Origins: Gwen Esmond

You'll have to forgive me for not posting sooner. At first, I was just delaying because I needed to prepare some sketches. Then I started working, you know, at work. Life unexpectedly sped up, which I guess isn't quite so unexpected because it's September, but I feel like you all know what I'm saying.

I've come up with a way of introducing characters to you without spoiling the story. You might remember those popular Myspace quizzes (and later Facebook quizzes) that are like, "Fave song ever: anything Taylor Swift. Last thing you ate: sour skittles omg!!" Well, this is going to be sort of like that except less odiously reeking of junior high. Once I introduce a few characters the format will make a little more sense, so just bear with me. I promise to have another character intro post before too long.

Let me introduce Gwen Esmond. She might have a middle name, but it's undecided at this point. Here's what you need to know.

Age: (at the beginning of the book) about 22

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Original home/ethnicity: Pacific Northwest (USA)/Welsh & Russian

Favorite music: Johnny Cash, James Taylor

Favorite book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Likes: coffee, daisies, Emily Dickinson, red leaves in the fall

Dislikes: lakes/deep water, being polite

Family: Mother, father, three brothers (all deceased)

Personality: INFJ

Character's importance to the story: Gwen is the protagonist, a young woman who struggles daily to survive and often finds difficulty in allowing herself to be happy, or be hopeful. We follow her through three separate settings, over the span of several years. While she is our protagonist she does some things that will definitely piss you off and make you wonder what makes her so great You will probably want her to suffer at some point. Don't worry, she does.

How she arrives in Dexterhimmel: Originally, a friend takes her there after both their families die. Eventually the friend leaves, so Gwen takes up a job at the Ministry for a few years, and when she returns to Dexterhimmel she is worse for the wear and has fewer connections within the fortress.

Here are a few other sketches I did. The one below was done with a red drawing pencil, the other three were drawn with charcoal pencils. I didn't scan these in because I feel like people will be less inclined to steal drawings from the internet if they're of poor graphic quality. Also, the one on the bottom is too big to scan. Anyhow. Enjoy.

Carrying Amos' lantern through the darkness.

A moment of frustration.

Saying goodbye. This scene occurs at the very end of the story.

That's all I have for now. Due to the busy-ness of life I haven't written much lately either, but I think in the next post I'll focus some more on Amos. Hope you stick around!