The Colossus

So a little about the title character of Colossus.

The character began life as a simple concept, little more than a physical description and an idea of exactly where he fit in the grand scheme of the Multiverse. But characters are people, and no person just pops into existence fully formed. They have a past, events, conflicts, mistakes and triumphs that each forge some element of the character as you envisaged them. In my limited experience as a writer, I have had characters who I created at the start of their journey, and so I have yet to see how they will develop until I write their stories. But others, like Colossus, I have initially glimpsed quite far into their development. When I had created the initial concept, I began to explore the questions that surrounded him. What was he? Why was he at this place? What had sent him down the path that lead him here?

The answers to those questions formed the skeleton of his story, and once I had that it was just a matter of putting the flesh on the bones. Colossus is the first part of the story, addressing his origins and the first events that will utlimately lead him to the destination I have in mind. I wrote it purely because I wanted to explore the story of this character myself.

The main aspect of this character is the fact he is not human. The Colossi have similarities to humans, but they have key differences. The main difference is simply a matter of scale. They are much larger than we are, and they live on a much longer, geologic timescale. They have a sleeping and waking cycle that spans tens of thousands of years, which serves as a mechanism to isolate Colossus from his people, and allow him to emerge into a world that is, by and large, unaware of their existence. It also presents an interesting challenge for me as a writer. The Colossus is still a child by the standards of his people, but he is already in excess of tens of thousands of years old. He remembers the first kindling of human civilization is if it were yesterday because, to him, it was. The challenge is in trying to convey an ancient child character, and I hope that, in Colossus and the parts to follow, I convey that as well as I intend to.

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