Character Love

I’ve got a confession- I love my characters.

Now this really shouldn’t come as a shock, after all- I created them.

But this is different. I just finished reading a SF novel- pretty dang good one too- and I realized I liked my SF character better than the one I was reading about. Actually, my thought was that Vas (my SF character) could sooooooooooo kick this character’s butt.

LOL- it might seem odd to think about which fictitious tough ass female character would win in a fight. But it was a fun thought. Now I don’t like just tough characters, but if something on the front of the book (or even inside) states that this is one tough chica- then she better be tough.
And I was very entertained that MY tough chica was far tougher than the other author’s “tough” chica. To be honest, even though they said she was tough, she really didn’t demonstrate it much. Vas, on the other hand, comes out swinging and doesn't stop.

That lead to the fact that I really do love my characters and not just because I created them. I like them in the same way I would some of my favorite characters written by other authors. I love that my women characters are actually tough (each in their own way) and it’s not the author simply telling you they are tough. My gals don’t need a guy- guys are fun, and often very handy, but my girls can all take care of themselves if need be. The guy compliments who they are, but they don’t need to complete them.

And my toughest, Captain Vaslisha Tor Dain, could probably beat any literary character that didn’t have super human powers (and possibly a few of those as well). Now obviously, there’s more to her (and the others) than just an insane level of kick-assed-ness. They screw up, sometimes they fall, sometimes they cry.

But they get back up and get right back into where they need to be.

This insight lead to another- I feel satisfied, REALLY satisfied, in the fact that I’ve written these books. As in if they don’t get published I won’t feel I wasted my time type of satisfied.

This is a really cool feeling.

I know many folks (me included) sometimes say, “even if I don’t get published I’m still going to write.” This is true, but some part of me still felt it would almost be a waste if any or all of my books didn’t make it.

Now I’m ok. It’s changed the way I’m thinking about my upcoming “Agent Search 2011”. I don’t feel as worried and panicky. It’s a really nice feeling and I hope it stays.

How about you- how do you feel about you characters? About other folks characters?