Author: Khutso Nkadimeng
25 Apr 2020
I aim to make an interesting, realistic and relatable character, who like many people is shaped by their relationships, environment and history. My character and I share a few similarities; we are both from rural areas, we moved to the city after completing matric and enrolled in engineering. Where you are from, where you are now and what you do shapes a lot of who are. Creating these parallels allows me to know what experiences my character is realistically likely to have even though they are different from mine. I chose for him to work within the technology space because it's a sector I am hugely interested in, this way I am likely going to have enough background to make hypotheticals and enough energy to research them.
Business and political Influence
In my pursuit for realism, I have drawn inspiration from companies such as Tesla Motors, Google and Mobiliye to create my character’s company, Shepherd’s Eye. I rely on the current political climate in South Africa, the taxi industry and media culture to find the best possible reaction and opposition to Shepherd and his ideas.
My character is an entrepreneur operating in a tough political environment, to navigate through it, he studies Adam Smith and Niccolò Machiavelli. These two men are hated by anti-capitalists and idealists respectively and I chose their influence because I believe they were right about how the economy and politics work. Self-interest and Self-preservation are the driving forces behind how the world works.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”-Adam Smith
"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must, therefore, be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves."- Niccolò Machiavelli
Family history legal problems
Shepherd is in many ways like his parents and in many ways very different to them. I think this is true for many people. I chose to make him fatherless because I wanted to make his life imperfect, I wanted him to have a desire to connect with a man he never really knew. Our country is full of absent fathers, but I want to display the strength and love of the mothers who are left behind.