Life Changes and Insistent Characters

Writing is an odd occupation.  You start with an idea, or a germ of an idea, or in my case, usually with a character facing some crisis.  You ask yourself why and how they got there, what they really want, what keeps them from achieving it.  Sometimes you can’t figure it out until you walk with them for awhile.  If you are lucky, they are nattering in your ear the whole time, anxious for you to get their story right.

Inevitably, there are secondary characters who influence the main ones.  Often they are the stumbling blocks or the enablers that help your protagonists realize what they want and begin to discover the path to get it.  But sometimes, as they play their part in the ongoing story, something about them nags at you, and you know that one day, you will have to figure out their story, too.

Such was the case with the hero of my February release, Society’s Most Disreputable Gentleman.  Though he is never on-stage in his sister Joanna’s book, From Waif to Gentleman’s Wife, Greville Anders pays a key part in resolving Joanna’s story.  He started out just as a self-indulgent, selfish only son much indulged by his doting father and sisters.  His envy of his rich cousin, Lord Englemere, and lack of responsibility results in his allowing a subordinate to run the small estate, Blenhem Hill, which Englemere has given into his care.  When the subordinate embezzles money, it is Greville who is fired.  So when a destitute Joanna arrives at Blenhem Hill, thinking to take refuge with her brother, she must deal with the disapproving hero, Ned Greaves, instead.

Having served his purpose in getting hero and heroine together, Greville should have quietly faded away.  But I found he wouldn’t let me go.  Why had he allowed himself to be hoodwinked by the subordinate?  What had happened to him after he left Blenhim Hill?

By the end of Joanna’s story, I had discovered that, after some months of indulging himself playing “lord of the manor” and entertaining doxies and dissolute friends, Greville finally discovered the subordinate’s crime.  When he confronted the man, thinking to give him a chance to admit his guilt and make restitution, the villain smashed Greville over the head with a poker, stripped him of all identification and turned him over to a press gang.

I ’ve always been fascinated by stories of people who turn their lives around.  What motivates them to make a complete change?  What difficulties do they face in doing it?

When Greville’s story starts, he has just been returned to England to recover from wounds suffered in battle after serving nine months on a British man-of-war as a common sailor.  This man born into privilege and confident of his innate superiority was stripped of his authority, dragged from all that was familiar, and forced to perform humble and grueling service for a rigid and sometimes brutal taskmaster, the Royal Navy.

All his preconceptions of what makes a man worthy have been turned upside down.  All his ideas of what makes life worthwhile, and what a man should do with his life, have been called into question.  He knows the Greville who returned to England is no longer the Greville who left.  But who is he?

Only one thing is certain.  Having witnessed the heroism and sacrifice of “common” men, he can no longer look upon himself as superior or view a life of indolence as his due.  With the Society of which he’s always been a part no longer of interest to him, what is he to do with his life?

While he heals and tries to figure this out, he’s billeted as the guest of one of Lord Englemere’s friends.  Former rake Greville is immediately tempted by his host’s daughter, the beauteous Amanda.  But not only has he vowed to reform his rake’s ways, Amanda, who’s set her heart on marrying a man highly placed in government and becoming a great political hostess, is unable to conceal her shock and disdain when the guest foisted upon them by the Marquess of Englemere stumbles across her father’s threshold.  Not only is he merely a landless younger son—but he’s just served as a common sailor!

As amused as he is piqued by Amanda’s low opinion, Greville figures there’s no harm in teasing her with a bit of idle flirtation.  After all, she’s soon to depart for London Season, anxious to make a grand marriage and play a grand part in the society he now disdains.  As for Amanda, after apologizing for her lack of courtesy to her father’s guest, she tries to treat Greville with cool reserve.  If only he weren’t so handsome and fascinating!  But nothing can come of their attraction, for he is most definitely not the sort of husband she is seeking.

In measuring what Amanda values against what he has learned at sea, Greville gradually works his way toward determining what is important in his life.  And Amanda has to decide if the dream she’s cherished all her life is really worth more than the irresistible connection she feels for this most disreputable gentleman.

Do you know someone who’s had a complete turn-around in their life goals and values?  What brought them to make the change?  For one responder drawn at random, I’ll send a copy of Society’s Most Disreputable Gentleman.