Behind the Characters: Matt Hallow
Good Morning Readers,
Welcome to another character development post! This one will be devoted to Matt Hallow and how he came to be in the story. As I previously mentioned in Geordie’s blog post for Behind the Characters, I wanted Matt’s drive to be surrounded by Geordie. I wanted her to be his driving force that made him jump into the fray as easily as he did and I wanted to play a little bit into the whole, “You jump, I jump, Jack” dynamic but with a gender swap. I wanted Geordie to take the lead in a world where Matt might inherently belong but has no history with. He needs someone who would show him the ropes and take him deeper into the supernatural world that he was destined to be a part of.
As I put more thought into Matt’s development later in the writing of Fallen Ribbon, I considered my long-term goals for his character itself and where I wanted him to end up in the series. I intentionally started him off as the kind of clingy human character that would annoy even myself, but my hopes are that he will over the course of his part of the story experience a lot of personal growth. His core concept was created at the same time as Geordie, but his overall development came over time with the story’s progression.
A lot of Matt’s history is unknown to him, and he doesn’t have many people around him who support him and those who do are hiding vital information regarding his history. This was the exact mystery I wanted to surround Matt. While the rest of the world is withholding information about him, Matt must figure out his powers and lineage on his own since no one else will tell him, and he needs to figure out what to do with that information when he gets it. That will be ultimately what his overall story will consist of.
Matt has a lot on his plate to handle, between his quickly developing feelings for Geordie, his estranged relationship with his mother, and the mystery of his friendship with Sam. To add there’s the mystery surrounding his birth father and seemingly never having a father figure in his life. That’s just another thing to add to the pile of mystery and drama surrounding Matt that he will have to contend with. Matt’s future role in the supernatural communities will be dependent on his ability to sort these issues out for himself and come to terms with the answers he finds.
My hope for Matt as I progress him through the series is that he will one day go from being a subpar character with potential to a loveable and reliable team mate in the battles to come. The company that Matt will keep throughout the series will vastly depend on that factor. To learn more about Matt, read Fallen Ribbon on August 15th! You can buy it exclusively on Amazon in your favorite format; Ebook, Paperback, and Hardcover!
