creative

Blog: Sketchin' Out The Irony

Philip Hurst

Aug 9, 2024 — 4 min read

This week I'm sending a character sketch from a rehashed project I'm annoyingly excited about.

You may have missed:

Inspiration: Rivers of London

Inspiration: The Batman

Inspiration: Daunt Books

I wanted to share some words with you. I've been looking at my crime thriller and wondering what it needs to take it next level. Then I read Rivers of London and thought - of course - it needs magic.

That's right, folks. I'm writing an urban fantasy book set in a seaside town about a early-forties man worried about his life. Potential audience = slightly less than zero. Still, it'll be fun (and isn't that really the point?).

After redrafting the first chapter, I really like where this is going. Although it will require a complete rewrite of the current story, I think it will be worth it. It also allows me to chronicle the creation of a novel on this blog.

Below I've written a very quick motivation sketch of my main character, as he's gone through quite a blender as I refocus the story. I wanted to capture the main irony of his existence, which drives the narrative. I find that writing something out like this really helps me place the character and flesh them out as a person - much more than writing what their favourite TV show is (or some of the other things suggested on character sheets).

Character sketch: Jack Humbolt

Here is Jack in his own words (although being a lot more introspective than the character would be in the story).

There are three things you should know about me.

Everyone calls me Jack Humbolt, but forty-one years ago I was born Arthur Crestdyke.
I am in a long term relationship with Vicky Askew, who doesn’t know I’ve been on the run from the mob for fifteen years.
Of the three warlocks on Mersea Island, I am the second most powerful.

I’m worried about three things before the story starts.

I’ve missed my calling and my chance to make a difference in the world.
That the other members of the Mersea Oyster Packing Shed Preservation Society don’t take me seriously as a warlock.
That He Who Is The Waves [more on that another day] talks to me more than I’ve known it talk to anyone. What does it want from me?
That the mob are still looking for me and still want to kill me.

And I don’t know it yet, but I’ll soon be worried about something else:

Why Gavin Pike was magically murdered and why I’ve been framed for it.

All of which gives rise to my dramatic irony:

That I want to be noticed and special, but I have to stay quiet in case I’m found and killed.

What do you think of our Jack, then? He's probably one of the more developed characters I've created in a long time, and there's an awful lot of opportunity for conflict in his scattered life.

I'm hoping you're all now thinking - very interesting Phil, but what on earth is He Who Is The Waves?