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Your Favourite Character Creation

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Ashleigh
Active Ink Slinger
Of the stories or novels you have written (or are writing) tell us about your favourite character that you have created.

Who are they?
What inspired the character?
Why do you hold this character close to your heart?


If you aren't a writer, then tell us what type of character intrigues you when you read a story, and feel free to share some of your favourites.
ladysharon
Active Ink Slinger
That's a hard one. I would have to say my favorite character that was created was Chastity for a story that's going to be posted on here withing a few weeks or so, after I edit it . The short story/novella was labor of love for me and I think I did a great job on it.

www.szadventures.com
Louise
Active Ink Slinger
Who are they? - My lead character Lucy in my new series
She's based loosely on me but as soon as I gave her the characteristics she started writing herself. I want her to be flawed. In fact her fractaciousness is the reason I adore her. I also wanted to do an anti-detective novel. I don't want her to know how to do it. Her floundering is making her grow as a person and providing me with endless entertainment. I can't stop writing. I'm obsessed with it. The words are pouring out. I sat up until 2am last night because I was pondering what would happen to her next.I've never had this happen to me before. In fact I'm a lazy writer , I'll write a bit then not write anything for weeks or months.

What about you Ashleigh? You haven't posted your answer to this.
New Poem out

The Observer
sprite
Active Ink Slinger
Like Louise, i have a Lucy in my life. AND an Alice. AND like her, they are very much based on my own personality, or at least aspects of it. Lucy is kind of the girl i feel like most of the time - sort of blundering around life, insecure, not quite present and Alice is the girl i want to be, upbeat and very sure of herself, and yet very warm and loving. They are, in a way, my daughters, my flesh and blood. smile
Ashleigh
Active Ink Slinger
It's actually hard for me to choose what character I love most in my novel "American Lullaby." None of them are based on me (thank god! haha). But they have all come out of my twisted little mind.

Most of my characters are immediately flawed, and you slowly grow to love them or appreciate their complexities. I certainly did, as I wrote them, which was surprising to me. I wasn't expecting to like some of them and it kind of made me feel a little guilty to make bad things happen to them.

I'm probably most fond of my male protagonist Liam Sullivan. He is the charming, attractive, egotistical guy that would infuriate most women, although they would secretly probably find him quite intriguing. He's loosely based on a few people I've known (*cough cough*) over the years, and when you first meet him, he's certainly not the most loveable guy. As I continued writing the story, I found myself starting to like him more and more, and you end up seeing all of his redeeming qualities.

None of my characters are what they appear to be on first glance, so it's been an interesting challenge presenting them to the reader and then slowly surprising (or shocking) the reader as the plot progresses.

I do have to give a little shout-out to my canine character - an ugly English Mastiff named Hugo. He was actually directly inspired by the dog a guy I dated once had. He's the most immediately loveable character in my novel. Although as it turns out, he's hiding a dark secret too!
Lisa
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Ashleigh
Most of my characters are immediately flawed, and you slowly grow to love them or appreciate their complexities. I certainly did, as I wrote them, which was surprising to me. I wasn't expecting to like some of them and it kind of made me feel a little guilty to make bad things happen to them.


I love flawed characters, they're a lot more realistic and easier to relate to. Do you spend a lot of time deciding what your characters' flaws will be? Do you ever worry you might choose the wrong traits for your characters and make them into people the readers aren't able to warm to?
Ashleigh
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Lisa
Quote by Ashleigh
Most of my characters are immediately flawed, and you slowly grow to love them or appreciate their complexities. I certainly did, as I wrote them, which was surprising to me. I wasn't expecting to like some of them and it kind of made me feel a little guilty to make bad things happen to them.


I love flawed characters, they're a lot more realistic and easier to relate to. Do you spend a lot of time deciding what your characters' flaws will be? Do you ever worry you might choose the wrong traits for your characters and make them into people the readers aren't able to warm to?


I tend to draw a lot from real life when creating central characters. Those people that I know in real life always have flaws (or tendencies to flaws) so I tend to follow that lead. I want the flaws to be as realistic as possible.

I have had the concern that readers may not warm up to certain characters. I tend to enjoy stories with controversial on unconventional characters, but that is not the case with all readers. The entire "cast" is really meant to portray the concepts central to the overall themes of the story, and so they may tend to the extremes in certain cases.

Having said that, I do go out of my way (as the story progresses) to humanize the characters and give them more relatable and sympathetic traits.

But yeah... it's been on my mind since the beginning... are the characters too abrasive for readers to care about? If anyone is reading the story and has an opinion on this, be sure to let me know...
Lisa
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Ashleigh
Quote by Lisa
Quote by Ashleigh
Most of my characters are immediately flawed, and you slowly grow to love them or appreciate their complexities. I certainly did, as I wrote them, which was surprising to me. I wasn't expecting to like some of them and it kind of made me feel a little guilty to make bad things happen to them.


I love flawed characters, they're a lot more realistic and easier to relate to. Do you spend a lot of time deciding what your characters' flaws will be? Do you ever worry you might choose the wrong traits for your characters and make them into people the readers aren't able to warm to?


I tend to draw a lot from real life when creating central characters. Those people that I know in real life always have flaws (or tendencies to flaws) so I tend to follow that lead. I want the flaws to be as realistic as possible.

I have had the concern that readers may not warm up to certain characters. I tend to enjoy stories with controversial on unconventional characters, but that is not the case with all readers. The entire "cast" is really meant to portray the concepts central to the overall themes of the story, and so they may tend to the extremes in certain cases.

Having said that, I do go out of my way (as the story progresses) to humanize the characters and give them more relatable and sympathetic traits.

But yeah... it's been on my mind since the beginning... are the characters too abrasive for readers to care about? If anyone is reading the story and has an opinion on this, be sure to let me know...


I'm enjoying your characters. The way they interact with one another works well. You use some nice subtle little expressions and gestures that make them seem all the more real.
Ashleigh
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Lisa
Quote by Ashleigh
Quote by Lisa
Quote by Ashleigh
Most of my characters are immediately flawed, and you slowly grow to love them or appreciate their complexities. I certainly did, as I wrote them, which was surprising to me. I wasn't expecting to like some of them and it kind of made me feel a little guilty to make bad things happen to them.


I love flawed characters, they're a lot more realistic and easier to relate to. Do you spend a lot of time deciding what your characters' flaws will be? Do you ever worry you might choose the wrong traits for your characters and make them into people the readers aren't able to warm to?


I tend to draw a lot from real life when creating central characters. Those people that I know in real life always have flaws (or tendencies to flaws) so I tend to follow that lead. I want the flaws to be as realistic as possible.

I have had the concern that readers may not warm up to certain characters. I tend to enjoy stories with controversial on unconventional characters, but that is not the case with all readers. The entire "cast" is really meant to portray the concepts central to the overall themes of the story, and so they may tend to the extremes in certain cases.

Having said that, I do go out of my way (as the story progresses) to humanize the characters and give them more relatable and sympathetic traits.

But yeah... it's been on my mind since the beginning... are the characters too abrasive for readers to care about? If anyone is reading the story and has an opinion on this, be sure to let me know...


I'm enjoying your characters. The way they interact with one another works well. You use some nice subtle little expressions and gestures that make them seem all the more real.


Thank you, Lisa. Funny, but as I started writing this longer piece, the characters began to feel very real to me as well. With time, you can really fill in all the subtleties, and I think that's one of the most enjoyable things about writing a novel over a short story. It starts to become more personal, even to the writer.
Mark
Active Ink Slinger
As much as I love writing my amoral anti-hero Cassandra Vincent, I have to confess that writing the Leah Hargreaves character in "How I Met Your Mother" has been more interesting. She allows me the opportunity to reverse several stereotypes while trying to convey the internal conflict within her character, something that becomes more evident in parts three and four.

Although, I also have a couple of apocalyptic characters that are always a blast to write, but you can never sustain that level of comic-book supervillanry for too long before it starts to grate.
Yuzar
Rookie Scribe
Mine is one of the main protagonists of a story I plan to publish as a professional author. His name is Luka Alevaner.

Luka and his personality are inspired by the opposite of Shrek, as odd as it sounds; People assume Luka is a violent and evil monster simply because he is the same race as the evil vampires(The Faded). While Shrek hated the way people treated him, Luka treats it with apathy and sometimes even becomes amused by their ignorance. He refuses to feed on other vampires, despite his desire for the power it offers as he would eventually become a slave to the hunger and lose his own sanity. Each of his victims are offered a final request of their choosing, which he fulfills upon killing said victim. If he is unsuccessful in fulfilling the deed, he does not feed again until one month has passed(which is the average time span between meals for vampires) So in a sense, he spares 1 life. His main flaw is that, like all faded, he has a longing desire for power to make himself stronger. However, he tries to fight it so that he does not become a merciless killer like his brethren. Given the chance, he also prefers to kills humans he deems "dishonorable" or "corrupted". I would consider him an anti-hero as his nature does tend to make most of the other good characters dislike him and refuse to trust him.
Guest
Lurker
I'm editing an e-book I intend to publish in the next few months - 'Thinking of You'. It is a love/romance story set in the country.

Main character's name is Nicole Horscroft. She is caught in the middle of a love triangle between brothers who believe they are cousins.

Nicole's character, as are all the characters in the story, were based on life experiences of mine, my family and I even used my ancestral family name 'Horscroft' as the family name of the main character's family.

She begins as an immature natured character, very sheltered and protected by her two brothers, heiress of the family fortune - but there's a catch. She has to marry a man her father has 'sold' her to, in order to redeem the family estate. She is head strong, rebellious and has trust issues, not very many friends outside her immediate family and neighbouring farms. But when she is brutally hurt by her ex-fiancé, she discovers she has a strength she never knew she had.

She grows up mentally as a character and by the end of the book she is strong enough to make her own decisions, run a farm and say goodbye to the love of her life.

This story, like most of mine, are strangely enough inspired by music. I am one of those writers that can't think in a quiet room. I need emotional stimulation, and get that through music. Katy Perry's hit 'Thinking of you' was the inspiration behind the love theme of this story, as well as Rascal Flats, Tim McGraw and Plumb.

I was also personally going through a marriage break up and divorce at the time of writing the book, so I found a lot of useful energy right there.

If you'd like to check out some of my other work, follow the link in my profile to my blog (I'm not a blogger - I'm just not into journals - but I post info there about my work) or feel free to check out my facebook page by searching cowgirlbrumby for new releases.

Cheers
Lisa
Active Ink Slinger
Your story sounds interesting, Cg. I've always enjoyed romance novels.

I hope the editing goes well for you. As strange as it sounds that's my favourite part of the writing process!
Guest
Lurker
Thanks Lisa smile I normally know the ending of a story before I figure out the rest lol... Just decided to break the book into a 3 part series. Editing it is proving tougher than I thought, but I am enjoying the process.
Unknown User
My character Eris. She's the main character of a story I will post in the possible near future. She is a restless princess cursed with a powerful dark magic. I love her character because she never lets anyone control her and will get up into someones face to defend her rights as a person. What inspired me to characterize her this way was my sister and her reluctance to life and the name Eris is of the goddess of chaos. So being she has a wild outgoing personality fits with that name.
She is dear to me because she is probably the only one that doesn't get on my nerves after awhile. She too much fun and I feel sympathetic to her position in her life.