Christmas Special: About My Christmas Short Characters

So last year I wrote a four part Christmas Short Story (the parts of which you can find here, here, here, and here!) about three brothers from one of my larger stories celebrating Christmas. In those posts, I mentioned it was an AU (alternate universe) which basically means it’s something which could have been but was not in the actual story they are characters of.

This year, I’m doing a post on these characters and a little more about them in their actual story.

Charles

Story Role: Something which was quite interesting about writing the Christmas Short last year was writing Charles as a main character and showing his more softer side, since he is actually one of two villains in his story. However, even within the story, Charles’s main motivation is to protect his family–even as he pushes them away.

Name Inspiration: Charles’s name wasn’t very hard to figure out. I chose him name because his father, also named Charles, was the villain of the prequel story. Pretty simple logic, there!

Relationship with Christmas Short Characters: Three characters in the Christmas short are also major characters in their story, Robert and Dell, obviously, as well as a man who only had a brief scene in Part 2, Shane Harmon.

Robert: Maybe to everyone’s surprise, Robert and Charles never meet once in their story. The reasons are complicated–explained in Robert’s part below.

Dell: Dell is Charles’s major reason for many of the villainous acts he does in his story. Dell is the only person left in Charles’s life for the longest time, and when Dell begins acting differently and the townspeople treat him like an insane freak, Charles’s fear morphs into obsession and he locks him into a tower for his protection, planning to keep him there until his wider plan of conquering the kingdom (for Dell’s safety, of course) comes into fruition.

Shane: Shane and Charles are not on good terms in the story. Shane, like in the Christmas Short, was their neighbor growing up and always tried to help them, but Charles did not like to take charity. With no Robert in the story to combat his will, Charles isolated himself and Dell from Shane. However, despite this isolation, Shane knows Charles and his quirks very well.

Biggest Difference in the Christmas Short AU from the Actual Story:

Honestly, the biggest difference in Charles as a character in the AU from his actual story is just how different he is as a person, due to the effect his brothers have on him. Here, they’re all living together in relative peace–each are doing their part to help each other out, and each show their love in the way they know how. In his actual story, none of this occurs, resulting in Charles growing up fearful of abandonment, obsessive over those he loves, and bitter towards those who wronged him.

Robert

Story Role: Robert is a side character for some time of his story, growing under the tutelage of one of the three main characters. As the story progresses and he branches out on his own, he becomes a main character himself.

Name Inspiration: I honestly can’t remember what inspired me to name Robert that, other than the fact that I’ve always liked the name Robert (but not its nicknames of Rob or Bob. Consequently, he is known as Robert in the story, no nicknames.)

Relationship with Christmas Short Characters:

Charles: As mentioned above in Charles’s part, Robert actually never meets Charles. Not even for a split second or passing by.

Dell: Unlike with Charles, Robert does meet Dell–only a few, when they are both twelve. Dell discovers the place Robert is kept and comes to chat with him. Robert does not realize the two are brothers until years later, though he feels the strangest sense of protectiveness and completeness with him. It is these memories of Dell which prompt him into the military–the place he is first introduced in the story.

Shane: Shane and Robert have a very important backstory. Shane is the reason Robert never knows either of his brothers, as Shane separated Robert and Dell at birth, never telling Charles he had yet another brother. Shane attempted to raise Robert as his own, giving him his name, but Robert rebelled against his controlling parenting style, and before Shane has a chance to repent and change his ways, Robert runs away to join the military. However, Robert eventually becomes a Christian and does forgive him.

Biggest Difference in the Christmas Short AU from the Actual Story:

Obviously the biggest difference from the Christmas AU and the actual story is Robert actually interacting and living with his brothers. This was such a fun aspect to play with, since the only other AU I wrote where the three actually met was a tragedy about the pettiness and consequences of most arguments and wars. Seeing how much of a difference Robert made in both Charles’s and Dell’s mental well-being and physical welfare shocked me, but it definitely shows the impact just one person can have on an entire nation, if not the world.

Dell

Story Role: Minor character. I say “minor character” only because the actual scenes he appears in are very small (he only has about twelve chapters among many) however, he is also a major, major character as it is he who motivates both the main main character, villain, and many others to cause plot events to happen. Even in the scenes he is not personally present, he usually has such a strong role in the things he has left for the characters to find (it being strongly hinted at that he has a gift of prophecy), he might as well be a major character.

Name Inspiration: If I’m being honest, I can’t 100% remember, but I believe it may have something to do with Dell computers. As a kid, I used to play video games on a Dell computer, and I may have just picked the name at random since it had the same first initial as my main main character and his oldest half-brother, Douglas.

Relationship with Christmas Short Characters:

Charles: Despite Charles’s obsession and villainous actions such as locking Dell in a tower, Dell loves Charles more than anyone else. One might mistake this for Stockholm Syndrome, especially in light of Dell’s other mental issues, but it’s actually probably not. Dell’s mental issues also give him heightened intelligence, and he understands the reasons and motivations behind Charles’s actions. Knowing Charles is doing everything for him–even if it hurts him–makes him Dell’s favorite person. Even if he disagrees with him and suffers because of him.

Robert: Unlike Robert, Dell presumably knows from the get-go that Robert is his twin, thanks to his gift of prophetic vision. These two only do meet a handful of times, but Dell tells the man who eventually takes Robert under his wing to “take care of my brother”, showing he deeply loves the twin he barely got to meet.

Shane: Dell and Shane are not referenced much together. Dell was fond of Shane as a small boy, but as Charles isolated Dell from almost everyone, Dell didn’t get to see him often. Shane worried over him, but respected Charles and kept his distance–especially when he didn’t want him to discover Robert.

Biggest Difference in the Christmas Short AU from the Actual Story:

The biggest difference here I have to go with is how Dell’s mental state is different. In the story, Dell is referred to as insane, and is subsequently imprisoned, first in a shack, then a tower. These years of isolation cause a lack of social interaction which has made him at seventeen, act like an excited, curious five year old, accepting of everyone, wanting friends and to explore so badly. However, he is also extremely intelligent despite his lack of social interaction, but often this is seen through his work, not him personally. Thus, writing him able to go out among the townspeople and do business face-to-face with people was very fun to write and see.

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I hope you enjoyed both the Christmas Short and these facts about my characters within it and the differences between their actual story and the Christmas AU. I know I definitely enjoyed seeing the differences! Would you like to learn more about these characters and/or their story? What about my other writing projects? What are your favorite types of Christmas Blog Posts? Have any ideas for me to blog on next year? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading! ~ Kay Adelin