong time, wrong place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d I say. \u201cI dare say you regret taking the shortcut over the moors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was late.\u201d Alex gnaws her lip. She takes off her cap and scratches vigorously at her hair. I wonder if she might have lice, but refrain from asking. \u201cIt was either the moor or being flayed by Diane for being late. The moor seemed a better option.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, do you regret it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I didn\u2019t exactly plan on time travelling, did I?\u201d She laughs, shaking her head. \u201cI guess nobody does. Kind of incredible, all in all.\u201d She grows serious. \u201cHad someone told me that by taking the road over the moor I might end up yanked out of my time, I would never have done it \u2013 assuming I believed anyone who told me something so utterly ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n We share a chuckle. Alex has no patience with people professing an interest for the occult \u2013 no matter in what shape. And yet here she is, living proof that sometimes weird things happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pretty glad no one did,\u201d she says a few minutes later. \u201cOtherwise, I\u2019d never have met Matthew.\u201d She gazes out of the small window, her mouth softening into a faint smile.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he\u2019s worth it, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s worth some of it,\u201d she fires back. \u201cSome of the experiences I\u2019ve had here, I\u2019d rather have been without, thank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUmm.\u201d I like putting her through precarious episodes.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I kind of notice that.\u201d Her blue eyes bore into me. \u201cIt\u2019s because you\u2019re jealous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho? Me?\u201d I feel caught out. Of course I\u2019m jealous! She\u2019s young, he\u2019s gorgeous, life is crammed with adventure \u2013 okay, okay, perhaps excessively so at times, but still. She laughs and shakes her head at me, and I feel my cheeks flaring into a bright, tomato red.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not here to talk about me,\u201d I say in an effort to retake control over the situation. \u201cIt\u2019s you people want to know about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFive foot eight, dark hair, blue eyes, good tits\u2026 well that\u2019s it, no?\u201d<\/p>\n I roll my eyes at her. \u201cYour inner qualities, Alex!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOpinionated and stubborn to a fault,\u201d Matthew says as he enters the kitchen. He grins at Alex. \u201cQuite the hellcat, and she kicks like an unbroken horse.\u201d His mouth softens, he extends his hand and Alex sort of floats upright and levitates towards him. Okay, okay; of course she doesn\u2019t \u2013 but is sure looks that way.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m right glad you chose that shortcut,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo am I,\u201d she says, \u201cmost of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot always?\u201d he asks, something dark colouring his voice.<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost always,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cHmm.\u201d He grips her chin and raises her face to the light. He kisses her, a mere brushing of lips no more, and I pretend a major interest in my pencil.<\/p>\n \u201cNot always?\u201d he asks again.<\/p>\n \u201cAlways,\u201d she says in a voice so breathless it makes me smile.\u00a0 Seeing as they\u2019re entirely oblivious to my presence, I leave them to it, gliding as soundlessly as possible from the table to the door.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Anna Belfrage is the author of five published books, all part of The Graham Saga. Set in the 17th century, the books tell the story of Matthew Graham and his time-travelling wife, Alex Lind. Anna can be found on amazon<\/a>, wordpress<\/a>, facebook<\/a> and on her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n See you in the 17th century?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How We Write. Today’s guest post on\u00a0How We Write is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[258,1,85],"tags":[263,36,7],"class_list":["post-1978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-we-write-a-series-of-essays-by-guest-authors","category-uncategorized","category-writing-and-publishing","tag-how-we-write","tag-time-travel","tag-writing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1978"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1990,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cHumdrum?\u201d she squeaks (she does that when she gets upset).
\n\u201cHumdrum,\u201d I insist. Well, okay, humdrum may be pushing it a bit, what with her horrible experiences in Italy and \u00c1ngel and\u2014
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about that!\u201d Alex interrupts. No; she wouldn\u2019t, would she? One could actually say I did her a favour, propelling her out of a time so full of nasty characters, and yet the woman keeps complaining! No showers, no in-door plumbing, no newspapers, no TV\u2026 Sheesh! What about the benefits of unpolluted air? Of living in a time where so much of the world was unexplored?\u00a0 Alex gives me a look that should reduce me to a little pile of gooey matter and tells me that on top of it all, she is now relegated to being a second-class citizen \u2013 if at that \u2013 in a world where men control everything, at least legally. Hmm. I must concede she has a point there.<\/p>\n![\"AnnaBelfrage](\"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/AnnaBelfrage-blog-Serpents-in-the-Garden_pb-lrg-190x300.jpg\")
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