Monday, 24 August 2020

Cramping Chronicles: The First Twinge - Writing Gray, Craig & Rowena


WRITING GRAY, CRAIG AND ROWENA

With Cramping Chronicles: The First Twinge coming out on October 13th (pre-order here) I thought I would continue to share with you about what it was like writing three of the other characters since I already wrote about Jessie and Meera (found here). If you don't know, this book is a YA Urban Fantasy and the first in a series, with chronic illness rep and a bunch of other fun things.

The plot is simply that Jessie is fifteen, newly disabled with M.E and Fibromyalgia. She's a full-time wheelchair user and has to start a brand new school because of accessibility issues. A few months before the book starts, Jessie started to feel certain people's physical and emotional pain, she's an empath, and has no idea what lays ahead for her.

Let's start with Gray, he's Jessie's best friend.

WRITING GRAY
Gray had always been one character that I felt very in tune with. He gets Jessie on so many levels and he wants what's best for her, even if he struggles a little with adapting to the change of Jessie no longer being at school with him every day. Gray is aro/ace, lives down the road from Jessie, and is usually there at her place when school finishes.

Gray's the best friend that everyone wants, he grew up with Jessie in that they've been friends since primary school and from there, they've both grown close and gone through all those friendship ups and downs. Gray's the one who works out that Jessie is having some level of pain from him, as one of her triggers Gray wants to make sure that he minimises her pain, but at the same time, he is intrigued by it all. He wants to know more, wants to see where it'll take them, and he's the one that does most of the digging online and off to see if there's a name for what Jessie is experiencing, but also if she's the only one out there.

WRITING CRAIG
Craig was a loner, he knew people at the new school Jessie starts at, but he's always been happily on his own. People misjudge him and when Jessie ends up in his tutor group, he's happy to be the first to actually say hi, and then help her to her first class of the day. Craig's younger sister is disabled, so he's an expert at guiding a wheelchair which is a plus for Jessie since she's not yet got that strength to push herself all over the school.

Craig was a delight to write, I felt like he was another one that I was very much in tune with. He's witty and smart, but he sees things in a very black and white way. There are no shades of grey, you're either doing the right thing, or you're not, and he doesn't have time for people not doing the right thing. Overall, he's someone that should I be fifteen and back at school in my current condition, I'd want on my side.

WRITING ROWENA
Rowena is shy, timid, and another one of those loners. She's not the kind of person who'll call attention to herself and she's not likely to say hello or anything like that. The change comes when she's defending someone she cares about and when that happens, watch out because she will blow her top. Affectionately dubbed Roe by Gray, it's a name she embraces and she's there to both support and help Jessie through these tough times.

Rowena was someone I loved writing because she had that soft exterior but yet was ready to jump in and defend Jessie or any of her friends when the need arose, and she could be brittle, icy and stiff if the need arose. I loved exploring her character and as the series progresses I love writing Roe's character arc.

So there we go, that's some snippets about the other three characters in the first book, and don't forget to pre-order it here. Do you have any questions? Lemme know in the comments below!

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