Character Love

Corvid  wants you to know that I have the attention span of -- well -- maybe a kitten. I am easily amused, it seems. Therefore, when the conversation turns to which character has been my favorite to write, the answer is as easy as it is pathetic: Whoever I'm writing currently.

Maybe it's a remnant from the acting days where you inhabited one character, shook it off, and picked up another one, sometimes all in the same show. Or maybe it's just that I feel like it's necessary to fall a little bit in love with each character in the process of writing them. If I can't, who else is going to?

I have great fondness for characters in the midst of finding their power - especially when that power is in something utterly unknown to them. Edie thinks her great strength is in knowing how to blow stuff up, and to some extent, she's right, but her real strength is . . . oh. Right. I can't tell you that without screwing up the story.

The book I'm prepping to sub right now has a heroine who doesn't even know who she is. She doesn't know her own name, having been orphaned as a child and picked up to be reared by a circus troupe. She's out of her depth living in New Orleans at the start of the Civil War with a creeptastic foster mother. She thinks her power is her ability to overlooked. She's wrong.

Which of the two is my favorite? No clue. I'm working on both stories, so both characters take up space in my brain, which is part of that falling in love thing I mentioned earlier. Would it be a complete copout to say I love them both equally, just differently?

My Precious: Which Original Character is My Favorite?

Which character of mine is my favorite? You might think it's one of my protags since they're the stars of their respective series. I like 'em a lot, I do. Is either of them my favorite? Does either of them make me smile whenever they're on page? Does either of them warm a little spot in my black heart regardless of what I'm putting them through? Nah. That honor goes to one character. He's not always on page. He's rarely the star of a scene; yet whenever he's involved, he somehow manages to steal the spotlight.

Gurp the Goblin from the Immortal Spy series.

Loyal sidekick to the commander of the Berserker battalion. Majordomo of the compound. Architect, engineer, logistics coordinator, home designer, living forensics lab, and bottomless trashcan. His favorite snacks are explosives, preferably dragon-made grenades. English isn't his first language nor is it the one with which he is most comfortable, but he does his best to speak it in order to be inclusive. He's a caretaker who knows one's needs better than the person in need, and he doesn't exploit that knowledge. No. He simply delivers, sometimes with subtlety and sometimes with great aplomb. He's a friend to outcasts and orphans. He's pure heart and endless compassion despite a society that reviles him due to his race. He's not a looker by common standards with his mottled greenish-brown skin, potbelly, and large wart upon his bulbous nose. His flatulence can outstink a terrified skunk. Oh, but there is no one more beautiful in intention and deed. He's not ashamed to be afraid, which makes his acts of bravery even more commendable. He both fears and adores the protagonist of the series...

I could go on and on about my favorite character, but I have a chapter to write, one in which Gurp makes an appearance. Now you know how much I enjoy writing those scenes.

Jeffe Confesses Her Favorite Character

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Your favorite character to have written and why."

I hate these kinds of questions, I really do.

I DON'T KNOW, OKAY??

Truly, I totally get why readers are interested in my favorites - I'm often interested in hearing from my favorite authors which books or characters of theirs are their favorites. Even better, I *love* hearing from my readers which characters they love best, and why. Maybe because I write a variety of personalities, backgrounds, and life paths, who readers pick as their favorite tells me a lot about how they see the world.

For me, though, the big secret is that ALL of my POV characters represent some aspect of me. I don't think I could write them otherwise. So, while they carry flaws of my own, they also get to live the lives I don't - like wielding actual magic or shapeshifting, or being a man! Some of my characters  definitely have more of me than others - but that doesn't necessarily make them my favorite.


All of my characters are my favorites for their particular story and journey. I notice I also tend to favor whoever I've written about recently.

So, in mulling this, a few characters do pop up as the ones I have strong feelings for. Thus, if you're forcing me to pick...

I'm going to say Ursula. I don't know if I can say exactly why, except that I truly love her. I think part of why Harlan is a vivid hero for so many is because he loves Ursula so completely, and that reflects my feelings. I love her sense of responsibility and honor, that she's so determined to protect everyone, that she's intelligent, clever, and a skilled warrior. She has depths of emotion, of vulnerability and deep love that she hides behind a thick wall. And she's always trying to do better, to be a better person, queen, partner, and sister.

There we are. I believe I've convinced myself!

Now, reward me for my thrashing and tell me YOUR favorite :D