My Man Kutch

I'm proud of myself because I usually forget to title my blog posts. But look. There. A title. Tadaaa!

Anyway, remember how I told you that there's this one character named Kutch? He's a fourteen-year-old Scot and man am I attached to this kid so I figure an introductory sampling is in order. Please forgive his thick brogue! It makes him a bit difficult to understand sometimes. Both of these samplings come from near the beginning.

First, to introduce, from Reese's first person:

“What aboot the others?” asked a husky, gruff voice from somewhere above my left ear.

I didn’t raise my eyes.

“Don’t know yet. Pipe down.”

The boy who had asked was younger than me, but rather big for his years, thickly built and muscular. Despite this, he crouched easily on the balls of his feet on the top of a dock post, his calloused hands resting on his thighs, his baggy canvas clothing teased by the ocean wind. He had dark, grim eyes that looked out of a subtly determined, ironic face under crinkled brows and a mess of wild, unkempt, sand-colored hair that hung down to the boy’s powerful shoulders.

This scene comes from Liv's first person, when she, Reese, and Kutch are working at the docks and she's disguised as a boy to avoid attention, as there are a lot of sailors about and they're not the best people ever. At all.

I hunkered down, seized the heavy crate, and put my back into it, spitting an extremely rough expletive to give me momentum. Kutch was approaching from behind, hefting a heavy keg of water. He grinned.

“Och, tha’s a pretty word.”

I ignored him, struggling with my load towards the wagon. Kutch easily overtook me, set his keg down, then turned to face me.

“Need help?”

I smiled at him gamely.

“Course not. Why, do you?”

The wild-haired boy stretched his big muscles and rolled his neck.

“Well... maybe in a bit ye can carry me aboot... In the bytime, stow your tongue an’ keep your head doon, laddie.”

I blew out my cheeks at the boy as he walked away, but was grateful for the tip. Did I really look so girlish while I worked? Apparently, as Kutch offered to help me-- he had gone out of his way to offer to help me actually. The foreman, who had been pacing the dock and examining the workers, had had his eye on Kutch for some time now. He now saw his chance to provoke the hardy lad.

“You boy!” he bellowed, swaggering near. “Don’t you get chatty with your little mate!”

He shoved Kutch’s broad shoulder as the boy moved back towards his work. Kutch ignored him and crouched to lift another box. That would be good enough for any of the other foremen overseeing the labor, but this one had a particular dislike for Kutch, causing me to wonder if the sandy-haired lad had knocked him down before or, more likely still, he was hard to bully. Either way, the man seized a fistful of Kutch’s rough shirt, spun him around, and tapped his sturdy chest with the head of his cane.

“What say you, lad? Eh? Be there a proper response from a little pup like you to a superior ossifer?”

Kutch’s face was impassive, but his mottled Scottish accent grew even more perceptible in his anger.

“Aye sar!” he grunted, stepping back to tear away, but the foreman wasn’t ready to let this drop quite yet.

I saw Reese watching from the corners of his eyes while this went on, aware as I was that Kutch was a stubborn little brute with a tendency for lashing out without warning in cold fury. He also had a history that did not vouch well for adults. This could easily end badly...

I like this scene because it involves many aspects of my little Scottish rogue. He's gritty and down-to-earth but at the same time he really cares for those around him and has an almost ridiculously heightened sense of protection. He's also extremely mistrustful of all adults and is not afraid to fight any of them-- and he could probably take most in a fist fight. Liv mentions his history here but she doesn't quite know it and I don't think I'm going to unveil it quite yet, seeing as I actually haven't revealed it in the book so far...

I know many people post fill-out sheets to introduce their character, but I prefer this method for my own work. My readers are not gonna have a fill-out sheet where they can learn about the characters-- that happens through the process of writing, so I do this to test whether people can get to know my characters properly in my actual work. On top of this, my people largely take the reins when I'm writing them. Most of the time, I just have to try to keep up. x) They just sort of make themselves up as they go along and I'm sitting here like-- REALLY? I didn't know that about you...

Anyway, please tell me if you think this method works or not! And tell me what you think of my Kutch!

Thanks and God bless!