The Main Character - Gavin Anwell

When researching my characters I needed my main character to not only have the likability to others but also mean something.  I needed him to represent something and not just some handsome leading man.  I searched Welsh names.  I chose the given name of the character first.

GAVIN - means the White Hawk of Battle (this ties into his Father - pay very close attention)

Then came his surname and it too had to mean something.

Awell  - derived from the Welsh word annwyl "beloved, dear, or favorite child". Found in north Wales. Anwell, Anwill, Annoil

This meant so much to me.  He stood for something.  He was loved and cherished by those who he knew and those he was yet to discover.

Now I needed to create him.  His eyes and hair.  His body stature and form.  You get the idea.  I threw around many ideas.  I wanted him to be blonde like Bradley James in Merlin.  But it didn't feel right he was too confident.  So I went on to other British actors and finally one day, while watching a very popular movie, where the boy's initials are HP - really you know - I saw him.  My Gavin.

The actor I based Gavin off of was Domhnall Gleeson.  His look was perfect.

I wanted Gavin to be a normal teenager who grew up wanting nothing and having it all and it come crashing down around him.  He needed to be challenged and molded to this amazing selfless young man.  Gavin before he knows where he really came from was never a rude or thoughtless boy.  Just a quiet boy who is loyal to his father and his friends.

In the human realm Gavin looked like any other high school athlete.  Soccer was his sport.  He was long and lean and he possessed the endurance most would only dream of having.  He was well liked but not popular.  In America if you play Soccer you are a bit of a nerd or thought as one because you are not playing football.  After all football is what all the "popular" boys play.  Gavin was liked by his peers, his teachers and most of the people around him.  His features were his red hair and green eyes.  He wasn't beautiful to all but he was beautiful to me.  He is unassuming and would never strut around knowing he is beautiful. That was an important virtue for him to possess.

Watching Gavin become this amazing man before my eyes as I created him and what he did in the book (Descent of the White Flower DOWF) in a sense was developing part of myself too.  You cannot create something from nothing and think it will never change you.  It does.

I wanted to show how someone who believes in a few attributes of himself becomes this leader of both the faery and the human realm.  And this is another evolution of Gavin.  Was he half human and half faery or a faery living as a human boy?  I chose the latter. Gavin being who he was to become I felt that would complete the character instead of complicate it.  Getting the background and history of his parents and lineage was more difficult.  As I wrote in the very beginning developing the Anwell family and how they came to be, changing his parents and where they originally came from as well as their lineage.  I didn't want his parents to be these two shiny beings.  I wanted them to be fractured and damaged as we all are.  Some of us greatly and some just dinged up a bit.  There was no perfection in his world.  Grief and loss were about to become very abundant for this young man but it helped to create who he was and what he is to become.

I fell in love with this character as I developed him.  I was able to shape and mold him as well as break and destroy him.  That is probably one of the greatest joys I have discovered as a writer.  You have the power to create and set up this world and tell a story to those who until now, could or would never believe.

The Muse that started it all

This was the picture that basically launched hundreds of thousands of words.

I had often thought about writing a book but where does one get started. I thought about a book with three sisters who were from the faery realm who come to the human realm, try and acclimate to our world but find it challenging. So where does one start? I tried sitting down at a computer and writing but nothing ever came of it. Until...One day I was browsing a site called Deviantart.com and I saw it. The image that changed my life forever. It was created by a young woman an artist Felice Fawn. This picture as you see sparked the life of this story. She, being Blodwyn (name means white flower)was a female faery being who was heir to the faery world but how could this story mean anything with just a girl from the faery realm. So I was stuck again. How to incorporate her into a story. Then another idea struck me. His name was Gavin. I love the name Gavin and if I had a son I would have named him that. So there is an idea but how to organize this mess?

At the time of the Twilight craze there was a book that was published about the Director Catherine Hardwicke and what she used to keep her ideas organized. Once again another spark was lit. I purchased a composition notebook and went to work. This notebook has everything about my characters, their development, their history, how I see them (based on a picture or actual person), everything. Everyone assumed I would be writing about an empowered young woman but I once again thumbed my nose to the norm. It was about a brooding and mysterious young man, Gavin Anwell. He is a seemingly normal boy born in Wales but moved to the United States, Upper Arlington, Ohio to be exact. This story is about his life and what he progresses into. There are several distinct groups of races of faery beings based on the location of the lands they protect. Each name, each location, each character or monster has a specific Welsh name or affiliation. Am I Welsh? No, I am a 3rd generation Sicilian American.I have absolutely no Welsh heritage or lineage in my family. The Welsh myths, legends and faery tales have always fascinated me. Who doesn't love King Arthur and Camelot (who is featured in the 2nd book Rise of the White Flower) or King of the Faeries, Gwyn Ap Nudd (a main character in the series)? The Story takes place in 4 locations - Newcastle, Wales, Upper Arlington, Ohio, the magical land of Avalon and the Faery Realm of Annwn (pronounced A-noon).

In the coming blogs I will write about each of the main characters of the book. How I see them, how I developed them, their meaning, yes their meaning. Each character's name was chosen for a specific reason. For instance Gavin Anwell, his name, Gavin means little or white Hawk and Anwell which is derived from the surname Anwyl meaning favorite child. In the story this name and it's meanings will all make sense when his secret is revealed.

I hope you enjoy the book. I have shared sample chapters and each person has said they are sucked into the story and want more. July 2013 the book, my book, Descent of the White Flower by KR Dorne will be published by Edin Road Press. My greatest dream is to write for a living, not get rich, but make a comfortable living to write wherever I want to. Okay I take that back, I would love to become rich, but doing something that I love and have a great passion about AND being rich is icing on the cake.

Coming Soon...The Anwell and the Maddox families.