Character Spotlights: A Who’s Who in The Novel SEETHINGS

As a writer, I believe that compelling, relatable characters are the core of any novel. Readers invest in stories through people they recognise, empathise with, or even love to hate.

In fact, writing experts emphasise that characters and plot are the two essential ingredients of a story. As Brett Grell notes, “there are two required elements of a story; the first being characters, the second is the plot”. Likewise, Craig Strickland reminds us that characters serve as “a connection point as readers into [the] story… Without character, readers will not fall in love with the book”.

• Emotional engagement: Well-developed characters deeply engage readers. Mary Kole observes that “how a character grows and changes is the engaging part of the story…how they feel about what happens is what sticks with us”. We all relate to a character’s emotions because feelings are universal – even if we’ve never battled monsters, we have felt fear, loss, or hope. Seeing a character overcome trauma or loss gives us ideas for handling our own challenges.
• Driving the narrative: Strong characters often carry the story. As Kristen Overman points out, a “unique character with a clearly defined want and need…who engages with the reader, sharing their emotions and vulnerabilities, can carry a story”. In practice, this means each character’s goals and problems give the plot direction: once we understand what a character wants (love? justice? redemption?), every scene gains purpose as we wonder if they’ll get it.
• Empathy and relatability: Readers need a reason to root for a character early on. Overman (echoing Blake Snyder) advises giving us a reason to empathise with the protagonist within the first pages. If we care about the character, we’ll keep turning pages. As one writer puts it, characters are the entry point into the story – without them, readers “will not fall in love with the book”. In adult fiction especially, fully fleshed-out characters (with both flaws and clear motivations) make the themes accessible. The more real they feel, the more powerful the story becomes.

In short, memorable characters make fiction engaging and emotionally powerful. They anchor the plot, give readers someone to care about, and raise the stakes of every conflict. With that in mind, I created the main cast of SEETHINGS to be as distinct and vivid as possible. Below are spotlights on each main character in this psychologically fuelled story – what drives them, their key traits, and how they fit into the story.

Mitchell

Mitchell Felding is the central character of SEETHINGS, and he embodies the novel’s tension between love and lurking darkness. On the surface, he’s a devoted husband. In counselling sessions, people marvel at his commitment: as their marriage counsellor, Tony observes, “Mitchell is not religious, but he exhibits a strong belief in marriage…[and] it’s obvious he loves [Sam]”. Indeed, Mitchell and his wife, Sam, waited many years to marry and remained celibate throughout. On paper, such devotion should guarantee happiness – Tony even comments that “you showed a great deal of commitment to the woman you love”. Mitchell appears patient, principled and painfully faithful – the ideal Christian husband, at least outwardly.

Yet Mitchell hides a horrifying secret: an alternate personality he calls the Beast. When the Beast emerges, he commits brutal crimes. In one chilling scene, Mitchell feels “a sense of euphoria” while overpowering a victim, describing the power as “just as intoxicating as watching someone die”. Not even his counsellor could imagine this capacity for violence until it erupted. By the end, the narrator explains that “the Beast…revealed himself during Nina’s attack,” confirming a murder and hinting at more.

This extreme duality – a caring husband versus a hidden monster – is what makes Mitchell’s character so compelling. I deliberately wrote him this way to keep readers on edge: you see his loving side with Sam, but you dread the Beast inside. That internal conflict drives his entire arc and keeps readers wondering which side will win.

Nina

Nina De Jong is the woman with whom Mitchell is having an affair, and she’s no stranger to him. She dated Mitchell when the couple were in high school. She represents the innocence lost in Mitchell’s growing nightmare. I imagined Nina as a gentle, sultry, warm-hearted introvert. Even in their secret meetings, her voice is quiet. In a passionate moment, she speaks “in a soft voice” as she playfully asks Mitchell, “What would you do… Would you take me?” In that private fantasy, Nina completely trusts Mitchell. Her dark, tumultuous divorce to Lindsay allows warm light to shine through their newly rekindled, adult relationship.

Nina is also apparently grieving two great losses in her life. At a holiday party, one of the friends coldly inquires about Nina’s situation until Doug snaps, “Nina’s mother just passed away… She’s not up to it. Will you leave her alone?” In that moment, Nina immediately breaks down in tears. This private grief shadows her throughout the book. She is hopeful that Mitchell might love and protect her, but she’s also vulnerable because of those wounds.

In spotlighting Nina, I wanted readers to feel both her kindness and her sorrow. She’s someone you root for even before the horror fully unfolds. Even after the party, when Mitchell sweeps her away, Nina still acts like a hopeful young lover: she whispers, “No, Mitchell, not out here… Someone will see us”, reminding him of her sweet modesty. Her gentle warmth, her naiveté, and the pain of losing her mother (and her former marriage) all make the later violence that much more heartbreaking. Nina’s combination of trust and vulnerability was important to me – I wanted her to be a character whose safety the reader truly fears for.

Sam

Samantha Felding is Mitchell’s time-fixated wife – officious, principled, and deeply good. I wrote Sam as the organised counterpart to Nina’s youthful, sexualised personality. We see Sam described as “romantically cold” but ultimately a good, hard-working person – in fact, “completely trustworthy… her heart is in the right place”. Sam insisted on waiting until marriage for sex, and she genuinely loves Mitchell. That stubborn faith should have strengthened their bond. As Tony reflects in counselling, “on paper, such perseverance should guarantee them eternal happiness”. Sam has followed her convictions to the letter and remained loyal; you could argue she’s meant to be the ideal partner.

Yet Sam is quietly suffering. Despite her virtues, the marriage isn’t fulfilling her needs either. She is polite and kind, but she feels lonely and disconnected. I wanted readers to empathise with Sam’s situation: her husband is distant and keeping secrets, yet she has stayed faithful. Tony’s incredulity highlights this tragedy: he scolds Mitchell for waiting seven years before marriage, calling him a “fool” and asking why such devotion hasn’t made them happy. (Tony even confesses he feels like a fraud beside their example.) In writing Sam, I meant her to be deeply sympathetic: she represents love, stability, and sacrifice. When Mitchell’s secret life explodes, her pain – heartbreak, betrayal, fear – becomes one of the novel’s most powerful moments. Sam remains fundamentally good and loving, which makes the reveal of Mitchell’s second life all the more devastating.

Tony Brindell

Tony Brindell is the Christian marriage counsellor who works with Mitchell and Sam, and his warm, down-to-earth personality was meant to contrast sharply with Mitchell’s darkness. From the moment we meet him, Tony seems almost out of place in this thriller. He’s introduced in narration as “a tall slender man” with a shaved head and beard – at a glance you “could easily mistake him for a criminal” – yet only his polished shoes and neat shirt reveal he’s actually a professional. In other words, he appears rough and tough, but he’s actually a caring counsellor. He’s always welcoming clients with an “upwardly-palmed handshake” that’s “full of compassion and warmth”. Tony trusts people completely – the narration even calls him “a trusting soul. Trust is a part of his job”.

Because Tony is so open and kind, his fate is even more tragic. He sincerely wants to help, even inviting working-class couples like Mitchell and Sam to confide in him. His background illustrates this: Tony grew up hard and found faith, eventually becoming a youth group leader and even hosting a Christian radio advice show. He’s become a respected counsellor for working-class families in Brisbane. In many ways, he serves as a mentor figure. Writing Tony this way meant I could make readers care about him; when Mitchell turns on him, it’s both terrifying and heartbreaking. Tony genuinely believes in saving Mitchell and Sam’s marriage – he’s patient and resourceful to the end – so the reader shares in his shock and horror when that faith is betrayed.

Maxine Sewell

No cast is complete without a character you absolutely love to hate, and Maxine Sewell fills that role perfectly. She’s the unapologetic loudmouth neighbour who stops at nothing to get attention. I introduced Maxine with a blunt, almost humorous portrait: “Maxine Sewell sees herself as one of the in-crowd. She dresses in young clothes and speaks like a teenager…she’s immature [and] speaks at the most inappropriate times”. Physically, Maxine is flashy – in the story, she even uses her figure as a weapon, so to speak. She flaunts herself so brazenly that even her breasts become “weapons in her tawdry arsenal” of tricks, and that she has a “mouth like a shotgun” cutting through everyone’s chatter.

What makes Maxine memorable is her brutal honesty. In her mind, she’s just spitting truth, no matter how crude. One observer in the story sums her up as “a self-absorbed narcissist” with an utterly tactless mouth. Maxine freely insults everyone. She genuinely claims that “men prefer honest women” – that her crassness is just honesty – but the irony is obvious: despite her bravado, at thirty-two she “can’t keep a man”. In other words, her “honesty” hasn’t won her any lovers.

Why include a character like Maxine? In a way, she’s a dark mirror. She’s everything Mitchell could become if he ever abandoned compassion and behaved like this – loud, self-centred, cruel. Her presence forces the more sympathetic characters (and the reader) to confront a very nasty personality. I wrote her as almost comic relief, but her cruelty (especially toward Nina) really hurts. By the end of the scene, Maxine gets her comeuppance – another kind of justice that underscores how even the real world can be brutal. Her over-the-top antics set the tone for the novel’s shift into darkness.

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In SEETHINGS, each main character was created to be strong and distinct, carrying their own emotional weight. Adult readers expect depth, flaws, and realistic motivations – people who could (or do) exist. With Mitchell’s dual nature, Nina’s warm innocence, Sam’s steadfast integrity, Tony’s compassion, and even Maxine’s outrageous antics, I aimed to make each of them feel vivid. I hope this look into their personalities shows why they matter. When readers care about people like these, the story becomes impossible to put down. Crafting characters I truly believe in was vital: if you feel for them, every twist hits harder. In the end, I want you to see SEETHINGS through their eyes. Each spotlight post focuses on a specific character in the narrative. Here are the five main people who appear in SEETHINGS.

–Michael (Dark fiction. Author of SEETHINGS (the first book), free for a limited time)