Every story needs antagonists, and I was pretty sure one of mine would be a county sheriff in conservative, rural Colorado. An older, portly, balding, unpleasantly cantankerous, pain-in-the-ass county sheriff. I needed somebody willing to dislike and butt heads with my tall, dark, and brilliant lawyer-turned-farmer protagonist. Someone who was a little stupid, and could be easily put in place by J. Lindsay Calhoun.
But then the character who really wanted to be county sheriff stepped in and took over.
Not only is he easy on the eyes, he's a hometown boy just returned from a gig in the military, and someone who immediately establishes rapport with not only the hero, but with all the readers. He's a really good guy, and he has a story of his own that fell out of my imagination without any resistance. You work with that when it happens.
Everyone loves Uriah Heep. Yep. That's his name and part of his story. You'll read more about him towards the end of the alphabet during the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!
If you like Sheriff Heep's sweater collection, jump over to Wool Overs where you can buy them, and see more photos of the model who inspired this character.
3 comments:
I've experienced the same thing when writing. I have one character in mind (physical description etc.) when another person shows up in my mind and steals the show at the casting call. I like your new sheriff, but I also like the idea of keeping your sheriff as the antagonist, but having your bad guy sheriff look like the newer version you shared. I like bad guys who are attractive and people we would never suspect as evil or vindictive. They also have an easier time gaining the trust of the unsuspecting good people in your novel.
I enjoyed your post.
They might start with a bit of conflict, but these two guys want to be friends. And I need another way to build some bridges between the newcomers and the old guard, and this friendship could help do that. Besides, I already have a horrible antagonist - the mayor. I can't wait to kill him! But that won't happen until a later book. LOL. Thanks for stopping by Melissa!
True enough, sometimes our characters surprise us. Seems that with the Dickensian name folks will tend to underestimate your sheriff.
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