Becoming. And all that entails.

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

If you had to become one of your characters, which one would you choose?

It’s an interesting question, because there have been so many. When I think about it, choosing one out of them is difficult. And it leaves me with a dilemma. Because the majority of the lead characters I write are female. And I’m not.

A lot of people have got very upset about that combination.

I’ve been told that, as a man, I can’t possibly write convincing females. Personally, I don’t consider a character’s gender to be relevant, what matters to me is the job they do in the story.

Just so you know, I’m not bothered about what people might say. I will continue to write leading women, if they are what appears in my head.

I’ve fallen in love with female characters like Andorra Pett, a reluctant amateur detective. Or Kalyn Deere, Bounty Hunter. Then there’s the unfortunate Myra, killed but reincarnated as a talking computer. Not forgetting Jessamine the Steampunk spy and all the rest.

For the sake of balance, I have also written a few males. There’s Dave Travise, the guilt-wracked loner, Miles Goram, gossip journalist and Horis Strongman from the Ministry of Coal. To name a few of the more popular ones.

I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from my life to use in my fiction. My knowledge of ships has translated from the oceans to the skies. My observations of human nature and events from my past have driven my plots.

I digress, what drew me to write speculative fiction was the interest I have always had in what will be or what might have been.

I’ve looked at other people’s lives and always thought of them as far more interesting than mine. Because they did things that I didn’t, things that I would have loved to do, if only I’d had the chance.

The logical thing to do was get my characters to do them for me. So becoming any of my characters would make my dreams come true.

The more interesting question is this. Would I like to live in the far future or an alternative now?

I’ve already had the life of a traveller and trader of goods. OK, the setting is different but the basic principle is the same.

That kind of rules the future out. Which leaves the alternative now.

I’ve decided that I would have to be the hero in one of my Steampunk adventures. Someone like Horis Strongman, or Jackson Thwaite, or even the enigmatic Mr Fairview.

I would enjoy becoming a person with Victorian sensibilities and an interesting past. Living in a place like our world could have been, I could be both master and slave to the marvelous and exotic devices that can be created (and exist) in a world filled with Steam and Clockwork.

I think that would suit me.

Try one of these two Steampunk adventure series to see what I mean.

What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.

While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.

Until next time.

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