Creating a character: Part 3

C) Cathexis

So now I have three ideas. It is important not to confuse ideas with characters. My ideas might tickle me in naughty places, but if I think of them as characters, I will soon realize that they have no depth, personality, or dimension and start to hate them.

Obsession is a writer's greatest friend and worst enemy. It compels you to dig into every detail of your world, but you often lose sight of the big picture. For this reason, I've found that it is useful to draw on a wide variety of influences to help shape your story. Ideally, these influences will range from being extremely similar to being extremely different, therefore creating something recognizable, but still feeling original.

Bitch-Monster Seductress

The first thing that strikes me about both Fantomah and the Black Widow is their resemblance to period actress Veronica Lake. Now there is a woman who not only looks like she could consume a man's soul, but most men might just let her.

I've found hair to be very important to distinguishing characters. Hair color immediately leaves an impression on the reader about what kind of person this is (of course, there are more options available to us anglo-saxon folk). Dark hair connotes a certain seriousness and stability, which is why Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all have jet black hair. Brown hair connotes an average, boy (or girl)-next-door quality, and a bit of blue collar identifiability (i.e. Spider-Man, Han Solo, Cyclops, or Kitty Pryde). Redheads suggest fire and passion (i.e. Jean Grey, Mary Jane, or Guy Gardner). Blondes suggest a certain... divinity (i.e. Captain America, Luke Skywalker) that is actually consistant with the Nazi ideal. Often, blonde hair is a mark of purity of spirit, but it can also suggest a false purity; a purity for "evil" or a corruption of an ideal.

I see this character as having very pale, sickly blonde hair... jaundiced, even. She is the embodiment of the romantic passion of death. This should play well against the Enigma who is a life-affirming being who flirts with self-destruction.

To ascribe yet another archetype to her, she is a vamp; deadly as arsenic and sweet as chocolate. I would consider making her a literal vampire, but it doesn't really interest me. Even though this story is designed to embrace all types of popular fantasy, vampires have been so overdone. If I bring them into the story, I want to try to refresh the mythos and this wouldn't help reinforce the dominant themes of my story.

But it might be fun to tease her vampiric qualities. She might be particularly sexy as an Eastern European woman. Possibly even a Jewess (Am I enjoying using common period racism a little too much? Probably.) whose hair was dyed or shocked from stress. I kind of wanted to have a character who represents European Jews and Old Testament wrath. She might just be the character.

Where the Black Widow received her powers from Satan, my character can receive her powers from God... but not a (supposedly) loving Christian God. This reminds me of the Specter, a superhero embodiment of God's wrath. The problem with that character is that he was basically all powerful. I want someone who has to get a little more... creative with her vengeance. In fact, she doesn't even have to be God's wrath, she can just think she is... or she can be and not know she is. So many options...

Since she would play well off of the Enigma and is an Eastern European woman, maybe I'll tie her in with my gothic mad scientist, Dietrich von Frankenstein. Essentially, Dietrich is the eurotrash descendent of Victor von Frankenstein who not only stole his formula for the re-animation of life, but also many other secrets of the occult. He travels to Los Angeles to consult on a new film (which will be a legally-distinct homage to the classic Universal monster movies) and ends up inflicting monsters upon the city and our hero in particular. Perhaps this character could be his assistant and creation who turns on her creator.

For now, I will call her Lilith in reference to the Biblical woman predating Eve, often associated with demonic qualities.

Biker Chick

When going through the list of Golden Age superheroines, two of them really stood out to me: the Phantom Lady and the Black Cat. Maybe it is because, unlike so many comic women of the time, these two were actually pretty damn sexy. (As a sidenote, the word "phantom" seems popular when describing women; Phantom Lady, Fantomah, Blonde Phantom... I may want to exploit that.)

The cover here is by Matt Baker who is, incidentally, the first known African American comic book artist. I find this cover particularly astounding because it is one of the few comics I've seen from the period that gives real weight and shape to the character. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she looks like a Bettie Page fantasy (although this cover is from two years before Page started modeling). Since the character is a model, maybe I can draw from Bettie Page to develop her character.

I'll take a moment here to wonder if the idea for a crimefighting, bike-riding model who can turn invisible and participates in bondage photography is more of an adolescent fantasy than a character. Perhaps, but the origins of all comic book characters are contained in adolescent fantasy. The trick is to give life and motion to that adolescent fantasy.

Now, unlike Lilith, I have a superpower chosen for this character; that is, the ability to turn invisible. There are many ideas for how one might turn invisible. Like the Fantastic Four's Sue Storm, one can bend light, although this always sounded far to complicated for me. Or the Shadow could "cloud men's mind" to become invisible. It was also a method used in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with the "Somebody Else's Problem field" and in The Belgariad as well. I always liked this idea that you could see something, but just not notice it. Of course, that might not be as interesting visually when I could have her fade gradually or one part at a time.

To look at all my option, I search for "invisibility" on Wikipedia (I use wikipedia a lot) and investigate my various options. Naturally, I look to "invisibility in fiction" first. I will delve into the scientific side later.

One thing that stands out here is a 1942 film called "Invisible Agent" where the grandson of Jack Griffin, the original Invisible Man, lives in the US and uses his grandfather's formula to become a Nazi agent. It's just contrived enough to work. Rather than develop my own half-assed explanation for invisibility, I can borrow someone elses. Besides, the works of HG Wells are public domain, so they could help flesh out this world.

I almost forgot that Jack Griffin goes insane from using his drug. I can retain this element if I want to, or I can say that flaw was eliminated over the years. Maybe it can even be controlled through will... or maybe our heroine was the unwitting subject of experimentation and produces the chemical from an artificial gland. Not only is that creepy, but it explains why she would have some degree of control over her powers.

Ah, now someone points out that perfect invisibility would likely blind an invisible person because no light would be absorbed by the retina. It would be interesting if the one flaw to her power is that her pupils were visible. A clever person would notice such a thing... and lord knows, my story has a lot of clever people.

As a side note, I really like the Black Cat's costume. It is simple, but elegant. Women in comics today don't cover up their butt-cheeks. I wouldn't call myself a prude, but I really don't understand why we expect mature women who fight crime to dress like strippers.

I think there are far too few representations of strong women in the media, so ones that I find strong stand out. In addition to a good script, a strong female role also requires a good actress. One show I've been watching lately is Weeds starring Mary-Louise Parker who I find incredibly attractive, not only physically, but verbally. She has a beautiful voice, excellent timing, and ample wit. These are qualities I would like to appropriate for this character.

One thing I like about her character in Weeds is her ability to adapt to different social situations. She can go from snobbish, gossipy middle-aged housewives to gang meetings and hold her own in either arena. It's an admirable quality and something I would like to have in this character.

For now, I'll call this character Mary Jane as an homage to both the actress and the show.

Having linked the character to this role, I find myself thinking about the stuck-up warrior princess that I was supposed to work on next and thinking maybe I should blend that quality into this character. Sure, she is slumming it and full of herself, but that just means she will have to be humbled.

Now I find myself in an appealing dichotomy whereby I both want to illustrate her inner strength and humble her. I've found, through study and experience, that irony is a writer's best friend. It is that entertaining balance between extremes that engages the reader. I should also be able to lead the reader's expectations of her simply by showing her in different contexts. By showing her as an heiress and a model, I can make people dislike her, then slowly start to build their respect.

I even have a crime-fighting name for her: Vesper. It suggests intangible, ghost-like qualities, feels era-appropriate, and is sexy. Now I just need to decide... black hair (like Bettie, Phantom Lady, and Mary-Louise) or auburn hair (like Black Cat)? I'm leading toward auburn.

D) Conclusion

So I didn't end up with three characters as planned, but I think I came up with two pretty good ones. Giving me a total of five important and unique female characters in my story. I think Lilith and Vesper will make a fine addition indeed.