31 Days of Halloween: Costume Challenge and Character Creation
For the month of October, I wore a different costume every day. This was my way of adding more joy to a difficult year and of trying out characters. You can find those videos and a Pinterest board filled with costume pics here:
31 Halloween Costumes (Pinterest board)
Each day I filmed more than one video, so I could have some ready for my busy months. By doing this, I started to develop some fun, quirky characters that I’ve added to my stories. Maize the scarecrow, Evelynn the elf, and my steampunk doctor will all make an appearance in my books.
At one point, my queen costume morphed into an old villain I created: Lady Awendela. She’s a spoiled brat, has friends in high places, and is the kind of character readers love to hate and I love to write. She can do or say anything and creates all sorts of wonderful problems for Brooke and the other characters in Demon Rider. Lady Awendela is actually the first true villain I ever wrote. Demon Rider is an unpublished book I had kind of given up on. Now I’m revising it to self-publish.
I also had the opportunity to cosplay many of the characters from When Magic Calls: A Collection of Modern Fairy Tales. This was so exciting! I’ve always dreamed of dressing up as my characters, but for some reason, I believed I had to have “made it” first. This year I made that dream a reality and dressed up as Wolf Girl, Anang, Liz, Kelly, a siren, Li, and a ghost. Now I can’t wait to become them again.
What’s a costume you’ve always wanted to wear but haven’t? What’s holding you back? Share your desires in the comments below and we can support each other’s dress up dreams.
Caitlin Berve is the author of When Magic Calls: A Collection of Modern Fairy Tales and currently working on a fantasy novel involving an arranged marriage, damsels who save themselves, and non-human shape-shifters. Through her company Ignited Ink Writing and MFA, she edits other people’s novels, creates video tutorials, teaches, and writes. Caitlin seeks to fill the world with the kind of writing that lingers with readers, pet all the fluffy and scaly animals she can, and find magic in modern times.