Hey everyone. I'd be very grateful if someone could please help me with a writing exercise. Essentially, I will give you a short introduction to my main protagonist and, after reading, you then come up with just two questions for my protagonist based on what you've read. It will help me to get an idea of what is likely to be in the reader's mind after Chapters 1 & 2.
(I should point out that my novel isn't in the first person POV, but for the purposes of this exercise, this intro will be).
Thank you!
Forgive me if I don’t say all the right things. I haven’t introduced myself to anyone new for a while. Usually, if I happen to meet someone who isn’t an Agris, my Father does all the irritating small talk for me.
Anyway, I’m Brigo Agris; the second son to my parents. I’m sixteen and live with Father, Ma and my little sister Leila in the deep south of Chorus. It’s a pretty big kingdom I think, but we’re quite cut off in this town. It’s dull really; I won’t bore you too much with it – miles of grasslands and lakes, some little stone houses and stores and too many people to fit in them. Strangers from the cities up north sometimes come to our cottage to eat the food we provide, and they say our town is quite beautiful, but I have no idea what they mean.
I was born blind. Ma says that means I can’t see anything. I guess you probably know what that means, but I don’t really. I mean, I know we work when it’s bright and we bathe and sleep when it’s dark, but that’s about it. I don’t really know what I’m missing but Father and Ma keep me confined to the cottage – he’s described me as little and helpless and fragile before, so it must be a big deal. Ma is terrified to let me head out into the Polm on my own. I’d love to know what's beyond this town and explore the provinces like Grandpa Olkin, but I can’t imagine I’ll ever do that under Father’s watch.
I have to sit behind the house and cook the food all day for our patrons. Father has this small metallic stone that allows us to light the wood beneath the cooking pots – apparently, very few people are able to create fire with it. I don’t know why I can do it so easily. We have a couple of other objects like this too. Ma has this coin that she gives me every night, and it creates this strange feeling in my hands, like my fingers are burning but it’s comfortable. I can feel the quill scratches in Grandpa Olkin’s old books and make out the letters and map borders by touch. I can only read with the coin though, and I can’t use it for too long without getting a bloody nose or a headache.
Sometimes I sneak out at night. My best friend is the local butcher’s boy whom my Father used to buy his meat from when business was good. Genli isn’t quite as protective as my parents, but he knows how to make sure I don’t get stuck on a hill or accidentally fling myself over the cliffs of the Polm plateau. He applied to join the Choran military. He’s not the smartest, but he’s a strong guy. Really quick and knows how to use objects like Father’s firestone and Ma’s tactus coin. I doubt he’ll be here much longer when the peacekeepers come knocking to welcome him to Solen’s military academy. He’ll definitely get in, and what an adventure it would be. He’d see the whole of Chorus, doing such exciting and dangerous things. Not something I could ever do. I can’t even go hunting with Father – I’d sooner accidentally send an arrow through his head than a deer’s.
So, you can imagine my surprise when the peacekeepers came knocking on our cottage door yesterday to tell us that I’d been successfully enrolled in their academy.
