I've always loved The Velveteen Rabbit and that idea of becoming "real." As a writer, I've always endeavored to make all my characters are "real" as I can. One of the biggest compliments a reader can give me is to tell me that they felt as if a character was a neighbor, a friend...they felt they were so real they could imagine that sort of connection.And it's not just that I want readers to fall in love with a hero, or want to be friends with a neighbor, but I want them to feel that connection with my secondary characters.
I wrote Nana Vancy for the Everything But...Series. In the first three books, she accidentally cursed her family to bad weddings. After she broke the curse in the last book, readers kept asking for more. So, Nana Vancy tried her hand at matchmaking (alas she wasn't very good at it LOL) in three more books. She found her calling matching dogs up with their real forever homes. And in that capacity she has had a few cameos since that last book. She showed up in Christmas in Cupid Falls and even in Carry Her Heart.
I was so thrilled this week to find out that Nana Vancy's first books, Everything But a Groom was included on Booklist's Top 101 Romances in the last 10 Years.
As a reader, do you have characters who've become "real" to you??
My first real crush was with a character from a number of Robert Heinlein's books, Lazarus Long. He was snarky, wore kilts and had red hair. What's not to love?
So how about you?
Holly
4 comments:
Doesn't every school girl fall for the idea of Mr. Darcy?
It's not that I don't love Mr. Darcy, too, but Lazarus was my guy. I mean, come on...he wears a kilt!! LOL
I love the characters like Nana Vancey. Even in classic stories, when I think of Anne of Green Gables, I think of Marilla; in Little Women, I remember Hannah who served and loved the Marches; in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, I think of Aunt Jane mourning her lost love. It almost makes me think we expose too much of our protagonists, because as a reader, I love digging deeper with secondary characters.
Okay, Holly, was that more than you wanted to know? :-)
Liz, That's exactly what I wanted to know! LOL And I love Marilla, too. And the rest. I actually use 'Anne with an E' for a character in These Three Words. Her husband is James and he introduces himself as James with an S. I thought of Anne of Green Gables every time I read his scenes.
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