When it comes to short stories, I generally do not overthink them. Yes, I outline, plot, and try to make a tight and concise story, but I don’t delve into ton’s of worldbuilding, character biographies or anything like that. I don’t really operate with preconceived character ideas. I just start writing, follow my outline, and see what the character does. His dialogue, behavior, attitude all remains to be seen until I am done with the short.
So it was with Domingo Garavito, a character I discovered to be a humorous thief in 17th century Spain. I knew I wanted a rapier wielding character. I knew I wanted a renaissance character. I did not know he would be Spanish, I was actually leaning toward Italian. I did not know he would be a thief, but I did want him to be a mischief maker.
So when I saw the story prompt over on Iron Age Media called “The Duel”, I felt like I had just the thing. A renaissance era, rapier wielding, epitome of cool kind of character. What I got instead was an overly confident thief with a buffoonish sense of humor and devout faith. In a way, this is a character who is the most like me as a person (except I am not a catholic, nor a thief).
I knew I wanted it to be a sword and sorcery story as well, but usually I strive for a gritty and serious tone with my sword and sorcery stories. Here, I wanted something a bit more light hearted. Something that maybe a dad could read to his kid. Granted, the story still has some violence, and they do discuss some very adult things, but the tone feels a bit less intense and the humor is played up quite a bit.
The tricky thing, I am finding, is the sorcery aspect. I really struggled to set this in a real historical context, and also justify the use of magic and supernatural events. Like, would a 17th century Spaniard believably fight a giant spider, or be threatened by a robed sorcerer? Maybe, but I felt like I needed to frame the supernatural in a way that felt more… I don’t know, tangible?
In a historical setting, rather than a strict fantasy setting, it seems far more likely to me that some cult might uncover supernatural events than the catholic church. That is how I ended up making the protagonists in “The Thief of Toledo” a cult who make blood sacrifices to some unseen entity. Maybe the sorcery is a bit less overt that way, but it fits the story.
So, all this to say that I really liked this character. I plan on having a new Domingo Garavito story every few months, as a free gift to my readers. I will be working on my other projects as well, but I want to give back to the community that has been so supportive of me. A wink and a nod to Zorro, Jack Sparrow, and so many other wonderful renaissance era characters, something fun to keep you happy between all of my crazy projects.
So look for it here. Make sure you subscribe to stay up to date, and keep your eye peeled for the next Domingo Garavito adventure.