When I started writing Senta and the Steel Dragon, one thing I started doing right away was reusing minor characters.  That is to say, that when I needed a character to stand in the background or interact with a major character, instead of making one up, I reused existing characters.  There were two purposes in this.  First, since the story takes place in a limited-sized colony, this would give an air of virisimilitude.  Second, it let me create characters that I enjoyed and build them into more than a cardboard cut-out.  Here are some of those characters who appear in The Young Sorceress.

Lawrence Bratihn has filled a number of little roles in the series.  Most importantly, he was the other soldier who was captured by the lizzies along with Terrence in book 1.  Here in book 4, he works in the port authority.

His wife, Mrs. Bratihn has seen much more use in the series, as she runs the dress shop that all the major female characters frequent.  Her assistant Mrs. Luebking likewise.  Incidently Mrs. Luebking’s husband is occassionally mentioned, but seldom seen.

Mrs. Wardlaw (who was Mrs. Lanier when she arrived along with Radley Staff in book 2) is the governor’s secretary.

Mrs. Colbshallow is very special to me, and she is the mother of a major character, but she plays a relatively minor role in this book as in the others in the series.  My favorite little trick is when someone wants to explain how wonderful some food tastes, they simply compare it to something that Mrs. Colbshallow made.  (In my original draft, she was just referred to as Cook.)

Gaylene Finkler is seldom seen.  She has just a tiny scene in book 2, one in book 5, and a bit more here in book 4.  In book 1, she’s only mentioned once.  Even so, she’s a real person to me, the sister of a major character, and she’s named after my aunt.

Edin Buttermore has a very tiny part in book 2, but much larger ones in Books 4 & 5.  I had to be careful what I did to him in this book, knowing that he had a fairly large part to play in the next one.

Benny Markham and Shemar Morris are two boys that are mentioned a few times and are arround in the background in other books of the series, but here in book 4, I was able to give them a small but meaty part, as they escort Senta through the dinosaur-infested highlands.  I had fun finally giving them (especially Benny) a bit of their own personality.  Of course we find out who they marry at the end of book 5 (for one of them it’s a major character).

Marzell Lance is Yuah Dechantagne’s driver in books 2&4, both of which were written after I’d plotted out his part in book 5.  But it all manages to fit together.