WRITING

A New POV — Meet Dave

Day 18 Preptober writing prompt challenge

Day 18: Describe your story from the point of view of a character who never appears in your book.

Question from the Preptober 31 Day Challenge from the Character Collective.

Oh no — Will I invoke?

This is a tricky one because my concern is that by speaking about my book in terms of someone who currently doesn’t appear in the book, I’ll invoke someone who will then appear in the book. So, for now, I’m going to consider this from the point of view of somebody who’s not planned to appear in the book, knowing full well that I just don’t know how that’s going to pan out. I don’t know if they’re going to turn up or not.

Characters who aren’t in Knot That Hot… yet

To start with, I’m running through the list of characters in my mind. Who do I know is a part of the extended Rainbow Circus family but does not appear in the first book?

• I’m not sure if Jack’s brother does or does not at this stage, so I’m going to leave him out.
• I’m pretty sure Mark and Bart’s brother, the middle child, doesn’t appear in the book so I could consider it from his point of view. Although I’m instantly getting that Mark and Bart and not very happy about that. I haven’t really explored the relationship with the middle brother but that could be something I need to look into.
• There is the potential of looking at characters that might influence the first book but aren’t actually in it, which means that they’re just not seen by or spoken about from either Jack or Mario’s points of view, but still influence the book, such as members of the rival circus.
• I’m also wondering about characters that appear in the third book but don’t appear in the first book but most of the circus performers will appear in the first book. Unless it’s someone who is new and turns up to the circus in book 3, but in that case, I don’t know who they are yet, because they haven’t come into the story. Lol.

Even thinking about this is a really interesting process.

Who shall it be?

I think I would… no, change of thought. I was about to say I think I’d like to explore the third brother but I got a lot of pushback on that from both Mark and Bart so maybe we’ll let that one go.

Yes, okay, let’s answer this question from the point of view of Dave, who is Jack’s brother. Now, as I said before, I’m not exactly sure if he turns up in the first book or not. I’m pretty sure he turns up at some point but it might not be until later in the series. In fact, look, there’s a good chance the series goes beyond three books and Dave has his own book, but let’s not go there.

So I’m going to describe my story from the point of view of Dave. In fact, let’s do this first-person. Let’s invite him in and see where it goes.

Dave’s description of Knot That Hot

Well, this story is about a stubborn hard-headed, butthole who doesn’t even know he’s a stubborn, hard-headed, butthole, finally taking a chance on himself and letting himself be something other than the obedient, good boy. He’s good at everything and does what he’s told. This is a story about a man finally letting himself be free. More importantly, forgiving himself for things he never needed to forgive himself for.

And I suppose it’s about the guy he falls in love with, which is kind of cute, but I don’t want to think about that. I mean, it is my baby brother, it’s kind of gross. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very, very happy for him. Still, who wants to think about their brother doing anything with anyone? That’s a hard pass.

But it’s definitely a story of triumph. It’s definitely a story of breaking through barriers and learning to trust. I mean, I always trusted Jack, but he hasn’t trusted himself for a very long time.

It’s a story of family. Blood, extended, chosen… real family. The family that matters. And it’s a story of a place where people can come together and be themselves; the performers and audience alike. This place is amazing. And I damn well better get my own book.

I’ll take the mic back, thanks!

And that’s why inviting characters to come through, can be concerning. I’ve actually written this through voice recording, so it’s going to be interesting to see the transcription and read back through what Dave just said. This was my first introduction to him, the first time he has spoken, so that was kind of cool.

I really love these questions as part of the October 31 Day Pretober Challenge. They have really been opening me to the possibilities of the series. Although, if I could not have characters demanding their own books already, that would be great!

Don’t miss any of my daily Preptober Challenge responses. Follow this link to join Medium for access to EVERYTHING right now. That’s an affiliate link. It means that if you join, Medium thanks me in monies. Thank YOU for feeding the writer!

See all my Preptober Challenge responses here: