Healing Lance Character Profile - Gust
Originally published during my Healing Lance blog tour.
Healing Lance is the first book in the “A Warrior’s Redemption” trilogy. This is a bit of a “pet project” that I am overjoyed to finally reveal to the world.
While I always have affection for every character I create, whether hero or villain, I have to say that I was delightfully surprised and gratified with the final incarnation of Gust. You could say that Gust is Lance’s “better half” (Lance certainly would). Gust is a healer, and his compassion, patience, and fortitude are admirable.
Courtesy of HeroForge
Yet he didn’t start out that way. Oh, he was certainly a kind-hearted man when I first started outlining the story but nothing stood out about him. He was a typical side-kick character, the heart-of-gold guy that the warrior (Lance) used as a touchstone. He wasn’t very compelling. That was back in 2010. Then, wouldn’t you believe it, I thought I lost the original outline! So there I was with a vague idea in my mind for years that I went back and forth with until, finally, I wrote a new outline.
Then I found the old one.
Typical.
But by that point, I’d already redone everything because of the intervening years. I’d grown as a person and a writer and a new vision had emerged. I still have the old outline, more for fun than anything.
While Gust could still be considered Lance’s touchstone, he is so much more than that. He can stand on his own and doesn’t define himself by his relationship with Lance. He is very much his own man and can make his own decisions. He has a backbone and can be just as tough as he can be gentle. Gust became a partner instead of a sidekick.
Courtesy of HeroForge
It was a good thing that I thought I’d lost the first outline. I don’t think I would have been as satisfied with the original story as I am with this one. In fact, the original story was only one book, and certainly not as epic. The tale continued to grow and form as my characters themselves evolved. That only happened because I myself was allowed to grow and evolve and see the greater potential.
Gust’s parents were healers as well, along with his aunt. He grew up with good examples of how people can help each other and that it’s a worthy objective to do so. He was raised in a stable environment, in a town that offered safety and community. He had a firm foundation that, when tragedy struck his family, still remained strong and somewhere he could turn to feel safe. And yet he wants something more than... “this provincial town.” Yeah, I went there. Not sorry.
I needed Gust to not so much be the opposite of Lance but to complement him. To have certain qualities that Lance either lacked or needed to learn.
The biggest difference, of course, was the appearance of the character. In the first outline, he was a bit more effeminate, delicate, and unimposing. The final version of Gust, however, is of a robust man that could go toe-to-toe with Lance if he needed to. Also, Gust is black. As the world of my story continued to expand, I wanted as much diversity as I could manage. Considering I’m dealing with an empire made up of three distinct kingdoms, it made sense that the people inhabiting the world would be of different ethnicities and races. We really need to see more diversity, in a whole range of things, within fantasy.
I modeled each kingdom after a certain ancient culture with the corresponding mythologies. Gust’s kingdom, Cairon, is the southernmost land and so I made it more Egyptian and African in nature. For me, it made the setting more real and solid than it would have been otherwise. In fantasy, I think that’s vital. We are products of our environments—society and culture and community—and as I continued to layer the world and the characters, Gust morphed into the final character that I couldn’t be more thrilled with.
I love him dearly and his strength continues to boggle my mind.
I hope you enjoy reading his story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
May dragons guard your dreams,
M.D. Grimm
