Monday, January 10, 2011

Let's Talk About Characters!

Okay, I just have to take a minute to say how SUPER excited I am to make my first official post for YAtopia. Like giddy excited...LOL

Second, I wanted to announce some of the winners from out launch last week! The winner of my contest for a 10.00 dollar gift card is.... JESSI E!

Wendy's contest winner is...ORCHID!

Leigh's contest winner is...LEXIE!

Congrats everyone!

Now... getting that out of the way, on with my post :)

I want to talk about characters. I've made no secret in the past that I am completely, 100% a character reader. I can handle almost any kind of plot as long as the author writes characters I can fall in love with. And I don't just mean boys I can swoon over because while that is nice...okay, maybe a little more than nice, a girl can always use a good swoon, I need to go deeper than that. I think that's part of the reason that I love those tortured heroes so much. I like looking deep into a character. Finding out what makes the tick, why they hurt, how the deal with it and I love, LOVE seeing them find a way out of it. I want inside their heads AND their hearts.

I think even those carefree boys have to have some substance to them. I still need to know why they are the way they are. I love to laugh with them, but I also want to see that emotional side too. I want to know everything about them and if an author can do a good job of that, I fall in love with them.

Though it might sound like it, it's not all about the boys either. Though I always say I have to like the female, but love the male, I also need a girl I can connect with on some level. I'm not saying we have to be alike or that if they were real, that I think we'd be BFFs or anything, but I have to know them. Even if I don't have their experiences, I need to have some clue what it's like to live in their skin. I need to know their head and hearts too.

That's what makes a book to me. The characters.

It's the same way for me when I'm writing. The majority of the time, one of the characters pops into my head first. With WHAT A BOY WANTS, the whole book started around Sebastian. I had the good looking, slightly cocky, sarcastic boy pop into my head and I needed a story to go around him. I wanted the book to be from his POV because his voice spoke SO loudly to me. As I picked around in his head, I realized though he was cocky, sarcastic and was a little girl obsessed, that he also was a great friend. That even though he gave his friends a hard time, there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for them. That he was a good son and wanted to protect his mom. Actually, he wanted to protect everyone he cared about. He might not always show those sides to him, but that makes the times they pop out all the more special, because it made him real. To me at least :).

Who are some of your favorite characters you've read or written and why? What is it about them that speaks to you?

31 comments:

  1. Have you read JR Ward? She's all about the tortured hero---I've fallen for her characters over and over again!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Morgan, I can answer for Kelley, haha - she loves JR Ward!
    I think her character "Z" is the best tortured hero ever. So hot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post here. I completely agree, I love my characters to have something there. You can't care about a guy who's just hot on the outside but has nothing else...okay, well, you can care a little I guess!

    So, one of my favourite swoon-worthy guys with a good about of substance would have to be Jace from The Mortal Instruments. Hot and tortured- perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMGoodness - yes 'Z'!!!

    Favourite character I've written is probably Leena Barclay. She's tough, smart, independent and smells a bit fishy (she's part mermaid).

    My favourite character of read is Jane Austen's Emma. I don't know what it is about ehr work that I am so drawn to, but Emma is a lot of fun and I adore how naive she is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my gosh!!!!!! Wendy, Sharon, & Kelley---finally people who know good literature, lol!! Most of my friends are the Oprah book club types--boring!! Hahaha ... Z is probably my fav too ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Morgan, every now and then I am in the mood for something deep, disturbing and depressing (aka an Oprah book club book). Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Morgan, OMG! I am in loooooove with Z and Rhage. Love the brothers.... Well, I love the first few books. Only like the others.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL, Wendy. You know me and my love of Z so well. Sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jenny, Jace is my favorite YA boy! LOL. Love him.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sharon, you know I've never read Jane Austen? *blushing*

    ReplyDelete
  11. Morgan and Wendy,
    NO Oprah books for me. I NEED an HEA. lol. But yes, I love Z. He will always be my favorite brother with Rhage coming in second. Do you guys read Lara Adrian's midnight Breeds, Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters or.... my ALL TIME FAVORITE adult vampire.... Bones from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series?

    These are adult books we're talking about :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh and I loved Justin from Harmonic Feedback. He was awesome. Not really tortured, but a great hero.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kelley: I've read some of Lara adrian, & I've read sherrilyn kenyon's whole dark hunter series! I love Ash! (sigh) ...

    Wendy: I just finished Edgar sawtell (Oprah book)--- hard for me to read from a dogs perspective, lol ...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Morgan, yes, I love Ash too. He will always be my fav. I also love Wren, Vane, and Kyrian. You should check out Janiene Frost.

    ReplyDelete
  15. As far as YA, I really like Will from Clockwork Angel, and Jem, too, but differently. I loved Po from Graceling, and Dimitri from Vampire Academy. Hm, I better stop now.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! I'm so glad to have won the gift card! Thank you! :)

    Also, I am massively in love with angsty boys with tortured souls! I mean, poor guy needs a hug. :) Your Sebastian sounds awesome!

    Some of my favorite tortured guys are those angsty ones - Jace from The Mortal Instruments, Will from Clockwork Angel, Derek from the Darkest Powers, and let's not even get started with Draco Malfoy ...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Draco, haha, she went there!
    Kelley's Sebastian is yum - loved him - hopefully the whole world can meet him someday soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Kelley: I'll check out janiene!

    Wendy: and since this is a YA blog (lol), yes! Gotta love Dimitri from VA!!! (and Adrian) I didn't click with the mortal instruments series ... :(

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have lent my mum the Brotherhood of the Blackdagger series as well as a stackload of YA books for while she's up on holidays. XD

    ReplyDelete
  20. I just read Matched and I love that Ky.
    Characters not ringing true is the number one reason I put down a book.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wendy, I LOVE Dimitri. But, I loved Adrian too. That was a hard one!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jessi, congrats! I will email you soon.

    I don't know what it was, but I couldn't get into Will. I am hoping the second book I will because usually he would be my kind of boy!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh, Jolene and I were just emailing and were talking about Conrad from the Pretty series by Jenny Han (so much love for these books). Conrad is such a tortured soul. He broke my heart. You KNOW he cared so deeply, but just couldn't express it. Sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Swoon worthy guys are only swoon worthy if I have some background on them. For example, St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss. He had all these family issues and I loved him more for it!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great post, Kelley! It has inspired a new story idea and for that, I cannot thank you enough.

    ReplyDelete
  26. First, let me say this "YAY!! Kelley, your first post!!!" and I have to agree, I am 100% character driven too.

    Characters that I have loved: Anne (Anne of Green Gables) Elizabeth (Pride & Prejudice) Katniss (Hunger Games)

    What I loved about them: They are each stubborn, strong-willed smart girls that have a sensitive side. I could relate to them.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I LOVE strong female characters you can relate to as well. Thanks for stopping by!

    And if everyone else hasn't gone to Girls in the Stacks, you MUST. They are lovely and SO funny.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'm the same way, if I don't like a character I have a hard time enjoying the book.
    I really like the books that feature a strong female character, which is why the majority of my favorite ones tend to be from fantasy books, but my favorite one at the moment is Karigan from the Green Rider series. ^_^

    ReplyDelete