This month, for our Characters in Costume, we did a “Meet the Character” challenge. This is our last challenge before we take a hiatus over the summer months and pick up again in the fall. So for this challenge, I decided to go back to the very beginning … (a very good place to start, or so I’ve been told) … and introduce you to the character who began it all.
It being my decision to become a writer, obsession with costumes, and propensity to reenact my characters and scenes (always a bit awkward when someone happens in on you in the middle of a highly dramatic chapter.)
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Marya, from Out of Darkness Rising.
[These pictures were taken while filming the book trailer. Film/photo credit goes to Adam Terrell of Next Generation Video Productions.]
Marya is a young villager who lives on the Island, a barren rock shrouded in mist. All the villagers spend their days in terror of the Serpent, crushed beneath the oppression of his priests, the Tribunal. When Marya’s parents are slain by the Serpent for their belief in a legendary king, Marya becomes an outcast.
As an outcast, Marya is utterly forsaken and alone. She feels abandoned by the parents who chose a legend over their own daughter. She is cut off from her people and forced to survive in the wild.
[Photo credit: Holly Hamlin]
As a peasant, Marya’s clothes are rough and ragged. They’ve suffered a lot of wear and tear over the years. Most precious to her is her mother’s shawl (not pictured here). It’s little more than a ragged piece of material that Marya found on the stone where her parents met their doom, but Marya treasures it. And when she wraps it around her shoulders at night, it feels as if it is her mother’s arms wrapped around her.
Filming the book trailer was a lot of fun, but I found the prep work just as enjoyable. Characters and costumes that I had only vaguely envisioned before suddenly became concrete in my mind. I had to figure out just what sort of shirt, what color, and what style such-and-such character would wear, because if I didn’t, he was going to be immortalized on screen in a t-shirt and jeans. Lots of good incentive there. :)
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Be sure to stop by the other participating sites and meet their characters as well!
Gorgeous pictures, Gillian!
Gawjuss costume, lovely pictures – as ever!
Thankee kindly, miss!
Awesome pics! :)She looks like a cool character!
Wow, that is cool!
All of y'all, those are really cool characters. I'm sorry about my pics not being completely uploaded – I don't know how to get the uploader to work! I'll still post them ASAP, though. I'll comment back here when they're up.
Don't worry about it! Computers are always causing problems. ;)
She sounds like a really great character! And the trailer is great, too!
Thank you, Kendra. The trailer was a lot of fun to make.
EEK I'm so sorry I missed this! But I posted it today, so I hope that's all right…I've seen your trailer a couple of times; it's so cool to watch. Quite my motivation sometimes.
I love the other costumes and characters, they're really good!!
No problem, Molly! I'll head over and check out your pictures.
Glad you enjoyed the trailer. I still need to get it updated, just have to wait for a few things to be finalized first. :)
Really cool Gillian! I think the photos help give ambience and anticipation for your book. Thank you so much for the challenge to do this and I realize now that I missed the deadline at Highpattern. Whoops! I’ll try to get the photos done this afternoon because it really is a good idea. Thanks again.
http://highpattern.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/pics-of-our-characters/
We did it!
Lovely pictures! So glad y'all participated in the challenge.
Hey, Gillian, I just wanted to say sorry for missing the CCC last Friday – I was prevented by a tag-team assault by a crashed home internet system and a massive respiratory infection. (Just one of those weeks.) I'm still planning on doing it (as soon as I'm able to get off of the couch without sending myself into a coughing fit), but obviously it's going to be a bit late. ; )
No worries. I hope you feel better soon!