Happy Sunday, Reader. If you happen to be reading this on a day other than Sunday, well, I hope that day is a happy one too.
So, about that title. If you’ve read the Wheel of Time books, or if you’ve read beyond the first few books, you’ve read one, or possibly both of those words. Over the course of the series, you’ll read them often, as they are some of the favorite sayings/exclamations/curses of one of the major supporting characters.
The words themselves aside, these stand out because this particular character is the only one among a truly massive cast of characters who uses them.
They’re hers.
Even more important, you can trace them all the way back to where they came from – in this case, the character was a fisher. Their early childhood and the experiences therein have colored her vocabulary. These are words that she grew up with. even when everything else about that little fisher girl had changed, those words, among other bits and pieces, stuck.
They’re part of who she is.
We all want our characters to be memorable, to be relatable, to feel real. One way to do that is to give them something that only they do. Ideally you’ll want to tie it to their history so that it feels organic.
That’s not to say that you need to drop it onto the page whenever they appear, this is like a spice. a little goes a long way and you don’t want too much of it.
Much like fishguts.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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