My first book, Wood’s Reef was released almost ten years ago. The story had been kicking around in my head for ten years before that. As a single father and general contractor, I had my hands full and never had time to write anything—until my daughter got her driver’s license. We lived in a rural area at the time, so buses and carpools were not reliable options.
With the new-found time I started writing with a model for my protagonist in mind, Bill Woodson, AKA Wood.
The problem began when I needed him to have a grown daughter, which put him in the 50-year-old range. Then Mac Travis entered the picture. As the book develops, a relationship between Mac and Mel, Wood’s daughter happens. It wasn’t planned but became an integral part of the story. Part of the dynamic was the age difference between Mac and Mel. They’d known each other since Mac arrived in the Keys, ten years before the timeline of Wood’s Reef. He needed to have experience as a commercial diver which put him at about 25. Mel had been in high school at the time, which meant an 8-year difference in their ages. This aged Wood even more.
At the time of the book, Mac is 35, Mel 27, which makes Wood about 58. To me, that was on the borderline for a very active character and maybe a little seasoned for the main protagonist in a first novel which would hopefully grow into a series. If he didn’t age that would be okay. If he did, not so much.
That leads to the question of whether fictional characters age. Wood’s Justice will be the 17th book in the main series and the 19th including the two Early Adventures of Mac and Wood. That’s about two books in the series per year. As I use current events in the stories the time they take place is apparent. Wood would now be 68.
Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald’s fictional character spanned twenty-odd books. And yes, Mac Travis is a tip of the hat to an author I cannot come close to emulating. MacDonald is the father of an entire genre, we now call Tropical Adventures.
Thinking back on his books, there are no references that I can remember to McGee aging, but the evidence is there. He doesn’t need glasses or hearing aids by the 20th book, but it’s clear The world is a little different in each story. There are subtle hints in the background that the world has moved on. Many of the later books have him traveling for his “salvage work” which gives the assumption of age as well. The sixties vibe, present in many of the earlier stories is gone.
Movies can’t hide from Father Time. Harrison Ford was 37 when the first Indiana Jones movie was filmed and 80 in the last. You can hide some stuff with makeup but not forty years.
Mac ages as well. I haven’t advertised it or disguised it, but it’s clear from the arc of the series.
As I wrote Wood’s Reef, it became apparent that Wood was just too old. I was 53 at the time and he was older than me. Mac Travis also moved into the forefront as the lead protagonist which left me in a dilemma as I had already settled on the name of the book and invested in a cover. The name just kept going. Though it confuses some, it all started with Wood.
Most reading this know that Wood doesn’t appear past book one. In order for Mac to be the Man, I couldn’t have him undermining him, which was kind of his personality.
My answer to this was the Early Adventures of Mac and Wood. I wrote Wood’s Relic which is a full-length novel early on. The story starts the day Mac and Wood meet. Wood’s Ledge is a short prequel that features both men as well.
Wood speaks to me though. He was the inspiration for Wood’s Reef. His voice is in my head when I write the series. It got loud enough that I started to write a flashback featuring him for one of the books. That didn’t make the cut but developed into Wood’s Reward, which is currently being released as a free serial. You can catch up here.