Who is Rochelle Donovan? Jonathon Marcel Introduces His Lead
Love her or hate her, I do, but don’t ignore Rochelle Donovan. This girl doesn’t just stay in conflict, she creates it whether she means to or not. Who says the protagonist has to be loved and respected? After all, The Samogon Affair is a gangland crime story—everyone is a villain.
It might surprise you to learn Rochelle wasn’t a part of my initial outline. She only came about because I needed a supporting character to connect my original lead characters, Chris and Mikel. And then the writing crashed. It wasn’t until I revised the outline and made Rochelle the lead that the story started rolling.
Rochelle is an ordinary, all-American teenager, who is extremely smart, well educated, bilingual, bi-racial, spoiled, and even promiscuous. She loves her family and friends. But like all ordinary characters, she is caught in extraordinary circumstances.
Early on, Rochelle hints to her girlfriends what she deeply desires: for everyone in the world to know her and want her. Later, she confides in Chris that she wants to leave her mark so people will know her story when they hear her name.
Paying the Price
For the most part, Rochelle is a survivor. True to form, she tries to do what it takes to survive, no matter the conflict. She never gives up. As I continued to develop Rochelle, this aspect of her started to bother me—her actions were at times inconsistent with her personality. So I made her extreme, always needing help, and thereby making her a whiner and a bitch, and even a curse to those around her. What price must they pay for her to survive? And does Rochelle even care what happens to them as long as she gets her way?
My original lead characters, Chris and Mikel, are Rochelle’s love interest. Unlike Mikel, Chris compliments Rochelle much like a best friend, and provides the qualities that she lacks. The three of them make a great lovers’ triangle for the new-adult aspect of the crime story.
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