The more I write
about Cinaer - Fire's Helian antagonist - the more I love him. Don't get me
wrong - he's the bad guy, I don’t like
him, but I do absolutely love writing about him. When Cinaer is in a scene,
anything can happen; usually, the darker, the better.
But he didn't start
out that way. In fact, in my first draft of Fire, Cinaer didn't exist at all.
Avery was a triplet:
she had a brother, Riley and a sister, Darcy. Darcy was quickly dropped in
favour of a guy as a potential love interest for Roxy, called Josh. Josh and
Roxy were partners in crime, and had great fun planning what they were going to
do to the Arcans. But still, the Helian group didn't work. Josh was too nice
and Riley just wasn't needed; having them there didn't make the story better
and that, really, is the most important factor to consider about a character.
To fix it, I dropped
both characters and brought in Cinaer.
Cinaer was a little
bit like Josh, but I renamed him using a name from a previous, abandoned idea,
since the name sounded so Helian (cin, as in 'cinders'). He was supposed to be
bad, but in a Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl kind of way; still attractive, still
redeemable. He remained this way until I had a draft perfected enough to show
to someone else, although I still wasn't completely happy.
Then my first reader
told me that Cin wasn't mean enough - he shouldn't be the bad guy in need of
saving - he had to be the guy everyone needed saving from.
And it proved oh so
easy to make him that way. Cinaer isn't redeemable, he isn't likeable - he is
the extreme version of what it means to be Helian - so convinced of his own
superiority, his sense of his own entitlement, that there isn't space for any
goodness. Cinaer became less 'cinders' and more 'sin'.
Many of my favourite
characters are like this: Umbridge from Harry Potter being a perfect example. I
focused an entire chapter of my University dissertation on Umbridge - for me,
she is far darker and more menacing than Voldemort, Lestrange or Malfoy. This
is because she is completely fueled by her desire for power, it overcomes any
sense of morals or ethics - any regime will do, no matter how corrupt. Stephen King called her "the greatest make-believe villain to come along
since Hannibal Lecter"
Right from the
opening chapter of Fire, Cinear is in opposition to Roxy. They have an uneasy
truce for most of the first book, but it quickly deteriorates. And by Air?
Well, you're going to have to wait and see. But I think Umbridge would
definitely be on his side...
