Of all my characters so far, I think Joss Ravid made the best entrance. That, as you’ll see when you get to know him, is very Joss.
It started simply. At some point in 2005 or maybe early 2006, I made the decision to stop letting fear make my decisions. I’d love to say that everything changed, but that’s not how life works. I did start taking some risks. I joined a gym. I took a chance on a roommate, and moved out of my affordable but yucky apartment and into a decent house.
I went to Yaoi-Con. My roommate and I put it together to take an airplane (gasp!) to San Francisco, where we’d never been, to a con we’d never attended, to meet people we’d only talked to online and revel for a weekend in the wild fun of bishie-stalking.
(It’s a great sport. You should try it. The benefit of doing it at Yaoi-Con is one can be fairly sure the bishie is willing to be (politely!) stalked.)
So. San Francisco. Yaoi-Con. This mommy’s first time kid-free in pretty much the child’s entire eight-year existence. For the first time in my life, I took a purely recreational vacation.
If you’ve ever been to a convention for your favorite obsession, you know how freeing it is anyway. Nearly everyone around you gets you. Those who don’t are willing to try. You can say things you can’t say in public normally (Like “I lied when I said stop me. LET ME BUY THE REDHEAD!” and “NICE squid!”)
It is, perhaps, inevitable that Joss Ravid, who thrives on freedom, jumped me there. I’d only created him–or rather, his name–a week before, as a minor character in my first NaNo. He was one of several students in Taro’s survival course. Redheaded (I like redheads) and quiet.
Yeah, that lasted.
As Rafe observed in His Faithful Squire, Taro’s company makes people mouthy–they have to speak up, or Taro will run over them. My muses knew what would happen when I exposed Joss to Taro’s influence, even if I didn’t.
Joss pounced me a week later, on Saturday night of my first Yaoi-Con, and I missed the Bishie Auction because I was stalking around the hotel room muttering, swinging a stick too short to be a cane while I worked out the first scene. My friends, awesome for many reasons, gave me writing materials and left me to it.
Joss tried to take over my ’06 NaNovel, but I had a plan already and I fought him off. He did succeed in winning NaNo ’07, though, and I don’t know when I’ve had more fun.
I adore Joss. He makes me laugh, and he is fearless. Not because he’s never afraid, but because he won’t let it win. Joss does what Joss wants, and nothing, not fear or societal norms or even the laws of physics, is going to stop him. And he believes others should have the chance to do the same.
On Thursday I’ll post a short here on TDP, a little Joss story that pounced me at some point. (Yes, Joss has the habit of pouncing me, usually while singing Olivia Newton-John, but that’s another matter.) Then on April 1st, we’ll be releasing Queen’s Man.
I sincerely hope you enjoy Joss. But if you don’t–it won’t change him. And I love that about him.