Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Traits of Compelling Characters

First, our winner of WHEN ROSE WAKES!

Congrats to E.J! EJ, watch your inbox.

Also, don't forget you can enter the Banned Books Giveaway til 11.59 pm EST tomorrow.

The fabulastic Sarah Enni is giving away a signed copy of Mockingjay.

Okay, Elana held a blogfest on compelling characters. My mind, being the slippery thing that is, I totally forgot. Apologies Elana. But I'm here now, 2 days late, and 2 yen short. Or something. :)

I can't scientifically list what makes characters work. So here's a list of characters I'm drawn to and why I'm drawn to them.

The character that's just like you.

No, I'm not gorgeous, nor am I a fashionista, but I identify with Serena van der Woodsen from Gossip Girls. I'm pretty notorious for my bad decisions and to my mind the best way to solve a problem is still to hop on a plane.

The character who makes everything bad, totally sexy.

He's Chuck Bass. Need I say more.

The character you're supposed to hate, but secretly root for.

He starts out as an evil character. But then we see why he's driven to do what he is. Soon he begins to question what's wrong and right, instead of just doing what he must. And I just couldn't help but cheer for him. (Zukko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.)

The character who makes you wish you had a time machine.

Hannah Baker made me want to reach into the book and hug her. I wanted to make all her problems go away.

The character who's a complete twatfur, but who you have to back anyway.

You know the type- klutz good guy. Mr. Bean, that dude from Get Smart. Adorably idiotic.

The One you wish you were.

For me it's Bianca from the Duff. I wish I was tough like her.

The bada$$

This guy (or gal) is so bad, you want to apologise for watching their movies or reading their books. Just in case they take offence and whup yo' a$$. This is also the one who makes you try running up a wall, only to almost dislocate your hip. Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris characters are also in this group.

The one that you've considered marrying even though they're fictional.

Swoon. Legolas. It's not just that Orlando Bloom is sexy- and he totally is. Legolas is just my Prince Charming. Gentle, yet strong. Wise and understanding... Yeah, swoon.

What kinds of characters pull you in?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

All of those characters pull me in as well. They have their good points and their bad. That's why we relate because we all have good and bad. Great post.

CD

Abby Stevens said...

Ah, I love Lara Croft! I really like strong, flawed female characters like Scarlett O'Hara. Pretty much any character JKR has created is amazing. And I really like seemingly 'weak' characters who, in some way, actually turn out to be the strongest of them all.

Marsha Sigman said...

I AM LARA CROFT! Ok, not really.
I would marry Aragorn from LOTR. And I would hang out with Fred and George Weasley in Harry Potter.

I would also like to say that your comment on my blog yesterday made me fall over laughing. You cannot measure the importance of a space.

Unknown said...

I won!!! I won???? I never win! *Doing happy dance*

ann foxlee said...

Ooh, I love the broken ones that secretly have a heart of gold, and just need the right person to understand them... sigh....