Welcome to the Meet My Main Character Blog Tour, started by Debra Brown. I was invited by Kristin Molnar. I met Kristin via a Craigslist classified for a writer’s group. Answering that ad was perhaps the most daring thing I’ve ever done socially (I’m very introverted), and I’m so very glad I did. Meet Silas, Kristin’s MC, here.

I’m bringing in Robin McGinnis for this blog tour. He’s the protagonist of my literary fantasy, WORLD SONG.

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or historical? 

Robin Evans is fictional, but some historical characters make appearances later on. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry II, Rosamund Clifford. Gutenberg is a friend of a friend.

When and where is the story set? 

• St. Bernadine, Minnesota (based roughly on Cloquet) in 2009
• Eirinon, a fantasy realm located in the Welsh/English Forest of Dean in 1176

What should we know about her/him? 

Finally, an excuse to throw in some backstory! Here’s an info dump I cut from an early query letter draft:

Ever since his dad disappeared (what kind of historian goes MIA, anyway?), 26-year-old Robin has been stunted in two ways. One, he wants to be the family hero, to the point of picking Lycra wedgies on his lunch break. Two, besides his party bookings as a Batman impersonator, his calendar and plan for the future are blank. He knows that, eventually, one of his family members will need his help. And when that day comes, he won’t let them down.

He’s a nerdy, cellist, wannabe hero. No matter how many hours he clocks in at the gym, he’s still long and lean, but he’s stronger than he looks.

His last name used to be McGinnis, but McGinnis is the last name of Terry McGinnis, who succeeds Bruce Wayne as Batman. Robin (no relation to the boy wonder) is a big fan of Batman, so it just got too weird. Now he’s Robin Evans.

Weird fact: Though he’s been a character of mine for seven years now, I never really liked Robin. He was too responsible. Too heroic. I had to get him into a fight and give him some weird quirks before I started liking him. He’s not based on Chuck Bartowski (GIF above), but I adore Chuck, so I borrowed a couple of his traits and tested them out on Robin until I really liked him. I knew if I didn’t like my protagonist, my readers probably wouldn’t, either!

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life? 

Robin and his brother and sister get transported to the Middle Ages a few days before their mom’s birthday. He wants to get them home as soon as possible—his mom already lost her husband, so Robin feels guilty for their disappearance, even though it wasn’t really his fault. But he doesn’t know how to get back, and then his sister is kidnapped, and his brother is sentenced to be executed… Let’s just say Robin has his work cut out for him.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Robin has a bit of a savior complex. He wants to fix everything for everybody. At best, it’s mildly annoying. At worst, it borders on obsessive behavior and illuminates some psychological issues. In terms of Robin’s personal goals, the story is a tragedy. Robin can’t save everyone. But the rest of the story is more of a comedy of errors. So together I guess that makes it a dramedy.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The working title is WORLD SONG, and it’s not ready yet for its debut. Though I do need Beta Readers! Contact me here or on Twitter (@larathelark). If/when I land an agent, I’ll post my query letter here on my blog.

When can we expect the book to be published?

I’m still writing! I have an August 2014 end date, but I’ll be editing for quite some time, and I’ll be querying Winter 2014 at the earliest. Since I’m going the traditional publishing route, I hope for a book deal in 2015, with a release in 2016 or 2017. It all depends on the market!

Next week Kylie Betzner and Nate Philbrick will be continuing the tour. Kylie writes comedic fantasy novels and connects writers to readers and resources though her blog Lit Chic. Her first novel will be coming out January 2015. I “met” Nate online, and he’s very active on Twitter and his blog Flash Flood Fiction. He is a speculative fiction writer with published and contest-winning short stories. He’s writing a novel that is in progress to query.