Characters: Tucker

Tucker is, by far, my favorite character I created. Okay, so he's a little stereotypical but I like him.
In the original story I came up with Tucker was an adult trying to reconcile the things he did in his past. The story was through another character's eyes, though, so you only saw bits and pieces of his life (all colored, obviously by her thoughts). But in my head I could see from everyone's POV (the perks of being the writer).

So Tucker did a lot of things wrong in his life and hurt a lot of people...a lot of people he cared deeply for. He's the kind of guy that some how ends up with the reputation that he doesn't really care about anyone or anything. Problem is he cares a lot more then he lets on but he's so caught up in his reputation that he doesn't know how to escape. So he plays into it more and more and in the process continues to hurt the people he cares about, namely Casey

In my original idea the story went like this:
In junior high Tucker's best friend, Kevin, started dating Michelle. Tucker, always the macho/girl's have cooties type of guy, balked at this, teased his friend and made his life miserable. But Kevin ignored him, knowing it was just Tucker's defense to cover his own insecurities.

Michelle's best friend is Casey (originally I called her Sarah but changed it later to Casey). Where as Michelle has only lived in town a few years, Casey has known Tucker and Kevin since Kindergarten and Tucker has never been nice to her. Later I changed it so Tucker grew up across the street from Casey.

So, because Michelle and Kevin become friends Casey and Tucker are forced to spend time together. Tucker is amazingly cruel to Casey, always calling her names, making things up about her and trying to hurt her any time he can. Casey seems mostly unphased by Tucker's nonsense. This just entices Tucker more (always wanting to see her lose her cool). Kevin and Michelle ignore him for the most part.

Tucker, in his defense, isn't only an arrogant jack ass. He is also extremely loyal and has Kevin's back no matter what and in extension Michelle and Casey's, too. He may prey on Casey's weakness but never tolerates anyone else doing the same. As soon as any person makes a crack about her behind her back (ie when she isn't around) he is quick to put his fist into the problem. He then vehemently denies everything afterwards.

By high school Tucker begins to realize that he actually has feelings for Casey but because of his reputation and the way he has treated her most of his life he has problems coming to terms with that. He can't imagine she would feel the same so to spare his own feelings he continues to treat her badly hoping she will just hate him and make it easier for him to walk away from her.

In the original story most of the action takes place when they group is in their late 20s with flashbacks to their lives before. I one point we get to see Michelle and Kevin getting ready for their wedding. They are 22, just graduated (or almost done with) college. Tucker is, of course, the best man and Casey is the maid of honor making the two have to spend time getting along.

Tucker doesn't seem to ever take things seriously and Casey feels she must be responsible for the wedding going off without a hitch. Tucker tries as hard as he can to make Casey's job nearly impossible. He makes fun of Casey in her dress (almost bringing her to tears), is late to the rehearsal and screws around the whole time eliciting constant looks from Michelle.

At the wedding, Tucker follows Casey around antagonizing her as she tries to keep things organized and running smoothly. She is exhausted and highly stressed and finally breaks and starts screaming at Tucker, much to his delight. Michelle is not amused and yells at Casey to not ruin the wedding.

Casey tries to ignore him the rest of the night but is forced to have a dance with him for some photos. Surprisingly Tucker dances with her with no incident. In fact he is polite and sweet bringing back some memories Casey has of him when they were younger and actually got along, not to mention the few times they had been alone and he had shown a different side.

After the reception it is the wedding party's job to clear the hall to get the deposit back. Tucker disappears but finally shows up to tell everyone there is a party and they all leave. Casey is left to do all the work herself and Tucker smiles as he walks out leaving Casey in tears.

A half hour later he shows back up, guilt getting the better of him for the first time in years. He realizes things are going to change now that his best friend is married and knows he can't keep things up with Casey. He helps her clean up and drives her home.

Deciding he was going to try and change some things about his life he goes to see Casey at work the next day. Casey sees this as just him trying to be annoying as Tucker shows up at her work a lot to bug her.

After a few days Casey starts to relax and see Tucker is sincere (at least for him). It is something new for both of them.

The wedding scene was the first I thought up. It was where I created the characters so it kind of holds a special place in my heart. In the story it was just a flashback (several actually). While Kevin and Michelle are on their honeymoon Casey and Tucker start to mend the divide between them and actually seem to become friends but always with that tentative nature. Tucker is always on the verge of converting back to his old ways to protect himself and Casey is always on the defensive waiting for that moment. But, after a night of fun the two end up sleeping together.

Embarrassed and confused they both pull away. Michelle and Kevin come back and things do change. Then Casey comes to Tucker a month later to tell him she's pregnant. The two decide to keep it a secret for as long as they can. Casey keeps busy finishing college and Tucker throws himself into work.

Michelle and Tucker are just happy the two seem to be getting along, not knowing what is actually going on. Then one night the group goes to a concert in another town. Tucker is driving home when he falls asleep at the wheel and crashes the car. The 4 survive with only minor injuries except for Casey who loses her baby.

Casey blames Tucker for the crash and for her baby dying. A rift bigger then any before splits the group. Any time they are in a room together the two are at each other's throats. Tucker doesn't know how to vocalize the hurt he is feeling by losing his baby and being betrayed (in his mind) by Casey who turned on him so quickly.

Kevin and Michelle thing it is only about the crash and almost dying and try to stay out of the fight. Casey pulls away from the group and as soon as she graduates she leaves town and breaks contact almost completely, only emailing Michelle occasionally.

Tucker is heart broken, confused and guilt ridden. He vows to change and never hurt a person the way he hurt Casey again. Time goes on and Tucker builds a successful business for himself. Michelle and Kevin have a few kids then a bomb drops on Tucker's world. Casey sends Michelle a wedding invitation. Tucker is devastated but can't tell anyone because know one, not even Casey knew how in love he was with her. He wasn't really even sure until he heard the words, "Casey is getting married" and felt as if someone was ripping his heart out.

He shows up to the wedding but stays in the shadows and sits in the back. Afterwards he writes a quick note to Casey and leaves it with Michelle then leaves town. Their lives continue on until one day, out of the blue, he gets a call from Casey. She sounds scared. She mentions the note he left 4 years early saying if she ever needed anything at any time to call him and he would be there. And there she was, calling at 3am begging for help. Tucker immediately jumps in his car and drives the 8 hours to her house to get her and her 3 year old son.

He finds her beaten and terrified of her abusive husband. Tucker lays him out flat and without a word Casey takes her son and leaves with him.

That was mainly how the story was going to go. After that point I was fuzzy on how things were going to work out. I had a few scenes in mind to show the awkwardness between Casey and Tucker after all those years, how Michelle and Kevin welcomed her back with open arms, her and her son staying with Tucker in his nice house that he built himself, how Tucker has changed.

Eventually Tucker confesses how much he loved her and how much it hurt when she left and that she blamed him for losing their baby. He tells her he wished it had been him that died in the crash, not the baby. They have a few fights and eventually Michelle and Kevin find out the truth and with a little prodding convince their friends to give it another try as a couple.

That was my beginning ideas for Tucker...more in another post because this one is already super long.

characters

So, I write a lot of fanfiction. Well, not a lot but it is mostly what I write. I just can't seem to get my characters to be three dimensional and I connect with the characters I see on TV. I can find their voices so easily.

During NaNo last year (which I failed miserably at again) I endeavored to create my own characters. My story didn't turn out so well but the characters stuck with me and I'm happy to find that I'm doing the same thing with them that I do with the TV characters I write about--imagining them in various situations to see how they will react.

The story I started for NaNo...well, I still like the basic idea. It's just my writing of it wasn't working out. The voices weren't right. Some of the scenes I liked; I just need to rewrite them, I guess.

But the characters I fell in love with and I'm learning them backwards and forwards. I feel what they feel and know them like I know myself. I'm so proud.

The stories I have been imagining for them are basically the same thing from different views. Or, a lot of the time, I keep imagining the same events but changing how each person reacts until I find a reaction that I like best. It is fun to do and I have been using it with my fanfiction for years. I lie awake in bed at night or in the early morning and think: "if A does this, then B will react like this, but if A does that then B might do this" and it goes on and on like that.

Sometimes I take them completely out of their own story and start a new story, change their ages but not their basic relationship with each other.

I still haven't come to a point where I want to actually write about my characters. I need to figure out their lives and how their story works. It took years of imagining my TV characters before I felt comfortable writing them

I might start just jotting down some of the tidbits I come up with for them, though. Maybe that will blossom into more, maybe not.

I think I will write some individual posts about the characters so each entry isn't 5 pages long.