I've been putting off a "Dear Characters" post this month because so far Unexpected Inspiration: Sentinel (book 2) has been mostly Etri. I'm at about 25k words (41 pages) and probably near the first quarter mark of the story, so the others are gradually being added.

Dear Etri (the Sentinel),
Sorry about Garvin. Sorry for taking Adair from you yet again. Sorry for getting you and Addy poisoned. I'm not so sorry for leaving you clueless about all the side effects that go with being a Sentinel. It's more fun to have you stumble across them on your own. So far you know that your internal compass does point due-Adair and that you get a type of premonition when something is going to hurt him. Hindsight is great, right? Now to figure out the other weird things that go along with the job... Oh, and just wait until Blythe gets added to your empathetic link!


Dear Adair (the Master artist),
Are you even awake to read this? You went from the main character in Colorweaver (book 1) to having almost no dialogue in the past 20 pages of the sequel due to being either missing or unconscious. I promise you'll only have to put up with this for a few more pages, then you'll be able to talk and eat pies to your heart's content.
PS: Please don't throttle Etri for breaking one of your paintbrushes. Or for losing your cat. He really did have the best intentions.


Dear Blythe (the soon-to-be Curator/muse),
Okay, okay! You can stop grumbling! The next scene is from your POV, I promise! I know you were last seen on page seven, but you're here now! Not that you'll like your following scene much since you're about to learn that you did end up a muse, which is something you've been avoiding for almost a decade. Try not to freak out too much, okay? It's really not what you think!
...but I know you. Rather than try to talk this out with Etri and Addy, you're going to stew until something forces you to admit how you feel and *gasp!* talk about your past.


Dear Chantrell (the caged musician),
Are you dizzy yet from the amount of times I've repositioned you in the series and changed your age? I do think this book is where you belong and I think 15 sounds about right for you. I know you've been lonely since your parents died since your sister has pretty much put you under house arrest, but you'll be meeting Gilly soon. She's 14, so you two can bond over issues of Tiger Beat. Or, ya know, get my plot back on track since I have yet to bring up the Merchant mafia yet and your sister's a member.


Dear Sapphire (the leader of the... I still need a name for your band of carny-thieves),
Welcome to the series! I'm curious why you got picked as your troupe's leader, although I have the feeling it's because no one else wanted the job. Could you please let me know why you wear long gloves all of the time? Is it a sensory thing? A cultural thing? Or just a style preference? You're not a shadow mage like Etri, so it can't be because you're cold.


Dear Garvin (the soon-to-be not Sentinel if you keep up this nonsense),
I don't think I've written to an antagonist yet, but I'm wondering how the heck you ever passed the Criterion to become a guard in the first place. What is it about carnies that pushes your crazy button? You don't seem to mind that Etri is foreign (which is the usual problem he comes across), but the fact that he eats fire and juggles knives is clearly too much for you to handle. Good luck: by messing with him, you've kicked the nest. You're going to have carnies swarming your home momentarily. Oh, and your patron's little sister is working with them, too. Have fun!


~Meri, the writer who- even when she trims down the number of cast members- STILL ends up with too many.