B is for Blade

It’s April, and that means it’s time for the A to Z challenge. I really must be a glutton for punishment; April is my last month of college, and I’m still an amateur blogger, but I must say, I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m going to be writing short little blurbs about some retired characters from my DISTANT past up until recently; all of them are failed concepts. Part of me is hoping that writing about these characters will inspire me…perhaps to write more during the summer when school is out.

What is it with me and bad names? It’s like I went through a phase where every name I had needed to be as “cool” as possible. (I think I was compensating for something.) Please forgive me for all the cliches you will read in the next month. I didn’t realize how bad some of these were.

Blade Caverly (well, his real name is Kevin, but he goes by Blade for cool appeal, I guess) is from a race of tiny humans, kind of like Thumbelina in a way. In short (look at me being punny), he is a co-leader for a small group of tiny human rebels fighting against some humans who want to do experiments on them. Blade himself is an amnesiac who left behind a wife and child after his brother tried to get rid of him during a hunting trip. In his group, he’s meant to be the muscle and not the brains. I suppose one thing that makes him unique is the fact that he ALWAYS has candy on him to replace an old smoking habit.

Besides the fact that the concept sounds a little too much like The Smurfs, I kind of like Blade’s backstory. I might have to hammer out some of his personality because he’s a combination of that angsty anti-hero and womanizer archetype I don’t like very much. The key is balance; I don’t want him to be an annoying caricature. I’ve noticed that a lot of writers seems to have trouble with creating a big, strong guy that isn’t a complete meat-head or a total gentle giant. I think both concepts have their places but variation is always nice.