Okay, Blogger's not letting me comment on Rebecca's blog, so I'm going to do it here, just to let her know about the problem.
Rebecca's question for the day: what characters do you love to write? She also asked some other questions, and hit upon a few things, so check out her blog! Another question was . . .
Are they a part of you, or just something you like to try on for an hour?
For me, as I've previously written, I live somewhat vicariously through my characters. My characters often do things that I wish I had done. There's a part of me in every character I write - good, evil, on the edge, a margarita drinking gladiator, or whatever. I don't think I could create a character, no matter how outlandish, and not have a part of me in the character.
My good friend Suzi once asked me: how much of you is in Jared? My response: there's a little bit of me in Jared and every character I create. Jared's the main character in Margarita Nights, btw.
What people do you love to write and why?
Ooooh, that's a great question. I normally write fairly stable (just like me) characters that are down to earth and perhaps a bit snarky (not that I'm that way, not at all, surely not, never). I don't have fairy godmothers (okay, ones with magic wands and all that jazz, give me a break) in my stories to fix the characters problems. The characters must make their own decisions, and deal with the consequences of those decisions. I love to write about characters whose perception of themselves is suddenly changed, and who must dig deep to figure out which path in the road they must take. I don't give my characters easy outs. There's not a shotgun handy when an alligator chases them up a tree. They must figure their own way to safety.
I also love to write about evil characters, though I have a tendency to explain why their evil - a broken heart, jilted at the altar, caught their husband in bed with another woman/man, and all that jazz. I delve beneath the surface, because, sometimes, the surface doesn't tell you crap about a person.
Well, that's it for this brief post, really in response to Rebecca's comments not working. I definitely didn't want her to think that people (me in particular) weren't interested in her blog or commenting. I was, I am, and if Blogger hadn't had some quirk today, my comments would have appeared on her Blog. I'm just saying . . .
S
5 comments:
Thanks, Scott! *shakes a fist at Blogger*
I appreciate the commenty love :).
I love to describe my evil characters...however I have a hard time with admitting just how evil they are. I hate being naughty. I'm such a dork :)
I love to create the evil ones. Bwa ha ha ha ha! They're simply wicked!! Yeah! Then to have them get what's comin' to them is wonderful!
Hmm, I love them the most. The good character in my novel is fun to write too. But the naughty one is simply outrageous!
These are really great replies to Rebecca's questions, and I have to agree about putting a little of yourself in your characters. I think it slips in no matter what. Great post!!
Robyn - I wonder if we have more fun writing the naughty characters because they normally get to do absolutelyl everything they want to do, without second thoughts or guilt . . . like after I finished off the entire container of chocolate ice cream the other night and blamed it on the dog!!!! Trust me, Frank blames missing food on the dogs and cats all the time.
B.J. - there's always a little bit of the writer in each character, but I think there are often times bits and pieces of people they know in their writing as well.
Marybeth - my normal dilemma with the evil characters is always trying to justify why they're evil in the first place. Can't somebody just be evil because they're evil without some childhood psychological trauma that warped them?
Rebecca - didn't want you thinking nobody was paying attention to your blog. I still can't get the comments to work, btw, but will check it out on another computer tonight!
S
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