With NaNoWriMo less than a week away, I thought I would share with you a few folks from my cast of characters for the project this November. I call it a “cast” because fixing a character’s look, habits and attitudes in my head can be a big help when it comes to writing about what that character would do. I plan on putting them in some unusual situations. How they react in those situations is based on how I cast them. The story in “Legion on the March” focuses on the Westgate family and their preparations as their kingdom of Rhodes prepares for war.

Cori Westgate

The novel’s primary character is Corinne Westgate or “Cori” as she’s known to her family and friends. She’s a sixteen-year-old young woman who doesn’t understand why she can’t march to war with her older brothers. Women and men both enlist in the military and militia levies in this world, so her request to go along is not that strange.

When told “no,” Cori does what any rebellious teenager does, she hatches a plan to get her way in spite of her parent’s wishes. The story of “Legion on the March” will revolve around her struggle with her decision to defy her parents and with the hard life of a soldier on the march.

Logan Westgate

The Legion of Solon is a small, elite unit of scouts and trackers who operate on the flanks of the main army. It is commanded by Cori’s brother, Logan Westgate, who now has to cope with his headstrong sister as a raw recruit in his unit. He can’t show favoritism. There are other men’s sisters in the Legion, too. They don’t get special treatment and neither will Cori, no matter what his personal feelings are.

Jonathan Westgate

Each company in the Legion has a few support personnel assigned to help with the mundane and magical aspects of an army on the march. Jonathan Westgate, as is common for a younger brother in a noble family, went into the holy orders. Now his monastery has assigned him to a company in the Legion as a scribe, healer, and spiritual guide. He has led a rather sheltered life in his family’s castle and then in the monastery. Life on the road with a lively group of young men, and especially young women, offers him a look at a world he thought he had put behind him.

Legion on the March

The story will follow Cori, and to a lesser extent her brothers, on their travels and challenges on the march. They’ll discover new things about themselves both with the war and with each other. Stay tuned to the blog here for frequent updates.

I will post each first draft chapter as it’s written, roughly every day or so. I look forward to your comments. Just remember, it’s a draft. There will be mistakes. There will be spelling errors and grammatical problems. But bear with me and, by the end of November, we’ll have a finished story. It’ll need work and polish, but the bones of the story will be there. Join me on the journey!