I have written books with both male and female protagonists. Today I’d like to focus on my male characters – I hope you enjoy reading a bit about them.

Jon in The Red Coat & The Redhead – Jon is a British officer who deserts the army after learning that his friend passed away from battle. He regrets his decision to fight in the war after living through the reality first hand. When he first meets Jil, he doesn’t expect to connect with her, but they quickly warm up to each other as she helps dress his wound. She wants to escape the war zone as much as he does. Always being more of a practical person, he decides to play along with Jil’s fantasy of them living a peaceful life away from violence. I enjoyed writing him, because that era has always been interesting to me and I’m sure there were many soldiers who thought similarly to him, whether they were from the UK or the new world.

Adam in Eve & Adam – Adam is a true artistic soul who is emotionally tortured after living through a traumatic experience. He quickly connects with Eve’s free spirit when they find one another at the top of a hill one day. He’s not who he first seems to be to readers, but as the story unfolds, more is revealed about him. He doesn’t use Eve as a manic pixie dream girl (A scenario you often see in modern stories), but gets to know her for the multi-dimensional person she is.

Alfred in The Suicides – Alfred is a college student who wants to find out why Sunny Harbour holds so much darkness for certain people beneath its cheerful appearance. He’s very insightful, empathetic, and wants to do the right thing even when it gets him trouble. He feels a bond with Sarah, another young writer who seems trapped in an unhappy life, and wants to save her from it, but she ends up saving him when he least expects it.

Viggo, Martin, Frenz, and Engulf in A Season To Fight – Viggo and Martin are inspired by both of my grandfathers. Viggo is based on when my grandpa on my dad’s side fought in WWII at age fourteen. Martin, my grandpa on my mom’s side, didn’t fight in the war but he was very enterprising like his parents and focused on working hard to create new opportunities. Engulf is based loosely on a boy whom Martin saved from being bullied because he was Catholic (In that day religious denominations were too important) and they remained best friends until he passed away – at his funeral, the boy he once saved stood up and thanked him once again for his kindness and he was grateful to have such a good lifelong friend. Frenz is a new creation from my own mind – he was meant to be a side character, but he grew on me so much and stole my heart that I had to give him his own voice in the story. I think Frenz represents a lot of boys who signed up to fight too early for war, determined to prove themselves only to realize their dire mistake later.

Max and Dash in The Pup & The Pianist – I’ve always enjoyed watching films set during the Napoleonic War period, so it was a pleasure writing this story featuring two young enemies who need to work together to survive on the Galapagos Islands. Max is a powder monkey who is sent to work on a warship to earn a living. Dash is from a wealthy family and he signed up to be a midshipman for the honour of it. A lot of young men in that day looked up to the fearless captains and lords who were crazy enough to fight the enemy at sea. Max is strong but fragile in the sense that he can survive any physical hardship thrown at him, but he feels deeply and is easily hurt. Being a spoiled golden child, Dash grew up vain, but his terrible injury has completely shattered his world. I enjoyed this dynamic duo so much and to this day it’s my favourite story I’ve ever written. It’s another tale that shows the horrors of war, especially for children, and in some small way I hoped to give a voice to the ones who had to fight to survive when they should have been spared from battle.

Jeremy in Sally – Jeremy is a complex man and nothing like the “simple farmer” type Sally paints him to be. Unlike my first Western novel, this book is written from multiple perspectives. Jeremy fights back against the stereotype of farmers being simple and uncultured. A lot of romance novels romanticize ruffians, army officers, or rich heirs – even Sally herself hoped to meet someone with more education before she married Jeremy. As time goes on, the two really start to connect and Sally is humbled that he takes an interest in her artwork and in turn he shows her how he cares for the cattle. Since she is childish and suffers from mental illness, he handles her with calmness and maturity. He’s the person she really needs – and perhaps one day she will be the one he needs (no spoilers). Perhaps only someone who is gentle enough to speak with cows could be patient enough for a girl like Sally. I grew up knowing a lot of farmers and have full respect for them. Jeremy helps show just how amazing they can be.

Barak in Voice Of A Storyteller – Barak is a violent soul who suffers from PTSD. He demonstrates how terrible the effects of war are and how detrimental it can be when people don’t get the help they need after such an event like this. Lost and grieving, he turns to violence as a means to cope and sadly Almaz (A beautiful story teller) is the object of his hate. I wanted to treat his condition with care while showing that there is never an excuse for doing what he did. He was very interesting to write.

Damian in The Peasant Woman – I’ve always wanted to write a story where a rich, privileged man falls in love with a humble peasant woman. This goes as far back as my late teen years. So it was really fun to write Damian and Jasmine into existence. Thinking from his perspective, he’s raised knowing he will inherit a crown so he has no concept of what it’s like to work for what you have. He despises the poor because in his viewpoint they make the world an ugly place. When he’s first rescued by a pretty but poor woman, his first instinct is to get away from from her because in his mind all she would want from him is his money. When he sticks around to help her with some repairs, she starts to become human to him – and he sees valuable traits in her such as compassion without expecting anything in return and a natural elegance that is often lacking in those ultra rich circles. While difficult to tolerate at the beginning, Damian is a kind soul deep down who was misguided and spoiled. Jasmine may be the one to show him the person he was meant to be. It’s also interesting having written a book like this at this stage of my life – I’ve been on both sides of the rich/poor situation so I really value how hardworking the “poor” can really be.

Jalarn in By The Sword – By The Sword was the first novel I ever wrote (and the first book I ever published). In my mid-20’s, I was obsessed with redemption stories, so it’s no wonder I was inspired to write a tale such as this. Jalarn is the perfect villain – he’s a prodigy general who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Talya, the main female character, is a female warrior whom he first sees as being an annoyance who won’t die, but a great act of mercy on her part starts to chip away at his stone cold heart. Like many villains, Jalarn has a sad past; his selfishness and lack of empathy are two traits that helped him survive when he had nothing. It was a lot of fun using this plot as my first story – in many ways I wrote this book because of Jalarn. A lot of us love the idea of someone terrible becoming good after being shown compassion by someone influential in their life. He admires Talya’s skill and bravery so it had to be someone like her who would show him something different from what he is used to. (Please note this first book was written from a Christian perspective, so it will be a Christian fantasy type of story).

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I hope you enjoyed reading about my male main characters today. After spending so much time writing books, I admit it’s nice to write a post that spotlights some of my characters. If you’re interested in reading about my female protagonists, you can check out that post here.

Thanks for stopping by today! 🙂