C: Creative Characters

Remember my B when I talked about bettering your writing? Well, today I’m going to look at a couple creative characters I’ve run across in my readings that have helped me in my writings.

No character picture so I guess this will have to do.

The Raven from… um… The Raven

This is one of my absolute favorite books. So… yeah, I’ve read it a couple times before. It’s newer, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from it. On the contrary, my friend, we can learn from everything. 😉

Okay yeah. The Raven has a real name, Tyson, and is also known as Marv L Deasy (say that out loud and see if you get it. :D), but I think the Raven just sounds cooler. The main thing I learned from the Raven was that your character can be dorky, and even dorkily in love, yet still have a harsh backstory and be an interesting main character. Even with his dorkiness, the Raven managed to pick a fight with the Ukranian mob, lose to it (but kind of win to it), and be the second main character of the story and the semi-hero. I also learned that I also learned that the guy does not always have to get the girl.

Katniss, on the other hand, is so everywhere that I’ve even seen her in my college pyschology textbooks.

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games

I remember the first time I saw a Hunger Games movie was when the first one came on Netflix. You know the beginning scene… Katniss hurries to comfort the crying Prim… Dad and I glanced at each other, thought “oh boy, this movie is going to turn out to be stupid” and turned it off. XDD Then my friend urged me to read the books. I read them all. Dad and I ended up seeing both the Mockingjays in the theater.

The main thing I learned from Katniss was that you can create a naive, yet powerful character. You have to be careful with this, however. Notice how in all the books/movies, she seems to be maneuvered by Snow, or Coin, or Plutarch, yet she seems to be defiantly in control? She is in charge, and yet she isn’t. It’s a tricky balancing act for a writer, but I think it created dynamic character and story that is quite interesting to follow along. Just think of it… what would Katniss be without Snow or Coin? Who would she be? What would she be doing? Certainly not leading a rebellion or being a symbol. Yet her strength is what won the people over, both in Panem and in our world.

Again no character pic. 😦

Catman from Winnie the Horse Gentler: Wild Thing

This was the book series that had me counting Dandi Daley Mackall among my favorite authors. It’s also the book that started me on my horse-obsessed writings. And also the series that Wild Thing came from, the book that I decided to write a script for because I loved it so much and figured that therefore there had to be a movie about it. Haha. (*checks* I still have it. Oh dear.)

Anyways. We’re talking about Catman. Of course, Catman isn’t his real name. It’s just the name he goes by… which is part of the character quirks I like about him. He loves cats. That’s kind of a duh. But the main thing I learned from him is that… side characters, characters without the spotlight, can still be important. Winnie’s family would have moved if Catman wasn’t there to be interested in her dad’s inventions and to encourage him to stay. She never would have had the courage to take Wild Thing/Nickers to the auction if it weren’t for him and Baker. And you know what? Catman’s actually kind of weird. But that’s okay. He doesn’t take away Winnie’s spotlight.

Click to see my review

Miss Fonda/Dory

I’m pretty sure you all know where I’m going with this… but still. I have to say it. Miss Fonda/Dory both have a slight mental problem. Dory has short term memory loss and Miss Fonda from dementia. Looking back over their stories, I don’t think that they would be the same without them. For example, in Murder Is No Accident without Miss Fonda’s mental time traveling, there wouldn’t have been a plot to read about. Without Dory’s short-term memory loss, imagine the different scenes that would be in both Finding Nemo and Finding Dory!

I know you all have other blogs to check out, so I’ll stop there. Thank you all for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed it! Watch out for wooden nickels.  😉

What character have you learned the most from?