From my in-development fantasy story, Vanadys: Tales of a Fallen Goddess, here is one of the main characters: Ruzika the Dragon Princess. (Currently in her non-dragon form.)

Ruzika is actually one of my oldest characters; I created her back in college, for a very different story which never quite got off the ground. I liked her as a character, though, so I tried using her, or variations of her, in small roles in other projects. But it was with the story of Vanadys she found her real home.

Originally she was supposed to be a secondary character in the story; a parody of the damsel in distress who end up being something quite different in the end. But as I plotted things out, she turned out to click really well with the three main characters — and I realized that with her on board I had a classic “Four Temperaments Ensemble” group. Whereas the reserved and stoic Vanadys was Melancholic, the smooth-talking and sarcastic Berrok was Choleric, and the calm, sweet-natured and eternally hungry Tufty was Phlegmatic, Ruzika could complete the group as the energetic and cheerful Sanguine.

Plus, there’s great value in a character who is new to the scenery. That means she can take on the reader’s role as the one the other characters explain things to. Exposition scenes do flow more naturally if they start with Ruzika asking “Who’s that guy? What’s going on? Why do I never ask follow-up questions?”

The result was that Ruzika became the fourth main character, and her story became linked with Vanadys’s.