Friday, April 10, 2015

Characters You've Never Heard Of: ISAAC

“Wake up, boy.” The voice came from directly beside Isaac’s ear, and he immediately woke to full alertness and jumped to his feet.

He was still in his apartment. He was still naked. It was light outside. How long had he been asleep?

“Put this on,” said a man standing next to him, thrusting an armload of clothes at Isaac. It was the man from the street corner, with the neat little black moustache and the horrible teeth. He was still dressed in his luxurious tuxedo, and his overcoat and hat were tossed over a chair at the kitchen table.

“How did you get in here?” Isaac asked, painfully aware of his nakedness and feeling ashamed and uncomfortable. “What do you want from me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the man answered, holding the clothes toward him. Isaac caught a glimpse of his disgustingly twisted teeth. “But if you want to save your wife, you need to get dressed and come with me. Now.”

Isaac knew then he was dreaming. Yet everything, including the man’s wretched teeth, white starched shirt and Isaac’s own shame, all felt perfectly real. “Save her? What are you talking about?”

“Get dressed.” He said again, firmly, finally. Isaac gave up arguing, and took the clothes from him. He got dressed in the clean, neatly pressed pants, shirt and jacket. There were shiny wing-tip shoes nearby to go along with it. Everything fit perfectly.

“Where are we going, a wedding?” Isaac asked, buttoning the cuff links on his sleeves.

“No, a funeral. You should know better than that. Come on.”

-excerpt from the soon to be published "Ten Thousand Days"


* * *

Isaac is the protagonist in Ten Thousand Days. He's a pretty ordinary dude, living in Toronto with a beautiful wife at a lousy job he hates, but he life is pretty simple and carefree.

And then everything goes to hell.

I really run Isaac through a lot of weird shit over the course of Ten Thousand Days, but he handles it well. He's tougher and more resourceful than he seems, and shows immense willpower and determination to be able to go the extremes that he does to get back the things that he loves.

I am purposefully pretty vague about Isaac's description in the book. I know who he is, what is background is, where he's from and so on, but little of it is mentioned in the story. I want him to be an everyman for modern twenty-somethings/early thirty-somethings. I want the reader to be able to connect with him, to sympathize with him, to really feel for him. I want them to place themselves in his shoes. He really is an ordinary guy placed in an extraordinary situation. How will he handle it? How would you handle it, if it were you?

What would you do to save someone you love?

* * *

So I was kinda hoping I could reveal the cover of Ten Thousand Days today, but I still haven't put the finishing touches on it. I'm VERY close, but I just can't share it, not yet.

Of course, I can't mention it and not show you ANYTHING, so here's a little teaser...


That's gotta be worth something, right? (It'll be ready soon, I promise...)

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