Hello! I have returned. And if you guessed that I would have 220 queries waiting for me, you would be both correct and psychic.
Needless to say, since I have about 100 non-query e-mails to attend to, query responses will be a bit delayed until further notice.
A quick You Tell Me for Wednesday, which was originally suggested by Dylan Ford, and partially inspired by The Atlasphere, which is in part an Ayn Rand fan dating site.
Fictional characters possess all of the power of real people when it comes to influencing and changing lives. So the question: what fictional characters have most affected you? Who has changed your personality, worldview, and/or ethics?
I just remembered The Princess and Curdie. Curdie climbed to the top of a tower where his Godmother hunched over a fire of rose petals. She told Curdie to put his hands in the flames and ever after, when he shook someone's hand he could feel the kind of animal the person was. serpent, fox etc. I read that when I was very small and often, still, when I shake a stranger's hand I imagine I can feel their character.
Mira: On the bright side, you have a COMPLETED manuscript. Kudos! Really, that’s huge. It takes a lot of devotion to find your way to the end of a manuscript. Not that I would know, I’m still floundering somewhere in the middle of mine. Anyhoo, I suggest capping off your day-o-chocolate with a chocolate martini. Num num 🙂
Anyone reading "The Outlander" or Diana Gabaldons five subsequent novels in the series becomes convinced that James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Frazier is as real as their next door neighbor. Claire is a great character too, but Jamie is real.
For the strangest reason, Anna Karenina was the first one that popped into my head. Man, that was a good book. Man, did that chick irritate me! Tolstoy could write like all get out, but he had woman issues, I think.
Verification word:
Upperann. That which debut novelists DO NOT have.
Bobby Sue from Ode to Billy Joe. She turned her silence into her strength. Very unique story.
Harry Potter.
Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Voldemort, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Dumbledore.
I started reading Harry Potter when I was seven, when I loathed reading, and had since read them seventeen times each, when I love reading and wish to write books. Harry Potter showed me a love of books and fictional people – I can think of no greater influence on my life than that.
"Of course it is happening inside your head…but why on earth shoud that mean that it is not real?"
Very much like books.
What a cruel choice to have to make. Put it this way, the character I have never forgotten is what has been called "Shakespeare's loveliest heroine"- Helen, from what is known as one of "the dark comedies", named so because something doesn't quite fit- Alls Well that Ends Well. I admire her, for all the wrong reasons as I certainly would not have gone to such great lengths to get my man… It's a paradox, just as the peculiarity of the play is and I guess that's what I find so intriguing.
She isn't a literary character, but Utena Tenjou from Shojou Kakumei Utena has shaped my very being and how I write my stories. Her ultimate goal at first is to become a prince who saves princesses, like the prince she remembers from her dreams. As time passes, she finds that the princess who needs saving most is Anthy, the 'rose bride'. And through Anthy, Utena begins to seek the power to revolutionize the world. She overcomes many obstacles, such as Touga, who wishes to make her simply a princess, the Black Rose Duelists who wish to destroy Anthy (and ultimately destroy the power to revolutionize the world), Akio who wishes to use Anthy's power for himself, and Utena herself, struggling to overcome her own adolescence.
Anita Blake.Before picking up Circus of the Damned I had never known that women,fictional or real, could be so angry, so strong and so ,well, cool. And at the young age I couldn't help but thing " Wow ,I want to be like that."
I was changed by "Little Lulu." I read the comic books as a child and her days made me feel that life could be filled with fantasy, mystery, and adventure.
One for the Dark Is Rising here – the character of Hawking, and Edmund from Narnia along with him. Not for their admirable qualities, but for their flaws. They first set in me the idea that good people, people who love, can do awful things, and that people who do awful things can redeem themselves, or if they cannot redeem themselves, can still have good in them. They gave me an enduring love of shades of grey and, from their betrayals, made me prize loyalty.
I'll also add another vote for Utena from Shoujo Kakumei Utena.
For me, a lot of characters change me. First one to do so(in a HUGE way) was Ebba Rose from East, by Edith Pattou. That was the first book that I read of my own free will and liked, and it was huge, too!(or seemed to be, when most books I read were less than 100 pages at the time)
Since then, here are some other characters:
Tamora Pierces' characters, Alanna, Alianna, both Thom's in 2 of her stories, Sandry, Tres, Daja, Briar, Kel, Neil, Beka Cooper, and more. They mostly changed me in small ways, making me a little braver, a little happier, ect.
Erin Hunter's characters: Firestar, Sandstorm, Leafpool, Squirrelflight, and Cinderpelt, along with many others, who all would make my heart break and put it back together again.
from Ellen Hopkins books, Raeanne and Kayleigh, who helped me see how messed up life can be, Pattyn Von Stratten, who changed me the same was as Raeanne and Kayleigh, among with others.
mostly Twilight characters. Probably Edward, because after I read twilight, I yearn for a love like he and Bella share. It hurts, actually. No one is like Edward, which kinda sucks. Other than him, Jacob, because he's so sweet, like a puppy, among with others. and Zoey Redbird from the House of Night series, because before I read it, I despised any and all cheaters, but now…I kinda get where at least some of them are going, though it's still unacceptable to me. There are many others, but this is already long enough…
louis benfield, in pearson's "a short history of a small place"
Nancy Drew, Holden Caulfield and David Copperfield
When a child- King Arthur/Merlin/Gandalf- serving the good while kicking @$$.
When I was 13- Pony Boy from The Outsiders. No gangs in my life, but there was plenty of messed-up stuff all the same. Also, the main characters in "My Side of the Mountain" and "The Hatchet"/"The River".
Finally, Jack Burden- the "brass-bound idealist"(HEAVY sarcasm) in All the King's Men(and yes, I know it's only quasi-fictional).
The Doctor (from Doctor Who, of course). I know it's not a book, but he's one of the richest characters I've had the pleasure of discovering. He's tormented and lonely, but always contains the angst and focuses on the good. He's a member of a race of vastly superior beings, yet he doesn't condescend to humans, rather he extols all that makes them spectacular while not tolerating the worse qualities of human nature. He never stops running, traveling, saving people, and learning. Always discovering and learning. This is why The Doctor is my greatest fictional role model and has changed the way I look at the world. =)
Holden Caufield was the first that taught me that you didn't have to really love the protagonist to enjoy the story and I find myself, now, writing characters that I don't necessarily adore, but are extremely interested in. I also love(d) Paul Sheldon, in King's Misery. Because althought through most of the book you completely feel for him and hope he gets the hell out of Annie's house, you're not quite sure you would have done what he did to make that happen. The side bar comment about how other people can ruin someone's art is interesting as well. Thanks for the brain poking.
Ignatius J. Reilly. Pyloric valve and all.
Ahab.
Clay from "Thirteen Reasons Why"-Jay Asher…
Richard from "The Beach"- Alex Garland…
Macy from "The Truth About Forever"- Sarah Dessen…
Guy Montag from "Farenheit 451"- Ray Bradbury…
Holden Caulfield, John the Savage (Brave New World), Winston Smith and Meursault (The Stranger) have to be the most influential.
Not necessarily the best influences, but nevertheless. My potential protagonist in my plot so far contains a lot of those influences also.
After all, every now and then we wonder why we're alive, and the point of it all, if there is one.
Lestat….Interview With A Vampire.
I would have to say Lestat De LionCourt from interview with the vampire and the Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. He can see both the good and bad in the world but even though he is considered a monster he still has though he most likely would not admit to it holds on to much more of his humanity then most humans in real life.