"Jason frowned. She should choose her friends better. Keeping the company of murderers is never wise."
As always, Welcome to the Homestead. Grab a seat by the warm hearth and get cozy while we dive together into the last main character of The King's Actors, Ava
Background: Jason Allons! One of my favorite characters, mostly because HE IS A BEAN. The development was hard to pick up and for the first 4 years, there was none. In the beginning Jason was more of a concept than a character. I knew that sometime halfway through the story, which was at this time the beginning of book 2, I wanted to introduce a character that would help assist the main three on their journey. His original name was Will McCloud, my brother's Lego figure, and I thought that was cool. I wanted to base him off my brother originally, so I made him a pilot and gave him shades, because, for a sixth grader, that was the epitome of coolness. Eventually, as siblings do, he told me he didn't want me to use his name for the character, so Jason fell into the abyss while I focused on writing and perfecting the first part of the story (which I rewrote at least 4 times). Four years later, I was happy with the first book, and I continued on with the story until I hit a roadblock...what was I going to do about Will McCloud? Now, my family and I had gone to a resort near Universal Studios as a birthday present so one night I was just drawing, hoping that if I could get a character design scrawled down, maybe I could put a name to a face and figure out the character from there. I had just found this song on Spotify that I was listening to on loop, Detective Detective by Static-P and I stared at my paper until it clicked.
Jason should be a detective.
Inspiration struck and I was quick to seize it. That night I designed the character, gave him a name, and decided what his role in the story would be.
Personality: Jason's character is one of my favorite in the book, next to Rex, because even though he doesn't always make the right decisions, he has a heart of gold. Jason's a huge introvert. He would rather sit at home in dim lighting and watch anime, or read, or sketch rather than deal with people. He's highly intuitive and has a moral compass of steel. In Jason's mind, what's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong. No grey area. He dreams of one day following in his father's footsteps and becoming a detective. Jason doesn't do well with ambiguity and always tries to solve things. He's, as I describe in the book, a gentle giant. His size makes him look like the boy who would beat you up on the playground and steal your lunch money, but he usually just keeps his hood over his head and shyly continues his business. He's effortlessly sweet and tries to protect and care for those he cares about the best he can.
Voice: Unlike the main three, Jason's voice is kind of a blend of characters. He's similar to Chestnut in that he's in his own thoughts most of the time. He's the opposite of Rex's point of view, which is very grey area, abstract, feeling focused. Jason is black and white, logical, and fact focused. I really wanted to distance the two from each other as much as I could to not have them be too similar. I made a Venn diagram of the two characters and every time there was a similar trait, I decided who would get it and the opposite.
Honestly, Jason was probably the easiest character to figure out. I haven't messed with his scenes too much and most of what I wrote in the first draft stayed in the final draft. After the hiatus I took with his character, the inspiration was there, and everything just clicked into place. I can't wait for you all to meet him in the book! 18 days left until it is released!!
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