If you’re here it means you actually have read and enjoyed the previous post, where my interview with Beverley started, and you’re curious to know more—Or so I hope.
What I have to offer today, is her cast of characters and a little bit more details about the topics she deals with in the trilogy, but specifically related to each and every characters she gave birth to, so this second part will be fairly spoilery. If you didn't read the trilogy yet, please go and get the books, read them and come back. If you did read it, feel free to fangirl over it and have a look in this article, so that you can get to know little secrets and curiosities about it.
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By: Rafael Martin C.[/caption]While you’re making up some pretty unbelievable excuses for why you didn't pick up the Gabriel Davenport Series yet, let’s spill some tea over our boys together with Beverley.
S: Characters that are very interesting, so I guess a little bit of tea should be spilled, now. I loved them all, with no exception. Even the villains, I have to admit!
Gabe is a patootie, I can’t deny it, but is also in that moment of a boy’s life where he has to find his own path. He doesn’t really know which way to go to find out what happened to his family. And I’m talking about Gabe in the first book, specifically.
Which one do you think was the moment in which he understood where he was actually standing, the aim, the part he was playing in all the incidents happening during the first book but also in the whole trilogy?
Do you think he’s finally found his place and his purpose, now that the third book has come to an end?
Is there anything that you think you could’ve done better for Gabe’s character and his development, something that you didn’t manage to put or explore deeply in the storyline? Something you look back to and think “oh, I could’ve chosen something different, I could’ve delved into it deeper; it would’ve suit the story better” or that, on the opposite, you wish you didn’t do?
Which trait of Gabe’s personality and attitude do you think gives the most to the reader? The one that you think no one can ignore because it brings to and explains about the character a lot? The best trait, basically. And, obviously, the worst one.
B: Ah, I love that you loved them all, Sam, even the bad guys. I always say that the villain is the hero in his own story, so if the tables were flipped, he’d have some redeeming qualities.
Yes, Gabriel in the first book, was definitely at a turning point. He’d been nurtured and protected all of his life but never told from actually what. It stands to reason he would have a burning desire to find out. One of the first instances that he realised his part in it all was when Olivia admitted to what she had done; he wondered why she had done it. What she was trying to destroy. What she did felt personal. But really the whole story in Gabriel was one instance after another of Gabe knowing that he was the reason everything was falling apart. It says a lot for his strength of character that he didn’t collapse and give in.
And, yes. At the end of Purity he’s happy in his own skin, where he is, with the people he is alongside.
There are quite a few paragraphs I’d reword in hindsight, mainly because my writing has evolved since those early days. Also, there are very tiny discrepancies (as I didn’t plan out the whole series before writing) that I’d smooth over.
As for Gabe’s character development, I don’t think there’s much at all I would change. His loyalty and courage, his questioning and stubbornness, are all laid out there, and his actions speak of these characteristics. But again, as writers, we’re always worrying that we could have done better, explained more. You have to find the point with which you are happy to let your babies fly.
Gabe’s best trait is probably his loyalty to those he loves. That’s why when they are threatened, it means so much to him. At The Manor, with the deaths that occur, he felt responsible, even though there was nothing he could do about it.
And his worst trait is maybe that loyalty again. Because others find it and use it to weaken him, knowing that to hurt those he cares about can possibly leave him open to making mistakes. Fatal mistakes.
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S: When writing about Gabe’s experiences and life, did you ever feel like there could’ve been a different path for him and his family? That there actually was going to be something that made things go differently? What do you think his life would’ve been like if in the first book they managed to defeat the Evil presence and save all the people involved?
B: If his father hadn’t seen that box. If the weather hadn’t closed in. If it had been destroyed. All of these would have led to a very different life for my boy. I always had my ending for the book in my mind so there was only really one outcome. But if I hadn’t had that ending? It would have been a ‘we defeated the evil and restored order’ kind of book. Gabe would have gone to University, fallen in love, at some point come back to The Manor to work with Carver. Okay, but not half as thrilling ;)
S: Also, that kiss in the first book, the one between Gabe and a certain character. Did it mean anything in particular for our hero? Was it some kind of turning point or the spark that started one of his countless changes?
B: No, I don’t think Gabe thought anything of it, apart from the fact that it was very strange. But then considering everything else that was going on at the time, that was understandable!
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S: Teal is another interesting one. He’s quiet, he’s philosophical and he likes books, telling tales. An old soul, almost. He’s the one who, despite the role he plays, he manages to keep the group together and solid. Why didn’t he cover a leadership role despite him not being a pure breed? What was that he was lacking of, in your opinion, but that other characters had?
B: Teal is one of life’s kind souls, the ones where despite the horror they go through, come out looking for hope and goodness. It would never have crossed his mind to be the leader, that role falling to Gabe. He’s happier showing support for others. His brothers naturally fall into a protective shield around him, and Teal needs their strength to come to terms with everything that is happening to him. I don’t think it’s a matter of what he was lacking, more that the situation he was in put him in a position where he knew that he had to be kept safe, not the one doing the saving.
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S: Teal had to sacrifice a lot and in order to gain something back, he had to trust. Trust and be trusted, obviously. He seemed to be inclined to do so despite the fact that everyone around him was constantly doubting and betraying. It almost felt like it was the other members of his family that actually needed protection, rather than the other way around.
B: That’s a very good point, Sam. Teal is the light to his brothers’ darkness in a way, a balance, and they are pulled towards him, almost magnetically. He’s the one who keeps them focussed more than they know. It would have been so much easier for Gabe and Moth to go off by themselves, leaving him to his fate, and Teal knows this, knows that their bond with him is something priceless and golden.
S: He had guidance, but he also had some dark moments in which he got lost, but he never teetered. What do you think it has been the greatest achievement for you when giving birth to him and for him at the end of his adventure? What do you think it is that he taught you whilst taking shape and that was (is) a lesson so important that you tried to put into your novels?
B: All the time I was writing Teal he never wavered. Never lost sight of what was important and his part in it. It’s such a joy when a character catches hold of you like that. His courage and strength matched his brothers’ in the quietest way.
He taught me that a character with a great deal of darkness can carry a great deal of light (and not meaning the fireflies this time).
What else did he teach me? That a family bond as tight as theirs can never be broken. That sometimes you have to stand up and fight, even if the odds seem hopeless. And that’s possibly a lesson from my books, although I never set out to preach.
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S: At the end of the third book, Teal had to face his fate. Despite the actual result of that hard challenges he and his brothers had to face, were you really ready to let him go forever, if the chances have been different?
B: I always knew my ending, but endings are not set in stone, and sometimes the story demands things you don’t want to give. If that had been the case I would have let him go, even though it would have torn me apart.
(An interesting point is that my original ending had Gabe and Moth going off together to walk their own dark road, leaving Teal with Clove. But after everything that happened I knew they would refuse to leave him. And they did!)
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S: Out of all of the amazing character you created, Noah was the most interesting one. He’s a priest and at the beginning of it all he’s strongly convinced his faith will lead him somewhere. Yeah, he’s still a little stoic, but he feels like he’s chosen the right path; just needs a little bit more time to find what he’s looking for. At the end, though, something has changed. He fell for someone, he discovered that there might be something even greater than Religion he can hold on to in order to go on and he somehow stopped doubting, he found his truth. Will it be safe to say that he found the answers to all his questions? And above all, what happened to Gabe had a big impact on his mind and his thoughts, his beliefs. Do you think that it was everything that happened to him that made Noah see God and his approach and relationship to Religion differently?
B: An interesting snippet is that out of all my characters, Noah is the one most like me.
I think what you said is very interesting and very true. Noah did find something he could believe in 100%, and that fact makes him stronger, even though it claws away at his religious beliefs. What happened to Gabe tears him apart, and he’s a man remade as the series progresses.
There’s one character that makes Noah rethink his beliefs. Here is someone who speaks intelligently of all of the things Noah has been frightened to voice. If Noah’s God exists, then so must an opposite, and Noah is catapulted into a thought process where his faith and his logic war with each other. It seems so much more real to Noah to hear their opinions, much more real than the words in his bible.
I’m not sure if Noah found the answer to all of his questions. There is still one – Why did it have to be Gabe?
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S: Noah’s constant thinking about this aspect of his life made him more real and realistic than any other priest I’ve ever met in literature. He’s human so he makes mistakes. He is somehow the balance of the first book, the one that always tries to find a solution that suits everyone, but he also loves Gabriel very much. It might be a broad statement, but at some point it felt like if Noah didn’t get too attached to Gabriel, nothing of what happened to him would’ve ever turned his life upside down. But somehow it did. Has Noah ever held it against Gabriel? Even for a moment? One single instant in which he could’ve regretted he met him, but he didn’t.
B: Thank you so much for saying that, Sam. I feel very honoured.
In the first book, when he tries to please everyone (this is so me!) there’s a small piece of Noah that wants to kick back. But it’s not until the tragedy at the end of the book that, in finally crumbling, he learns to do that. In a way, it’s the old adage of ‘when you’re at the bottom of a ladder, the only way is up.’ And who he falls for is instrumental in that change. She teaches him so much more about himself than he ever knew.
Noah has never, ever, regretted loving Gabriel as much as he does. I know that without even thinking about it. Gabriel has pulled him to hell and back, and Noah has the scars (literally) but he would do it all again in a heartbeat.
S: Which one was the finest, in your opinion, out of all the scenes you wrote with Noah? Which one your favorite and why?
B: Gosh, that’s a tough one! I guess the scene with Clove, in D’Grey’s house, is definitely up there. That discussion of theology between them came out so vividly I could barely type quickly enough. That’s when you know it’s right. It kinda laid bare both characters and the sparring between them felt very real.
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S: Now, let’s take a minute (or more) to appreciate Moth. At the beginning, I didn’t like him at all; arrogant, sassy and way too sensitive. A little drama queen, I can say. The kind of character that I would never enjoy in a novel, knowing myself, but that ended up surprising me and stealing my heart.
I found a lot of myself in him; the fear of losing the one he loved, the fear of trusting someone, of letting go and changing. But he’s also a strong character despite the fact that he’s an introvert and he might look weak at first. I do strongly think that he’s the strongest of all the characters, to be honest. He’s never given up, he’s fought and he’s accepted all the changes. Somehow, it feels like he was the one thanks to whom every single character evolved and grew up during the three books.
How did the idea of this character take shape? Was it difficult to write about a creature of the night so fragile but at the same time so human and strong without going out of character?
B: Making Moth unlikeable in the first book was intentional. Apart from the fact that that’s how he came across to me, I wanted my readers to see him through Gabe’s eyes, this creature who had suddenly appeared with his snarky mouth and seemingly uncaring attitude. And here’s something a little funny. At the point Moth and Teal were introduced I wasn’t even sure if there would be a sequel. The two young vampires were only ever supposed to be in minor roles, but as soon as Moth’s voice hit me I knew I had something special. Even now, months after finishing the series, he makes his presence known.
People often ask me how I create my characters. Some I have to work on. I have the seed of an idea and work with them to coax out their likes and dislikes and what makes them who they are. Moth was never like that. Moth was Moth from the first scenes I wrote with him. I had this rebellious ball of fury, curtailed by Clove’s hand, and using his tongue to hurt. I didn’t know why he was hurting at first, that came later, along with the reasons he didn’t trust and was scared to make a connection. And his back story always seemed right, as though it was just there waiting for me to find. Moth was always one of the easiest characters to write. I felt like I never had to think too much, I just let him be himself, and people really seem to adore him for simply being who he is.
S: What was your favorite Moth’s momentum throughout the three novels?
B: Gosh, that’s a hard one. I loved that moment outside the cathedral in Shadows, when Gabe is asking him about why Moth flicks his tongue, and then Gabe tries it. That first genuine smile between them melts my heart. But I could list dozens more showing his vulnerability and his strength.
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S: One thing I loved the most in this trilogy is the way you talked about homosexuality. I didn’t perceive it as a label or something major that portraits and defines the characters. It was there, natural and almost like a side note as the most important thing to follow was the adventure and the growth, the changes, of each and every character. It wasn’t forced and it wasn’t the main point of the whole plotline. It was pretty marginal, but at the same time very present and important. Through it, Gabriel learned a lot about himself and so did Moth and Clove.
So now the question is: was it necessary from the beginning to the original plotline? Was it planned? Or was it unexpected and unplanned and you’ve just followed the flow of your writing?
B: Moth and Gabe was a relationship I knew would happen right from the start. I wanted that different angle on the brotherhood, with Teal being their anchor. At the start of Shadows I could feel Moth’s antagonism towards Gabe, but I just went right along with it, nudging him every now and then to let me in, to give me reasons why he felt like he did, because I knew the attraction was there, flickering in the dark.
S: Do you think that your way of talking about gay characters is different from books belonging to LGBTIQ+ community that are being published lately? If so, why? Or, why not?
B: You said it all above, Sam. I didn’t want homosexuality to be a Big Thing, I just wanted it to be a part of who they were, like Moth’s smart mouth or Gabe’s questioning. It’s a natural thing so it shouldn’t be pushed into a starring role, it just is what it is. I didn’t want people to say, ‘hey, there’s this book about gay vampires’, I just wanted them to say, ‘there’s this book about vampires’.
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S: Love is something obviously hard for almost every single character, but at the end of the saga they all learn something important thanks to this powerful feeling. Is there a scene that you enjoyed writing and that you think sums up the concept of love for your characters? And for Moth in particular (I’m sorry but I really do have a soft spot for him)?
B: Love is hard and fighting for it can be even harder. I love Olivia’s scene, at the end of Shadows, where she’s exhausted but stubbornly sat by Noah’s bedside. She fought for him, and for the boys, putting her own life at risk. I also love that she thought about Ollie and their childhood in this scene, it’s a touching show of vulnerability in my tough-talking girl. As she said, ‘Love didn’t come with a coat of laughter and sunlight. It crawled along the gutter gathering debris in its wake but flowered anyway.’
Let’s see. For Moth. He tried for so long to keep love at bay, too scared to let it envelop him in case he let someone else down. Love goes hand in hand with trust for Moth. There are so many scenes where he doesn’t like the decisions Gabe makes but he goes along with them anyway, because he trusts Gabe implicitly.
That scene in Purity where Moth realises that he has to let Teal go to Gehenna. That’s absolute trust, in both Gabe and Clove. And Teal. Love is about the fear of knowing that it could all be swept away, but doing it anyway.
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S: Gabe and Moth. I just loved their relationship, the way they understand each other and the way their lives are intertwined, but I can’t help but think that all this chemistry was between Teal and Moth in first place, and it was bloody strong – no pun intended. How did Moth end up with Gabriel? Like, what made you go for this path instead of the most obvious one?
B: Moth and Teal are very close but there was never any sexual attraction between them. I think because Moth almost saw himself as an older protective brother. Also, with Clove around, if there had been feelings, I’m not sure they would have acted on them. This was all before Gabe came on the scene, and Clove kept things very close to his chest back then, his main aim was keeping Teal out of any other vampires’ eyes.
By the close of Gabriel I knew that Moth and Gabe would end up together, if they didn’t end up killing each other first! There was such strong animosity between them, and it was only when Teal went missing that his absence and searching for him, brought them closer.
Moth fought it for a long time, scared of letting Gabe in, of there being someone else to let down, but underneath it all Gabe’s will to survive and his courage chipped away at Moth’s armour, until that kiss ;)
As opposed to light, there’s always darkness, so it’s almost obvious that alongside our main characters there are some good ones and some cruel that they have to fight in order to keep their balance and stay alive. So here’s a bunch of things that I think you should know about the villains of the Gabriel Davenport saga, because they’re not to take for granted.
Beverley knows how to keep the reader’s attention and she knows how to leave a sign. That’s why her Vampires and Evil Creatures are characters that you will love despite how much they’ll hurt your favorites. In them, she hides humanity, she makes sure to give a background so that the reader can’t help but try to put themselves in their shoes because world is never just black or white. There’s shades – and shadows.
S: In this novel everything is not what it seems. What astonished me the most is the way you built up relationships between vampires. It’s a world that lives on its own and somehow runs along humans’ one. Did you base your construction of those characters on previous ideas of vampires and relationships between them, maybe coming from other novels or folklore, or was it all up to you? And in this last case, what gave you the idea of building up such a community?
B: Every species has to have its own rules. Of course, I’ve taken some of the old folklore for vampires, as in they sleep in the daylight and need blood to survive. But I’ve interwoven my own ideas to make it fresher. That’s one of the joys of writing. You can have a benchmark but you are free to embellish it however you wish.
As for other novels, I guess you could say that I learned from Anne Rice and her Vampire Chronicles. Her vampires are deeply faceted and exist alongside humans, but in their own very dark world.
I’ve always had that kind of vampire world in my head, although creating the politics of it was new, the way there was a hierarchy and certain rules to follow. That disobeying those rules came with a price. It also paved the way for why some vampires are loners, taking themselves away from those politics, much like we do in our human world.
I wanted to show that a supernatural creature had all the abilities we have, the reasoning, the cruelty, the hopes and the fears.
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S: Villains here are opposites. Evil opposed to Good in the first book, Revenge that feels more like a re-match for a game that hasn’t been played fairly. An attempt to rule over Death and Life of the Undead. There’s, though, a lot of ethic in your novel. You somehow don’t want to give answers or debate over what’s right and what not, but you just want people to think and make up their own mind. Has it ever crossed your mind, before Gabriel Davenport Series came to life, that words and characters, tales in particular, could have such power?
B: As a lifelong reader I’ve always been aware of the power of words. When a book reaches out and touches you in such a way that you feel changed inside, that’s the closest thing to magic in the real world. But I never really imagined that my words could do that. That my characters would be so relatable to people in so many different ways. I feel incredibly blessed that somehow I’ve manged to create a series that has had such an effect on my readers.
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S: Your villains are odd ones, but in a positive way. They’re all different, and you care to go deep into their background. You want the reader to know them deeply, as if they were main characters as well. It almost looks like you’re asking the reader to understand them so that they don’t have to be hated for the choices they make or the way they act.
They do behave in a certain way because of something happened to them. They’re not bad because they were born like that and not even because they woke up one morning deciding to be evil and slay everyone. They just try to find a way to survive and find their own place in a world that constantly changes and sometimes this leads to wars, unfinished business, scores to settle. Even though they’re supernatural creatures, to me they look pretty human. Which one is your favorite and why? Which is the one you’re the most proud of?
B: Something I read once said that the villain is always the hero in his own story, and I love that. Like you say, all of my antagonists have their own back story, their own reasoning about why they act like they do. That’s very much needed, as otherwise the heroes are fighting cardboard cut-out characters, and that’s no fun at all. And I am asking the reader to understand their motives, to put themselves in their shoes, to be fully aware of how they think, maybe even have a shimmering of empathy.
If I had to pick a favourite/one I’m most proud of, I would have to say Emron D’Grey, that smooth-talking, slightly deranged old world vampire who carries a chip on his shoulder the size of a log. D’Grey is another character that came to me very fully-formed, I knew his way of dress, how he spoke, almost as soon as he first graced the page. None of his scenes were ever a struggle for me, and that’s such a joy. Yes, he made my boys’ lives absolute hell but part of me loves D’Grey for the monster that he is!
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S: Vampires here are very… weird, not the usual ones we read nowadays and not the old classic ones either. I felt like there were classical vibes, but somehow they felt modern as well, almost like they changed and got used to the reality in which they had to live once in the novel. Which one of your characters was born fitting the idea of the one that for you is the perfect vampire and why?
B: That’s a very tough question. If a species is to survive, they have to evolve. Vampires are no exception. Clove, my master vampire, is a product of survival. He has lived through centuries of change without losing what he originally was, but even he has made mistakes. Mistakes he has to live with, and that threaten the life of his boys as the story progresses. Is he perfect? No, he isn’t, but he embodies both classical and modern characteristics so I’ll use him for this ;)
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S: Do you think the novels would’ve worked anyway even with the classical characterization of the vampire or you think that it is this modern conception that made it different and special?
B: I think that it’s the mix of both that give the story its strength and uniqueness. They have roots in the past, but they know they have to embrace the future.
And even this post has come to an end. I was chit-chatting with Beverly some time ago and I was thinking about the massive character development that all her boys had gone through in the trilogy. It might not be that immediate, because she really does have this ability of making them all more human than actual humans, but there are little things here and there throughout the books that show us how much they grow and how strong they become. Her boys make us realise that the path we choose to follow is never easy; we get hurt, we make mistakes, we make poor choices and sometimes the ones we think are correct turn against us and prove us wrong. But there’s always a little light even in the deepest darkness; it’s our choice whether to follow and embrace it or not.
And that light to me has got one name only: love. Love makes us hurt sometimes, but it also makes us strong. And who can tell us better than our lovely boys?
I hope you enjoyed this little chat! See you on the next part, the one all the aspiring writers like me should look forward to.
In the meantime, all the love to every single one of you.
Sam.
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