New Compendium Entry - Evelyn Sun

This week I gave you a look into the character of Evelyn Sun from my Black Earth series, and we took a look at chameleons in Christian fiction. Today I'm happy to say that a new entry to the website Compendium has been added: Evelyn Sun's character profile.

For those who are curious what the Compendium is, it is a (ultimately) massive database that I am building from the ground up that will house information on any and all things from both my Black Earth and my Expired Reality series. Each week, new entries will be added to the Compendium. Right now, I'm in a blog series exploring the different characters (and themes) of my Black Earth series, and the majority of released Compendium entries during this series will be character based.

Next week, I will be taking a break from this blog series to focus some time on edits and cover design to the final book in my Black Earth series, Bridge to Anaisha. I will also be tweaking some of the design of this blog and my main website. The week after next, we'll take a good look at another character from the Black Earth series.

Chameleons in Christian Fiction

On Monday, we took a look at the character of Evelyn Sun from my Black Earth series. Evelyn is a young girl who changes her appearance and personality to match the desires of one girl - Kari Preen. Evelyn refuses to acknowledge her own personality, her own hopes and dreams, and instead caters to Kari's selfish demands for false friendship and egotistical wants.

Personally, I've seen this behavior one too many times in my life - especially when I was in high school. Kids and adults alike - although kids especially - can sometimes fall victim to so much insecurity that they adopt the persona of someone else, especially someone they look up to. Even I have been guilty of this in my past. Sometimes it's because we want to impress others so badly that we're willing to bend and break just to fit in. Other times, it's simply because we don't have an identity of our own - or we don't know how to tap into our own identity, fearful of what others might think - and so we adopt someone elses.

Characters like this can be used in Christian fiction to showcase the theme of identity theft. Rather, identity surrender. Kari wouldn't be able to take and manipulate Evelyn's identity if Evelyn wasn't so willing to give it up. It doesn't make what Kari does right, but it doesn't excuse Evelyn for her part in the whole thing either.

In my Black Earth series, Evelyn becomes a drone, dependent on Kari's approval and direction - even if the direction Kari is heading in leads only to destruction.

This Friday, Evelyn's character profile will be added to the Compendium, and next week we'll dig into the character of Heather Rhodes and the part super powers and magic can play in Christian fiction.

Black Earth Character Spotlight - Evelyn Sun

Last week we took a look at Kari Preen, a somewhat minor character in my Black Earth series who exemplifies fake Christians - those who claim to be Christ-followers but instead act completely different in their day to day lives.

Today we'll take a peek at Evelyn Sun - another somewhat minor character in my series. Evelyn was mentioned in last week's blog postings as the young girl who follows Kari around, striving to fit in with the girl, insecure in her own skin.

Evelyn was born and raised in Apache Junction, Arizona in a home where her father physically abuses her. Evelyn only came to the church by invitation from Kari. Kari and Evelyn became friends through the private school that they attended, and for all intents and purposes, Evelyn is pretty much Kari’s chameleon, changing her emotions, personality, and desires to match Kari's. At times, Evelyn dresses like Kari and allows Kari to dictate who Evelyn is going to talk to. At other times, Evelyn simply keeps quiet while Kari verbally berates her.

Near the beginning of the Black Earth series, Evelyn has taken a liking to Heather Rhodes, even trying to talk to her on occasion. But Kari won't tolerate Evelyn showing loyalty to anyone other than her, and so Kari convinces Evelyn that friendship with Heather is hatred toward Kari.

Throughout her time in the Black Earth series, Evelyn represents a chameleon of sorts - one who has no identity of their own, who changes themselves on a whim to become or please a specific person they look up to. Evelyn is a drone, her own emotions, dreams, desires masked in order to allow someone elses behavior to override hers.

On Wednesday, we'll take a look at the theme of identity theft and how it can be used in Christian fiction. And on Friday, Evelyn's character profile will be added to the Compendium.