13 Comments

Lovely character build. And it sounds like you're still playing around with who the characters will become? I like this approach to serialization.

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Oh, he's not a "nice" guy, but more of a cad. He's a liar and a cheat, and all the bad things...but he's also loyal, and has a code of honour he lives by. He's a womanizer and a thief. He has a secret...

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Interesting characters introduced here, Ben. I specially liked your very first description of Claire. Sweet!

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The more twisted and involved, the better the character, don't you think?

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In the case of Jack of Diamonds, you bet! However, in the case of my rural novel, Bartle Clunes, no. My characters are fully three-dimensional and unpredictable, but not "twisted" in any way. Depends on the kind of story one is building, I think. I look foreward to more Jack of Diamonds.

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I’m coming late to this gig (well am I actually? I’m just coming to it now…in April rather than November…). I’m there already with these guys, and I’m intrigued. But, worried about reading on and hitting the paywall (I made myself a deal: no subscribing while I did my stuff on my Stack for free). Dig the riff on Rebecca and Manderley for Mandalay.

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The only reason I put up a paywall is because I have friends who bought into my 'Stack and I felt I owed it to them. I only have 20 Paid Subscribers. The idea is to gather at least 70-80 and then print up a book with that income and send it to my subscribers...but, well, no one seems to want to play that game. I'm glad you like it though.

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I do like it, man.

And I get the whole paid subscriber thing both for you and for all writers here, I’m not knocking it at all.

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And I can't wait to dive into yours. Just reading the first chapter and the family tree, and then diving into the second chapter? I'm liking what I see. And as I've gotten older, I've become very picky about what I read on line.

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Hi Ben, I am interested in going on-it sounds mysterious in some way. Cheers, Heather

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Happy to have you, you know that! It's an adventure, to say the least.

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I love the history and background to the story at the beginning, it left me wondering if that happened in the past or it is a synopsis of what the story will be about. I look forward to more of Artie's adventure.

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The story takes place in 1923. He's a WWI vet; he spent a year in the trenches and then ended up working in Paris as a translator. He suffers from PTSD to some extent--he has bad dreams still--but he's a cad. He's a womanizer, a liar, a cheat, and a thief. Other than that, he's a pretty nice guy. 😆

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