Library of Congress – No Publication Restrictions
I’m working on a new book. That means a whole new cast of characters. Last week I wanted to get to know the man who will be my main male character. The one thing I know about him is that he is an artist. Well, I know some other things too but not everything. For some reason, I started writing about his childhood although none of that will have impact on the story other than perhaps the shaping of the man’s character. I knew that but I just kept writing anyway. It did help bring Kirby to life for me.
This book is a long way from being wrapped in a cover and available for anyone to read. I have thousands and thousands of words to write, but I just read over some of these first words on my story trail. At the same time, I was tyrying to come up with an idea for a blog post. So, I decided why not. Nothing in the character sketch will spoil the eventual telling of the story. At this point, everything is up for change anyway. Who knows? I might decide to make Kirby a singer or a cowboy. Well, that’s not very likely. I am fairly sure he’s an artist. Here’s a sketch drawn in 1837 by Jacob E. Schoener of his son, William, that looks something like I am imagining Kirby.
Anyway, I decided to let you have a glimpse at my glimpse into his background. So, here goes.
Kirby is an artist. Ever since he was a little boy he could draw almost anything. He didn’t always have (in fact rarely had) paper and pencil or a slate to draw on. He scratched pictures on rocks or with his pocket knife on tree trunks or barn siding. He drew with sticks in the dirt or mud.
He grew up on a small dirt firm. His mother was slender and prone to illnesses. She had three babies after Kirby. Only one of them lived more than a few days. The one sister seemed to be doing all right but then she caught a fever when she was four. Kirby was nine. He loved Rosie who followed him around like a puppy dog. On a rainy, cold day in November, she followed him outside without him knowing it. He thought she was taking a nap with his mother the way she usually did in the afternoon. He wasn’t thinking about anything but a couple of free hours to carve a picture in one of the logs of the barn.
When he was drawing his pictures, he tuned everything else out. There was only him and whatever vision he had in his head. His mother had just told Rosie and him a Bible story about the tree with the fruit Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to eat in the Garden of Eden. He aimed to draw the tree. He could draw trees. He saw them all the time. Even apple trees. They had three in their backyard.
He didn’t know how long he’d been carving out a tree with a woman reaching to pluck an apple when Rosie grabbed his leg. She had been sitting watching him without a word. She was wet from walking through the rain and shivering. He forgot his picture and picked her up to warm her, but she kept shivering. Her teeth chattered. He hurried her in by the fire. She stopped shivering and seemed fine. No one even knew she’d gotten a chill, but days later she came down with a fever. The doctor they called in asked if she’d had a chill. The man’s words were like a knife in Kirby’s heart. He prayed and prayed, but Rosie died. Her death seemed to break his mother too. She lost interest in living. She loved him. Kirby knew that, but he feared that she thought he was the reason Rosie died. He never asked her that. His father changed too. Grew morose and stern. Nothing Kirby did pleased him.
Kirby quit drawing. His guilt was that strong. Months passed and then a year. His mother went about her chores like a ghost. The sadder she grew the more inward his father turned. They were a house of mourning. Kirby took the blame, but he was a boy. Even as sad as he was, he still wanted to live. He still saw the beauty in a sunrise or a fish leaping up out of the creek that went through their farm.
When a school opened up closeby, he went even though he felt too old. He learned quickly. He was still mostly a loner. One day while the other boys were playing marbles, he picked up a stick and began drawing in the dirt. It wouldn’t last. What he drew. The kids would run though it or the wind would shift the dirt or rain would wash it away. But it still felt good to make a picture again after a year of pushing away the itch to draw.
The teacher rang the bell to end lunch recess, but Kirby didn’t hear it. He didn’t notice the other kids going inside. He was part of the picture he was making for Rosie. It was hard to make her sweet face in the dirt but he loosened some dirt to dust, found different size sticks and almost captured his memory of her. Then he drew daisies and the kittens she loved and trees. He hoped heaven was like that for her with nothing but beauty.
The teacher came out to look for him. A woman teacher, not young. She was older than his parents. When she spoke behind him, he was startled. He swiped his hand across the dirt to erase the picture. The teacher didn’t say he shouldn’t have. She didn’t say anything then, but the next day she gave him paper and a pencil and asked him to draw the same picture again or another one. He never quit drawing again after that because he remembered how Rosie loved watching him draw something. He could feel her smiling again when he drew a picture. And he needed smiles.
So, what do you think? Is Kirby going to make a good character?
Comments 22
Oh my goodness YES. As I read our comments, I was immediately taken in by this little boy and his environment. I definitely want to know about Kirby.
Author
So good to hear from you all about my character who is coming to life in my imagination. Thanks, Amy, Marlene, Pamela, and Connie, for thinking he’s going to be a fun character to make a new story good. I’m hoping that’s true.
definitely! Send us more of this story
He sounds like a great character, and a wonderful start to the story. I will be looking forward to reading it!
Oh yes! I can’t wait to read more!
Yes. Kirby will be a wonderful character
I want to read more.
Wow! I can’t wait to read more about Kirby! Very intriguing and certainly drew me into his story. 🙂
Author
So glad you thought I was on the right track bringing a character to life, Lavon. I’m excited to get him started in my story.
Oh, my! That was heart-wrenching and interest-piquing all in one! Now, we have to wait. And, that’s the hardest part.
Author
The hardest part for me is writing the story, Judi. 🙂
You certainly know how to draw us in. I can’t wait to read more about Kirby. His dawing on everything reminds me of my mother who grew up during the Depression. She once told me that she would draw on whatever scraps of paper she could find including the little cardboard pieces that separated the shredded wheat biscuits in their box.
Author
That is such a neat bit of your mother’s past that brings her love of art to life, Lee. If I ever write another story during the Depression era and happen to have a character who loves to draw, I’ll try to remember that. We have so much paper available to us now and so many ways to write and draw that it’s sort of hard to imagine the lack of paper. My dad did used to want us to use every part of a piece of paper, the back and the edges. LOL. He was a young man during the Depression era.
Oh, yes! I see him as a strong person. His art used to bless many.
Author
He will have to grow stronger during the story, I think, Lisa. So much to figure out at this point, but it would be good to end up as someone able to bless others with his talent.
I love this . I love seeing people being encouraged to use their God – given talents . I can’t wait to see what Kirby will be able to do with his art.
Author
I can see Kirby having some problems along the way, but maybe eventually he will come around to embracing his artistic talent for good.
Yes! I want to keep reading.
Author
Great, Una. I hope I can write a story that you will like reading.
He sounds like a great character with such possibilities ! I already am drawn to your character and to your story and you haven’t even written it all yet! Maybe the teacher is a special character as well.
Author
It’s good that you think so, Lynda. Now if I can be that drawn to him and figure out more about what he will be like when he gets older and shows up in my story, all will be well. 🙂
Sad events in his life but I think he will make a great character-you already have me wanting to know more and see what happens as you write his story.
Author
Glad you think Kirby will turn out to be a great character, Hope. He might have some changes before the story starts rolling, but maybe he will turn out to be somebody I will like bringing to life in a story.