Characters we love

If there’s one thing we love in a good story, it’s a character that we can relate to.  I’m primarily a character based author, that is, my characters are what drive the story.  They are what makes the plot happen.  How they react to things?  Yeah, that’s where the story really is.  

I’ve been reading other author’s works as well.  If there’s one thing I love, it’s characters that you want to cheer for.  When that character is masterfully written and turns out to be the bad guy, you’re left holding the book at the end and wondering how you missed it.  When the author lets the character go out in such a way that they try and redeem themselves, now, that’s an emotional ending.  It can stay with us for days, sometimes much longer even.

I’m not there yet, but I will be one day.  Mind you, as I tend to write more erotica, I don’t usually get my characters into those situations.  Then again, as a Young Adult author, I might.  It gives me something to strive for.  Having these role models to show me how it’s done, well, that’s why we read other books.  Inspiration, ideas, and a master class in writing, sometimes.

I have some characters that I love, and putting them through everything is hard, but it lets the characters grow.  Stressing them lets them show you who they really are.  I’ve heard the saying that adversity doesn’t create character, it uncovers it.  I think that’s true.  It’s what makes a story compelling, so we don’t want to put it down.  

Some of my favourite exercises during the writing courses were on writing characters and developing them.  It’s great practice for my stories.  Mind you, there’s nothing like seeing how the character evolves over the pages of a novel to make you feel like you have a new best friend.

Go and play with some characters.  See how they do when you throw things at them.  Do they handle it well?  Find out!