In Naughty Nights: Enslaved, Strongsea is a man of new ideas in a society that prizes tradition. I enjoyed writing about him because in a many ways he’s a contradiction. He’s a compassionate man trapped in a violent world. He has learned not only how to survive, but to incite changes. Strongsea looks gentle compared to most of the ultra-rugged men in his world and people tend to underestimate him, but that’s a big mistake. Strongsea doesn’t like violence, but he’s not afraid to defend what’s his or risk himself to help others. He’s not someone who will go along with the crowd to make life easier for himself. To create Strongsea’s personality, I drew upon qualities I admire and I also used instances in my life when I underestimated someone or made a judgment based on appearance that turned out to be wrong. I try not to do that, but sometimes it happens. At times the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” turns out to be true. One way or another we’ve probably experienced that, whether we come to the wrong conclusion about someone or someone comes to the wrong conclusion about us.
In Strongsea’s case, he spent most of his life underestimated and misjudged, but he did the same to his partner, Darkrock. His initial opinion was that Darkrock was a cold, primitive barbarian, which wasn’t a difficult conclusion to come to, considering that’s how Darkrock presents himself. Unlike Strongsea, Darkrock is a man of tradition, but he’s not completely immovable. He wants to do what’s best for those he cares about. In creating Darkrock, I thought about characteristics I find frustrating and looked for reasons why a person might develop those characteristics. I also looked at why I find them frustrating because what’s a turnoff to one person is a turn-on to someone else.
Both Darkrock and Strongsea are not exactly as they appear. Radiance is the woman who loves them both. Due to her circumstances she has reason to hate all Shand men, but Strongsea’s gentleness and Darkrock’s passion change her mind. By the end of the story all three learn that first impressions aren’t always right and in trying to understand someone else they make new discoveries about themselves.
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