Okay, so yesterday I promised to tell you about how I came up with the idea of a talking owl. Stigidae Ghostwing or--as he is fond of saying--Stig for short started out as a cameo character in one of the Christmas stories I wrote for the youth group I used to be involved with. Then one year, for no real reason at all that I know of, he spoke. He wasn't Stig yet, just "the owl". Large and white, he gave advice to the main character in the story.
After that, he lay dormant for some time. But, I always wondered about him, what he did, what he was like, what his name was. That's the great thing about writing. Sometimes a really great character will appear, seemingly on their own, and just demand your attention.
The first glimmer I had for my book was Stig. But he was still "the owl". It wasn't until the hero of the book, young Eric Scott (more about him another time),saw the owl in a tree and the owl said "My name is Stigidae Ghostwing. Stig for short," that I knew his name.
After that, Stig took shape very quickly. I think the best way to describe him would be one part wise advisor (he's an owl, after all), one part friend, and one part pompous windbag. All in all, he's good support for Eric, and keeps him on track.Stig's definitely the adult of the group.
Well, I guess that's about it for today. We'll review another character soon. Thanks for reading!
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