What Jack Bauer Taught Me About Creating Compelling Characters

Anyone out there remember Jack Bauer? 24? It was - and is - only the greatest television show of all time.

I'll gush for a moment: I'm a total 24 addict. I was since the beginning of the first episode, and I continued to transform into full-blown fanboy geek by the time Fox aired the last episode of the eighth season. I own every DVD set including 24: Redemption - the made-for-TV movie, along with various comic books, graphic novels, soundtracks, TV Guides, and anything else that had to do with Jack Bauer, 24, or anything in the realm of those two things.

I was obsessed. I'll admit it. Still am a bit. A man crush? Maybe. I'm not ashamed.

Jack Bauer become my all-time favorite character...of all time. Of every book, comic book, television series and movie I ever subjected myself to in my lifetime, the character of Jack Bauer enthralled me more than any other.

Why?

Because his character was compelling. His character was edgy, tragic, heroic. The character of Jack Bauer fell somewhere in the gray area of morals and ethics. He did things he didn't want to do because he knew he had to do them if he wanted to succeed in his mission in keeping the world - and his home/family - safe and secure.

Jack Bauer tortures his brother, Graem.

Jack was an antihero of sorts. He rebelled against convention, he went up against the powers-that-be to unveil corruption at its vilest, and he risked the few for the many. He wrestled with the demons of his wife's death, he went up against his own brother and father who were corrupt, he killed an innocent government agent to appease a terrorist - and to save hundreds of people. He made the tough decisions you and I hope we never have to face in our lifetime. He wasn't just a good government/rogue agent - he was an effective agent. He got results, and didn't care what had to be done to achieve those results.

His character helped me in my own writing ventures. When I realized that 'good' characters aren't always good, it dawned on me that I had been raised to believe otherwise: good is good, bad is bad. There are definite boundaries that define the difference between the two, but when you're fighting terrorism at the level Jack was, where the bad guys don't play fair, where the lives of innocent people are on the line, a simple moral/ethic rulebook can't be followed. It has to be thrown out. One man - Jack Bauer - was there to save the day, save the world, even if he had to sacrifice part of himself and/or his relationships in the process.

Jack holds up a gas station - and takes a terrorist hostage!

Jack's character inspired me and helped influence some of the behavior of my own character, David Corbin, an ex-hero from my young adult, scifi-fantasy novel series. In one particular scene taken from Lost Birth, the second novel in the series, David, through a chain of events, finds himself in a jewelry store where the object he's been searching for - a necklace that is said to unlock an ancient timepiece that can save the world - is located. The cops and mall security are on him, and so he does the only thing he can faced with his impossible circumstances: he takes one of the jewelry store employees hostage. (My inspiration from this scene came from Jack's own actions in Season 4, episodes 3 and 4, when he holds up a gas station and takes hostages to buy himself time to catch some terrorists.) In doing so, David puts the jewelry store employee's life at risk, and in the end, his choice has tragic consequences.

I love characters like this. Characters who go beyond convention. Characters who aren't always fighting the bad guy with the twirling mustache, but are also fighting the everyday citizens who want to make the hero's day worse, fighting the demons within, fighting the very stereotype of what a hero is supposed to be.

Jack Bauer opened my eyes to the full potential my own characters can have. And even though 24 isn't airing on television anymore, he'll always be somewhere near my writing desk, adding to my muse.

An Introduction to Carrie Green

With the first three novels in my upcoming young adult series, Expired Reality, debuting this summer, I figured I'd start introducing everyone to some of the characters from the series. Some of these characters have been near and dear to my heart since I was twelve, when I just started writing fiction. Some of them are inspired by people who were great friends of mine and some of them came from the deepest nooks of my imagination.

I'll start out the introductions with Carrie Green, one of the main characters of my series, and one of my favorite.

Childhood friend of Veronica Amorou, and the on again, off again object of David Corbin's affection,Carrie is a strong-willed advocate of environmental soundness, and non-violent means of stopping crime. In junior high, she voluntarily recruited herself to join David in his epic quest to stop the criminals of Anaisha, helping form the heroic group known as the Lazerblades, which Veronica and Veronica's brother, Sean, ultimately joined as well.

During the adventures Carrie shared with her friends, she quickly developed feelings for David Corbin. However, any time she attempted to reveal those feelings toward him, unfortunate circumstances would play out. Over the years, Carrie learned to confide about her love for David in Veronica, and to hold out patiently for the day that her and David would be able to be together as a couple.

Taking on the task of saving the world, Carrie always had issues juggling her adventurous feats, schoolwork, and the turbulent relationship with her mother. Carrie’s mother became increasingly persistent in voicing her desires for Carrie to make something of her life - something more than running around the world with David and her friends to do what the police were fully capable of doing. Her mother's hatred for David came out in constant tongue lashings and violent argumentative explosions.

As soon as high school was over with, and most of the major criminals of the world were stopped, Carrie found herself  in a final fiery dispute with her mother about the direction her life was going. This, along with David's poor timing in finally telling her that he loved her, prompted Carrie to vanish without a word of where she was going. All that was left behind was a note telling her friends she needed some time to herself.

At the beginning of Endangered Memories, the first book in the Expired Reality series, Carrie is living in South Ryshard, about to marry Jerad Montlier, one of the richest men in Anaisha. The only problem is Carrie has no memory of her past, and when a mysterious diary crosses her path, she's forced to dig up the memories she thought lost forever and battle against those who wish she'd never remember.

Look for more of Carrie in Endangered Memories this coming June. I also have a post I wrote detailing how I came about creating Carrie's wedding dress for the book. You can check it out here - http://abrokenreality.blogspot.com/2011/02/carrie-greens-wedding-dress.html.