Suspense Week, Day One

Howdy, folks! Author here. After last week's blockbuster finale that left the fate of Dragomir and his pals in the icy claws of uncertainty, you were probably gripping your seats in anticipation of what was going to happen THIS week.

The answer is: you have to wait five more days. Surprise!

Yep, break time for me. Dragomir's Diary has been running non-stop since its inception, and the story could use a little reprieve while I gear up for season two. There are many and sundry exciting things on the way, and I hope you stick around to watch them unfold. I also hope many more readers will join your esteemed ranks. (Hint hint, tell your friends!)

In the meantime, you can go back and read (or re-read) the epic finale of season one by clicking on this fantastically-bloody logo that I created after the series was already complete!

Oooo, blood. The story also continues in a brief but gruesome cameo in Mindless Walkabout, so don't forget to go visit the webcomic.

I'm not one to leave this blog without content so for the next week I'll give y'all a sneak peek into the development of the first season of Dragomir's Diary, including some preliminary drawings of the characters and details of what might have been. But wasn't. Yay!

Today we'll begin with a document I wrote riiiiight at the beginning of Dragomir's life called 'The First Ten'. I decided that ten characters would make for a good start, and fleshed out their personalities in notational form. Let's begin with the main star!

Dragomir

Personality-wise, Dragomir was originally envisioned more or less as he turned out: a lazy, goofy, friendly slacker. He got hit with more bum luck in the final product than I figured during the draft process, but that's inevitable in an interesting story.

Physically, Dragomir was to be somewhat different: because he couldn't use his hands, he was actually an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. Years of not being able to pick up a weapon bumped up his unarmed combat skill. That would've turned him into a less interesting character to me, however, and eventually he became an all-around wuss.

Also? Three brothers. Dunno what happened to the other two.

Libby

Libby started out as she ended up: bossy and strong. She's always been physically dominant to Dragomir, though at first they were more of a match. Now... now she can beat his ass like nobody's business. (Same goes for most people.) The big difference with her was a penchant for using a sword and shield, both of her own design, when fighting. No fists.

End result? Much better. Libby looks badass when she's punching stuff. She's the resident fighting game character in the wrong place.

Eve

was going to die near the end of the first year. She started out as more of an all-powerful defence system for the castle. Fortunately, I liked her too much to kill her off. She'll get up to plenty more shenanigans. She was going to be a BOY at first, though... a fact that I changed mid-document... go figure.

Robert the Cook

Roughly the same personality as now, but more gruff; he would have bossed his workers around a lot more. He also would've been more like the other Robert in that no one has ever seen him outside his kitchen, as he's an NPC tied to his post. This inevitably got canned - he and Dragomir couldn't have been born in a distant village if Robert had always been inside the kitchen.

Also, elephant antics within, like, two weeks of the beginning of the story. Broke the unused rule of Robert in no time flat. Doi.

Last on Robert's slate, he would have been nicknamed 'Bob' most of the time, to help tell him apart from the many other Roberts in existence. That got slashed. Dunno why.

King Jeffrey

King Jeffrey, Jeffrey the King. Which sounds better? Despite the regular naming conventions, I went with the latter.

Jeffrey would have been more scarce in the drafts, issuing his decrees via a multitude of criers. After Jeffrey made his first appearance, though, I knew he should be a more up-front antagonist. He may be an utter asshole, but he's good enough at it that he deserves some spotlight now and then. He was also planned to have a pet turtle, for some reason, one that got carried around on a satin pillow all day by one of Jeffrey's servants.

There was originally a storyline planned where Dragomir would have taught Jeffrey the rudiments of unarmed combat. When Dragomir's strength fled the poor lad, so too did the potential for this story.

That's all for now. Tomorrow: a few old character scans and more about the original ten characters! Stay tuned.