FILE #006: Maximilian ''Max'' Finch-Millan

Name: Maximilian Nicholas Harold Finch-Millan ''Max'' (based on an old character with the same name)
Date of birth: 12 December 1998
Age: 20
Height: 165cm
Nationality: Welsh
Hometown: Criccieth, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom
Languages: English, Cymraeg
Eye colour: Light blue and dark brown (heterochromia)
Hair colour: Black
Skin colour: Pale
Distinctive features: Labret piercing, heterochromia
Personality in a few words: An enthusiastic and loving nerd who feels a lot.
Family: Melissa Finch (mother), Christopher Millan (father), Mark Finch-Millan (younger brother), Amy Finch-Millan (younger sister)
Issues: Pyromania, lung tumour

Detailed information

Favourite music: Edwin Wendler, Dominic Lewis, Tom Salta
Favourite movies: Fight Club, Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King, The Silence of the Lambs
Favourite TV series: M*A*S*H, Twin Peaks, Star Trek
Favourite foods: Scrambled eggs, cheese, macaroni and cheese
Hobby: Swimming, singing

Character history

COMING SOON

The creative process

Due to the fact that the old character Max is based on was very minor and had basically no distinctive personality traits, I mostly began with an empty canvas when I imported him over to the most recent version of the original universe. That's why he hasn't changed that much between that and the whole remaking process. I'm still kind of conflicted whether I want him to be a real enthusiast and a proper nerd, or a more subdued kind of person, which is why it feels like every time I write him, he has a different personality. Eh... I'll decide it someday.
   Max's pyromania is most definitely a self-insert. I felt an immense need to project that aspect of me onto a character in order to deal with it better and Max didn't really have anything going for him. No, it's true; he didn't have any real storylines planned and I was kind of at a loss with him. In the original universe, I began to flesh him out more when he was supposed to become Roni's love interest (which never actually managed to happen). And when I remade him into Sunset Bay, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with him. At that point, he was just Dani's best friend, but they had a very different relationship than Jake and Nathan, another best friend-duo. One possible storyline I had planned for Max was him having a fling with Dani, in present time, but I couldn't find a good way to incorporate that into the story, so it became a thing of the past that's referenced sometimes.
   I have to admit, his lung tumour (no cancer here, just a benign one) was heavily inspired by an episode or two of Holby City, where there was a teenage boy who had a tumour in his lungs that made him cough up blood. Seeing as I had mostly burdened my children with mental issues, I decided to give Max a major physical health issue. It's one of those very slow burn storylines, where he hides the truth for as long as he possibly can, until it's just a matter of time until someone finds out. There are a few of those, which stretch across multiple months in the sense of the timeline. Even years in some cases.
   As I mentioned before, the first version of Max was such a minor character that I never spent any time thinking about what he'd look like. He was just another one of Nate's rich friends (I mean, Max, Zach, Zeke (Justin) and Luke (Ernie) didn't even have personalities) so I never went very deep with him. So when the time to update him came, I kinda went all out. I did imagine him as being the shortest of the group, so he became very short. The other things just... came to me, when I started thinking about what Max would look like if he was real.
   In Rich's segment I mentioned that Max became his love interest mostly by process of elimination. However, the more time I spend thinking about them and their relationship, the deeper I fall in love with it. I think they work well together, especially after they get over the whole Max liking Ronnie and then thinking he's having an affair with Rich-thing. I should really write them more, I really enjoy their dynamic as a couple. I mean, they're my children after all.