Two years ago I wrote my first draft of Jane Doe’s story. It was a rush job, the story just wanted to come out too fast for me to be delicate and careful. Plot holes, bad grammar, really random head-hopping littered the project everywhere. It didn’t matter. When I write, that’s how I roll.

I wrote something like 225 chapters (approximately 500k words) in a five month period. I wrote the original 3 book series, and a lengthy 4th book in my ‘first draft’ sloppy format.

In the midst of that writing a character appeared in the third book. He started with just one line – and was never meant for more.

That one line gave me this picture in my head of this man.  This man that would go by the nickname ‘Hammy’. The kind of man that would all but live on a bar stool (a la Norm), yet call a woman “Lady Jane”. That would mix it up with these rough & tumble men of the frontier, yet blush when my main character kissed him on the cheek.

This character wouldn’t let me go. He wound into my heart and now in my final drafts appears as early as the fourth chapter.  His role isn’t major and it isn’t linear – his appearances are random, but always filled with heart.

This character went from being a one-note-wonder – a one-liner without anything further to add – to being a special part of the story.

I do love when that happens.

It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

It’s part of what excites me about writing.

What about you? What are your favorite characters that crawled their way out of nothingness?