Character Chat!

@writerlexi1216 *flashbacks to my old Goodreads groups*

This looks fun! I, however, have too many characters, so I think I’ll sit back for a moment before jumping in!

@writerlexi1216 @devastate-lasting

Hooray for character topics!! I’m so excited to talk about my characters and hear about everyone else’s beloved charries. XD

@gracie-j

Um, Seth? 😂 I think you already know all about him. He enters The Apostle’s Sister as a three-year-old, and the novel ends when he turns ten. I would say he’s definitely a major character; the major characters are Temira, Paul, and Seth. And perhaps Luke and Reuben would also qualify. Reuben is honestly more of a secondary character though, despite being Temira’s first son and Paul’s first nephew. He certainly doesn’t play such a major role as Seth does.

I’m gonna talk about Reuben right now, since I haven’t really talked about him before at length. He’s also three years old when TAS first begins, and for the first few chapters we see him as a very young child. I mostly summarize in narration his childhood years being raised by Temira and Paul in Tarsus, before those many years in Tarsus were over and Paul began traveling all the known world. Reuben has just become a teenager when the years in Tarsus are over and Paul has made his headquarters in Syrian Antioch. Then when he’s fifteen or sixteen (it’s sixteen I believe, though I’ve forgotten exactly) he marries his wife, and after that he definitely becomes a very mature character.

The differences between Seth and Reuben as small children is that Reuben is much more calm, much more even-tempered, and Temira and Paul are able to save him from a good deal of trauma which they were not able to save Seth from. Reuben does witness Paul being tortured for the gospel the first time at the mere age of three, just as Seth does later. And of course, Reuben still has traumatic flashbacks to that experience, as seeing violence like that does stay in the human brain. But he was extremely young at the time, so memory does fade and become less vivid. And Paul and Temira are much more capable of protecting him from himself than they are with Seth, as after the harrowing experience Reuben spends the remainder of his young childhood being peacefully raised by Temira and Paul. Paul’s quiet ministry in Tarsus is generally safe as soon as he escapes from his bloodthirsty family. So Reuben is able to forget and able to work through things much better than Seth is. Reuben is not told anything about his abusive father or his parents’ wicked family, and he never thinks to ask, so that also helps him forget a good deal. He has always known Paul as crippled and so thinks nothing of it.

As a teenager, Reuben is forced to witness much more violence and torture done to his uncle, and things are made harrowingly clear to him. For the first time he begins to understand, and as a few more years go by he understands much better the way his parents are and the horrible things that have made them that way. He understands the abuse Paul has endured, as well as his guilt over once persecuting the church, and his mother’s anxiety. But Reuben, with his mature worldview and the careful way Paul and Temira have raised him, is able to reconcile with all this much better than Seth. As he grows still older, the roles are switched: Reuben becomes the parent to Paul and Temira, who are no longer his caretakers. By taking on the parental role which is his nature, Reuben is able to develop a strength of heart and mindset that says: “This is the way things are, and I’m not going to ask questions and rub salt in the wound. I’m just going to accept it, and try to help make it a bit easier if I possibly can.”

This is hugely different from Seth. Seth’s entry into the novel, first of all, is completely different. He lived for three years with completely different parents whom Paul and Temira don’t even know. His past is a mystery. While he is very young, he of course does not think about his adoption, and it’s doubtful if he even knows about it. When he gets older though, he picks up that he is different from everyone else, as his parents freely speak of his adoption and eventually tell him the details on his seventh birthday. From the things he’s seen and heard, Seth is convinced that love can’t really be there if he is not related to his parents by flesh and blood. This idea certainly never came from either parent, but he has nevertheless picked it up and they are quite oblivious to his inner turmoil. There is evidence that Paul and Temira do partly realize that something about his past bothers Seth, but in that area of their child’s life they are sadly remiss and never think to ask him.

Seth is also forced to witness Paul’s traumatic experiences, from the first time at an extremely young age. He experiences the flashbacks and is frightened by them, though at the front of his mind he can’t identify what they’re about. At the back of his mind he knows, though. He has much less of a peaceful childhood than Reuben, as he is constantly on the move with his parents, and Paul’s ministry is certainly anything but quiet and safe. Seth senses that something could happen to take his uncle away from him at any moment, and as such he attaches himself obsessively to Paul in a way that Reuben never did. And as he gets older, memories emerge, triggered by traumatic moments, and he has tons of unanswered questions about not only his “real” family, but about his parents’ family. Paul and Temira, wanting to spare him, never tell him a thing about their own childhood and experiences and pasts. Seth senses much more than Reuben did at the same age, and it creates a much bigger problem that his parents are unwilling to speak than it would if they gently fed him the appropriate information as he grows. The combination of everything makes Seth hardened and bitter, and instead of adopting Reuben’s let’s-just-deal-with-it philosophy, he adopts this concept: “Cruelty is the only cause.” (If that makes sense.)

OH MY GOODNESS DID I REALLY WRITE ALL THAT???? I did not even realize I was rambling so much! I’m so sorry, thank you to anyone who read this monstrosity. XD

@gracie-j

Haha, I agree with you 100% about Deek and Newton! XD

@writerlexi1216 @gracie-j @devastate-lasting @joy-caroline

I’ll definitely be back to talk about my characters X)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Abigail.M..

@joy-caroline I agree with Lexi! I love how you’ve taken a historical figure and given him a family! You have done such an amazing job developing your characters! I already love Reuben, and Seth? I can’t wait to get to know him better!!!

@writerlexi1216 You’re welcome! Girl, I hope you like them! I’m not sure how Xavier would compare to Newton… He and Deek are de bomb! I have a few favorites, and my family thinks I’m crazy for keeping them around.

@abigail-m I can’t wait to read about yours!

@writerlexi1216

I don’t mind at all! I think it’s a great idea, same about your characters!🙂

@writerlexi1216

Hmm, no I don’t see it. That happens to me all the time too though.