I could go crazy over Dorian's soft, Dickensian, shabby-but-gentlemanly aesthetic. I had a reader once comment that he reminded her of Jack from Titanic, and I was definitely NOT upset about it. The more I think about his character, both physically and emotionally, I realize that Leo's Jack Dawson must have been a huge, subconscious, inspiration when I wrote him. (I did watch Titanic every day when I was six years old, after all. To say the movie left an impression on me is an understatement).
This isn't how Dorian was first intended to be, however. When I first set out to write A Song Beyond Walls, I imagined the male lead to be brittle, reserved, persnickety, (a decade older), and haunted by his own misfortune---like a widower who lost everything; almost like The Secret Garden's Archibald Craven. The more I got to know Dorian, the more I realized how radiant and full of life he is. He is a burst of light in Claire's meaningless void. Almost like...(wow, this is familiar)...Jack is to Rose.
I'm sensing some parallels here...
I have another post coming soon about Claire. Stay tuned!