A WRITER'S JOURNEY
CREATING THE
Golden Huntress
Have you ever wondered how a writer creates their main character? Every writer has a process. Some form mental pictures in their minds, some sit down and write painstakingly long outlines, some just wing it. Some listen to music, get lost in the melody and before you know it, a character is born. But all writers are driven by one common thing - inspiration.
When I first wrote about the Golden Huntress, she only existed as a shadow, a minor character in another of my books, THE GOLDEN HUNTRESS MURDER UNSCRIPTED. That book was miles away from being about a superhero. That book told the tale of a string of murders and starred an entirely different character as the hero, one who in her real life was an actress who merely played a superhero in a television show. The adventures of the Golden Huntress in that story were only meant to be a flicker, a parody of those of the superhero characters that existed long ago, a plot thread.
I had even added an addendum to the book in which she originally appeared that described her origin. Soon after, I wrote a short story about her, then another and another and before I knew it, her personality had bloomed and I could sense she that she wanted, no … needed, to be given her own book. Realizing that I had already written much of her story, I went back through the other pieces that I had written. The result is the campy, fun homage to superheroes that became this book.
However, some characters haunt their creators, demanding more for their stories. They get inside our heads and compel us to give them more life, more substance. Such was the case with my Golden Huntress. I should have realized that when I found myself spending more time on developing her character both in looks and persona than any of the other characters in that previous book as I wrote it.
First I had to give her a name because when I started to write Murder Unscripted, she did not have one. It took months to find one that had not already been trademarked by the bigs. I'm sure you know who I mean. When I finally did, I began to develop her look and physical powers. What made her different? Well, to be honest, she's not that different, but in the writing world, there is a common theory that there are no original ideas only variations of ideas used over and over again. The trick is to recycle those ideas into something fresh and entertaining.
Next, I needed an image in my mind. Now, I am not an artist. So, I had to use what I had available to me to create that image. This was before AI but even if it had been available, AI is not what I would have used since I will not support something that requires no permissions from original artists and just crawls the internet and takes. But, I digress.
First, I made a superhero costume and dressed up a Barbie.
Crude, I know but let me tell you. I spent hours making that costume! Even in such a basic state, gazing at her now and then as she stood on my desk watching as I wrote that first book, spurred on my imagination. I have found that having something visually tangible has always been helpful while writing. But I didn't stop there.
When I started putting GOLDEN HUNTRESS An Accidental Superhero together, I kind of envisioned her as cartoonish. Well again, I'm not artistic ... but ... I do play a little online game named Covet Fashion. Shush now. Don't judge. Even writers need an outlet away from writing!
Anyway, I opened that game and went to work. Now, with Covet, I am restricted to using only whatever is available in the game - clothing items, jewelry and props. Still, it presented a good amount of choices and I was having way too much fun. I imagine, that is how an artist feels when their creation comes together. Well, she came together nicely and except for the fact that a few of the color choices were off because at the time they simply were not available, I was able to put together an image of the Golden Huntress and her faithful Nova. Again, I had to improvise the laser chakram so I chose a bejeweled shield. Hey, it was close!
In fact, I liked her so much that I considered requesting permission to use her as my book cover. But I didn't because this game is owned by EA (Electronic Arts) and they are not exactly known for their benevolence. (Psst. you didn't hear that from me!) So, I simply kept her in a folder on my hard drive as something to click on and view every now and then.
And, I didn't stop with the Golden Huntress. I decided to create another image in Covet - Mother Terminus. Again, she's not perfect, but she's close!
Sadly, I am not able to create males in Covet. Too bad, making Mojo Wizard and the others would have been so much fun!
Anyway, after doing all of that, I decided that it was time to get down to the business of putting her book together. As I state in the Introduction, I already had some short stories and I knew exactly how I could connect them but there wasn't enough for a book. That meant that I had to write more, and write more I did! It took me a lot longer than I had originally anticipated. I spent many days staring at my computer screen trying to decide what came next or if what I had just written even needed to be there. Characters were added in and added to and so were a few new adventures. I also took long breaks. There were many days that I did not start up my computer at all just because. Ahh ... such is the life of a writer.
After all that was in the can so to speak, the result was the book that I titled, GOLDEN HUNTRESS An Accidental Superhero, an inside joke to my self since just like in the book where she never intended to become a superhero, in real life, she was never intended to become a Main Character hero, but she did. Hopefully she will stop haunting me now and leave me alone. However, you just never know.
Well there you have it. How the GOLDEN HUNTRESS came to be.
If you purchase my book, I do hope you enjoy it. If you don't that's okay too and thank you for visiting my website.
