Sometimes I go out of my way to create a magical character experience. Sometimes I think, “I’m going to make a wonderful, memorable character that people will love and latch on to! They will be immortalized in people’s hearts and minds and people will love them like they were a real person!”

And sometimes I think, “I’m just going to slap a guy in there and figure it out later.”

I’m flattered that so many people like Linus, who I designed with the first intent.

I was TOTALLY unprepared for people’s reactions to this guy:

In the infamous D&D game where Linus and his gang first originated, Quince was simply an NPC created by our awesome GM. Hence his main role was to provide information when we needed it and be the damage tank that our melee-challenged party needed. Since we were all a bunch of chatty wise-asses, Quince didn’t end up saying much. And since we all sucked at fighting, he did most of it for us.

I decided to include him in the Linus Saga debut novel, because we needed someone for Linus to reveal important plot information to— something my brother and I refer to as “Stan the Explained to” which far more enjoyable than the usual trope of “Sam the Explainer.” Quince was the new guy from bumpkin land who didn’t know anything about the Union-riddled norms of the more civilized parts of Tereand and he served the narrative well.

…and then a surprising thing happened…

People at conventions came up to me and kept saying things along the lines of, “I read your book! I absolutely love Quince!”

Double-take, triple-take, spit take.

 

And it kept happening! More and more people were telling me that they loved Quince and wanted more of him! And I was thinking, “Oh, CRAP! I’ve written almost 3 more books and Quince isn’t in them!” So now I’m trying to get back to his story in the roughs of Book 4 and seeing how that goes.

So yeah, sometimes people DO love your roguish scruffy looking nerf-herder with a walking carpet… and sometimes people fixate on that ONE bounty hunter in the background with 4 lines.

 

SO:

Fun Facts about Quince:

1. He likes small fluffy animals, especially ducks and kitties.

2. He isn’t as silent as he seems, it’s just that Linus never lets him get a word in edgewise.

3.  SPOILER (sort of) We reveal a bit of Quince’s origin in the CRIT! comic <– click to see.

 

Anything else, I’ll have to find out when I reintroduce him in the novels. Feel free to send me fanfiction.

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