Character Development Meme: DS

Original meme can be found here: [link]

No one could be more surprised than me to realize that the world and story of Daemon Soul is coming up on its ten year anniversary. The first book has been rewritten and revamped that many times, and I've got 10 novels and drafts that go back that far. (The further back you go, the worse they get!)
But I'm about to try marketing the draft I have now come the new year. Gotta finally take that step. (Gulp.) But I thought a nice look back would be a good way to celebrate.

METUO - Along with Kae, was one of the first characters I came up with. From the start, he was meant to be a mentor, not Kae's daemon, but was a horrible, flimsy Jerkass Mary Sue in the first 3 or 4 drafts. (His Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron knockoff look didn't help.) Metuo developed considerably when the series made the leap from High Fantasy to Urban Fantasy, and really needed Nigh's character to push him into a more mature and nuanced direction.

VINDEX - Vin started out pretty paper-thin himself, but his looks have changed more than his character. I tried out a Doberman stage for him, since I felt wolf was too obvious, but went back to wolf when I hit upon the idea of a warform (like a Crinos form from Werewolf: The Apocalypse) and eventually evolved into the quill-wolf deal. The short comic Monster [link] is no longer canon, per se, but it solidified Vin's character concept of being a secret hero.

GLAEBA and SOSPES - Really have not changed much in personality or looks. I guess I did things right the first time, because I've felt very little need to make adjustments to either of them. Since they play comparatively minor roles in the books, this might be why.

NIGH - Was the last character added to the ensemble before it made its leap to Urban Fantasy, and he, unlike about 3 or 4 other characters, stuck because he complimented the group dynamic. He started out more of a martial arts badass and slowly became more and more nerdy, but at his core did not agree with Metuo and was big enough to stand up to him. Since this forced me to re-examine Metuo, Nigh became pretty invaluable.

KAE - Needless to say, a lot of my human designs were pretty goofy at first. Kae was created out of necessity, to be The Protagonist, rather than someone whose story I needed to tell (which is really not a good way to come up with a protagonist). However, he has evolved into one of my all-time favorite characters to write, and I've come to realize he embodies a lot of my teenage experience (and I hope as a result it makes him more relate-able and real). Kae was a seed that needed a lot of time to grow (like me, since I came up with him when I was 16), and the result is a character capable of carrying a 5-book series. Not bad for a guy who started out as a blank cutout.

FEN - Fen began as a shameless way to give Metuo more badass credential, but his dubious past kept drawing me back to re-examine how he came to be. I sort of kept turning the clock back further and further with Fen, in order to explore how he'd gone human to Hunter and back again. He is now the resident Woobie of the series, but refreshingly free of Wangst (although, man, he had his fair share of that in earlier drafts. Jeez. But I guess he had nothing on Kae's previous incarnations.) Fen gave enough material to make him a major player, and is second only to Kae when it comes to the ability to carry the series.