Letting Your Characters Evolve

Writing a series of stories set in the same fictional universe and using the same cast of characters can pose problems, but it also has its rewards. One of the fun things about using an extended timeline is that you have more space to watch your creations grow and evolve. Let me give you an example from my series loosely set around the world of 1920s Appalachia at a place called Sherritt Holler, up the road a bit from the fictional town of Smithville, Tennessee. Let me introduce you to Seth Morgan.

“Seth Morgan, deputy by day and outhouse digger by night.” That’s how a friend describes our young Seth, the male lead character of my story, “Ring for a Lady”. This story appears in the anthology “Fated to be Yours” just published by Victory Tales Press. The story is about his struggle to marry his long-time sweetheart Jolene Smith while dealing with the crazy characters and problems that infest Sherritt Holler in 1920s Appalachia.

But this is not the first time Seth has appeared in my stories, not by a long shot. “Ring for a Lady” is the fourth in a series of supernatural romance adventures set in Sherritt Holler and our young man has played an increasingly important role in each one. He first appeared in “A Distant Call”, the story that introduced the series way back in 2010. Here’s the scene where he enters our story:

The sheriff banged on the side of the Model T. “Seth, get on out here.” A young man stepped out, wearing bib overalls two sizes too big, no shirt, pants rolled up, and barefooted. The freckled face, sandy hair, and ears that stuck straight out were definitely familiar. He couldn’t be older than sixteen. The boy stood with hands in his pockets, looking down.

Seth is a boy on the verge of becoming a young man, and in trouble. His father is an alcoholic and a moonshiner, he’s shunned by the people in town because he’s one of those no good hillbillies that live back on the mountain, and he’s already ran afoul of the law.

I have to admit that his role in the first story was only to hang out around the church and give our main character, Preacher Corman, someone to talk to besides himself or the mule. It’s the same reason the Lone Ranger has a sidekick. The mechanics of writing a story forces these sorts of decisions on an author. But even in this story, Seth came to life and became more than an abused boy that needed a good role model. He showed promise of becoming something more. When it came time for the next tale in the series, there was no doubt that I had a “coming of age” story that had to be told.

Seth became the focus of the second story in the series, “Deal with the Devil”. His sweetheart Jolene is introduced and a crisis involving both their families must be handled. Here Seth begins to show the courage under fire and stubborn insistence on doing what’s right that will define his character. That doesn’t mean he’s perfect. He’s a small man and a history of being bullied by his father and other kids growing up left their scars on his self-image. He’s also painfully aware that people judge him as poor white trash and he doesn’t have much of an education. It’s important to let your characters have faults and sometimes struggle with them, if you want them to come alive.

While young Seth does play a role in the third story of the Appalachia series, “Crazy Jack”, it’s mostly in the background. He continues to mature, is thrust into about the last job he would ever consider, that of deputy, and struggles to live up to people’s expectations of him.

 This brings him to the current anthology where his and Jolene’s romance is again center stage, in “Ring for a Lady”. It’s five or six years since we watched him step out of the old Model T. He’s living up to the potential that was hinted about in the very first story. The boy we first saw is somewhere inside the man, but he’s learned a lot since then and grown up some. So has Jolene. What does the future hold in store for Seth and Jolene? Will they appear in future stories? Well, as the deputy charged with riding herd over the wild bunch of Sherritt Holler, we can be assured of seeing him again.   

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