The characters we all love to hate …

Graphic courtesy of Clker Pixabay

… are often the very best characters to write. At least that’s how I feel about one of mine.  Read on …

All of my characters are very important to me.  I spend just as much time developing my ‘baddies’, who may only be around for one story, as I do my central characters who appear in all of the books.

So, Richard Laurent Delacroix, the Canadian nephew of old Guy Delacroix from the first book, Messandrierre, has had a chequered career!  He first appears in Merle (Book #2) with a backstory that is not detailed but certainly looks dodgy.  He’s not well-liked by the other villagers, and when he decides to stay, you can almost hear the sighs of disappointment from his French neighbours.

In Montbel (Book #3), Delacroix inveigles his way into the life of the village.  But, he also begins to show more of his character, and it becomes quite clear that he is prepared to not only swindle his enemies but his associates as well.  As he says in the book, ‘everything has a value’ and that capacity to drill everything down to some form of value for himself, not necessarily always monetary, is one of the key drivers of his personality.  As the story of Montbel unwinds, Delacriox proves himself to be manipulative and an accomplished liar.

As one reader put it when I was answering questions at an event, ‘Delacriox seems or have no moral compass…’.  And, at that time the statement was true.  I had deliberately planned that this character would be someone that we all loved to hate.  What I hadn’t reckoned on was the level of fun that I would get out of writing such a character.

When we get to Marseille (Book #4) Delacroix has seriously upped his game and is contemplating more complex ways of obtaining the ‘value’ that he so craves.  In one particular scene in this story, Delacriox demonstrates to his associates that he actually does have a ‘moral compass’.  It isn’t much of one, but it is there and openly stated as he directs how the next phase of work that he’s planning will be taken forward.

Of course, in Marseille, Jacques Forêt finally thwarts Delacroix.  I can honestly say that some readers were really disappointed that Delacroix was tamed, and I started getting questions about whether he might return in a later book.  At the time I said 'no' and I kept on saying that each time that question arose.  I really didn’t have any plans for Delacroix once Marseille was published.

But things change, and sometimes characters just won’t leave you, no matter how much you want them too.  The same is true for actors, too.  There are some characters I‘ve played on stage that I would still like to revisit in a new text – the wicked witch in Snow White, Grace in Entertaining Angels, Bella Donna in Hansel and Gretel, or Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – to name just a few!  There was a dark side to each of these characters, and it was great fun exploring that, but also a personal loss when I had to divest myself of each of those characters once the curtain had come down on the final performance.

But the great thing about books, unlike the characters I’ve played on stage, is that I can live again in Delacroix’s head in another story.  So, if you’ve read Mazargues (Book #7) you will have come across a short paragraph right at the very end giving a hint for the future:

and then…

 

A heavy postern gate slammed shut behind a tall, broad-shouldered and muscled man. He swept his hand through his thick silver-grey hair and donned a black fedora. He glanced across at a waiting car, a silver Mercedes, and smiled. Striding out, he crossed the open space, moved towards the car, opened the passenger door and got in.

“I’ll need a new name,” he said.

 

THE END

And you can read more about Meyrueis if you just click the following links Meyrueis Part 1  Mayrueis Part 2  Life on the Causses

If you want to read my previous posts from my time following Robert Louis Stevenson through the Cévennes, then click Following Stevenson