Grayson - A Love \/ Hate Relationship

As I wrote the first draft or the first book of the Children of Light, new characters came out of the woodwork. Some, I planned, as they had significant roles. Others just appeared. I find it amazing how so many had a voice of their own, a voice that needed to be heard. One particular character, I threw in on a whim. He was a spoiled brat, who’d had the world handed to him on a silver platter. He believe the world owed him, just because he was born. He had no work ethic, not even a bad one. Yet, he persisted. He insisted on being heard. He had a voice I could not ignore.

A Battle I lost

I fought giving him more than the three seconds of fame he deserved and resisted for as long as I could. But, in the end, he won. He is a character I began by disliking very much. His first impression was of laziness. But, as he emerged from the pages, I grew to appreciate and yes, even like him. So much so, that book 4 of Children of Light, is with him as the protagonist.

Book four will be titled Hidden People, (Get it? Hidden People… the true character of a person can be hidden). The book is largely about him! I can assure you, I did not plan that. Yet, I think it is worth the effort. I rarely write with a male as the protagonist – the main lead character. Why? Because as a woman, I’m not sure I can think and respond like a man. So, this will be an interesting and challenging exercise.

Grayson

By now, if you have read at least book one, you know I’m speaking of Grayson. We are first introduced to him as he is heard huffing and puffing during the Pairing Ceremony. Kaiden, who is the lead Light Warrior, has nothing but disdain for him. We don’t learn anything more about him, until we read his interaction with his father, Nestor, and their strained relationship. Finally, in book one, he is the one who is instrumental in launching Emma into the Shadows, in book two.

We learn more about Grayson in book two. My initial impression of him was right on the money. He’d had much handed to him and had little to do with his advancement thus far. He was a Light Warrior and the leader of his team, a position he had not earned. But we begin to learn that he’d been bucking against his gold and silver bridal for some time. He longed to break free and be his own man.

Truth Can Be Painful

Grayson gets that opportunity, when he learns who his father has become, but more importantly when he is faced with two options regarding Emma. He can follow his father’s leading and force a pairing between himself and a White Light, which would open before to unimagined doors; or become the Light Warrior he had played at for years.

Helen Keller wrote that one’s character is not developed through ease and quiet, but rather through the experience of hardship and suffering (yes I am paraphrasing). This is where Grayson comes from, and who he is and is becoming. His life of ease is exchanged for a life of hardship, yet he becomes alive through it. He becomes himself and grows in his faith.

Blessings,

Jana

Referenced Quote

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller