Considering the other group member’s characters, I decided to go for someone who was less relatable to me. I took inspiration from various people in my life, hopefully crafting an interesting character who is out of the norm of a young, white and educated Australian.
“Thanassis (67) is a widower and father of three. His wife passed away from cancer four years ago, bringing him to a new understanding of loneliness. He comes to a realisation that he spent his youth working, and as a strict father, he feels that he had pushed away his children in the process. In an attempt to find purpose in his new life, he tries to get closer to his three kids, despite all of them having their own families and living away from home. He discovers a second chance for redemption by bonding with his middle child’s daughter, Sophia (5), nurturing her like his own.”
Undoubtedly, my character was influenced by Manolis from Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. (What can I do, I just love Tsiolkas’ work). It would’ve been relatively easy for me to write about someone who was of Filipino heritage, considering my background, but I thought that Greek families were more dispersed and assimilated into Melbourne communities.
Without revealing too much of my personal circumstances, this character, his motivations and particularly his family were inspired by people close to me. This will make my writing easier and hopefully give me the opportunity to grab raw content to transform into story material.