Top 10 Literary Crushes
Published February 25th, 2009 | 
Over at Publisher Weekly’s Shelftalker’s blog, a question is posed: Who are your literary crushes? It’s actually a fascinating question and one I’ve never given serious conscious thought to until now.
But, for whatever it’s worth, here are my top ten (at least the ones that come to mind) in no particular order of importance:
1. Madame de Tourvel from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Truthfully, I think this has less to do with the novel and more to do with Michelle Pfeiffer who played this character in the film version. I simply cannot think of this novel now without seeing Ms. Pfeiffer’s fine self.
2. Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair. Despite the fact that she is manipulative and untrustworthy (and more than likely a whore), it’s hard to remain immune to her charms and intelligence. And because her actions cost her more than she gains, she is not a wholly unsympathetic character.
3. Belle from Blue Belle . This beautiful yet tragic stripper, victim and child of incest, and love interest to Andrew Vachss’ hero, Burke, Belle ranks as the most memorable character in one of the strongest novels in the Burke series.
4. Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Intelligent, sociable and loves to read — what’s not to like?
5. Sissy Hankshaw from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Sexy, adventurous and oh, those thumbs!
6. Becky Thatcher from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Just because I read this book in the sixth grade and there was this new girl in my classroom I had a crush on and Becky reminded me of her.
7. Emily Webb from Our Town. What can I say? She’s the girl-next-door type and she helped George with his homework.
8. Kitty Fane from The Painted Veil. Although she starts out as an indecent and shallow person, Kitty kind of grew on me.
9. Jude from Kiss Me, Judas. One of the best bad girls in contemporary American fiction.
10. Hester Pryne from The Scarlett Letter. Hell, I just plain admired Hester. Evil, sadistic husband. Cowardly lover. Judgemental townpeople. Yet, she was a survivor.
So that’s my list. What’s yours?
Gotta Have Character
Published January 24th, 2009 | When I consider the subject of fiction writing — especially writing fiction novels, I am of the mind that creating a believable, interesting protagonist is half the battle. Many writers start with a plot and think about character second, but I find this to be restrictive. For instance plot gives you your setting and once you have a plot and a setting, you are obligated to people your story with characters that fit that setting. It’s harder to flesh-out a character once a plot and setting have been firmly established because the characters have to fit into the mold. Think about this in terms of novels that rely on a formulaic plot like medical thrillers penned by doctor-turned-author, Robin Cook. His characters are all pretty much the same because his novels are plot-based rather than character driven. If you’ve read one Cook novel, you’ve read them all. His books don’t feature characters, but character types. Same with Danielle Steele novels or most any writer of popular fiction that follows a well-trod plot formula.
With a character-driven story, however, one starts with a strong character and builds the fictional world around that character. Once you’ve built the character and put meat on the bones, fleshed-out their history, flaws, strengths, etc. you have options available to create an original story that you don’t have when you begin your story with a plot formula. For instance, let’s say you’re character is a bus driver. Let’s say that he’s in his early fifties, recently widowed, kids grown and living out-of-state, alone, drinks too much and gambles. What kind of story could you create with such a character?
Consider that if you had started with the plot of a legal thriller or techno-thriller, your protagonist wouldn’t likely be a loney bus driver with multiple vices. If you started your story with a plot formula ripped from a John Grisham or Tom Clancy novel, your guy would have to be a lawyer, or some member of the Intelligence/law enforcement/military community. Fred the bus driver wouldn’t be the recommended choice for such a story. But, if you start with Fred, the bus driver, who’s to say you couldn’t write a thriller of some kind? Fred’s a guy with possibility. Being a bus driver he could enounter many kinds of people and situations during his day that could cause him to get sucked into a world that’s outside his normal experience. Fred is a gambler and a drinker too — where does he do his drinking and gambling? What trouble could he find himself getting into in those places and how would he get out of that situation given what you know about Fred? Maybe Fred’s a secret serial killer. The point is, if you write about Fred long enough, some kind of story will emerge — one that is original and unexpected, one that doesn’t require you to fit a peg into a hole.
