My literary heroes...Day 2 BEdA

It has been well established how much I enjoy reading but I thought I would talk about those characters that have truly resonated with me throughout my life. The problem with this idea is that there are so many characters that have inspired me that I will have to limit myself to the top five that really stand out to me.

Jo March (Little Women - Louisa May Alcott)
Although I was more like Beth I always loved Jo. She was feisty, strong willed and the first 'tomboy' character that I read about. I was also glad that she didn't end up with Laurie. They were too much alike and would have indulged each others bad points more than their good qualities. The Professor was a better match. Anyway, Jo was a writer, a day dreamer and far too head strong for her own good. (Which kind of sounds like me now...) She faced adversity and was prone to jealously. In my mind she was a well rounded character with faults that I could easily identify with.

Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card)
Ender was somewhat of an inspiration to me. He made it okay for kids to be intelligent. I know that this sounds rather strange but here was a young boy who is forced into a situation that he really doesn't want to be in and he makes the most of it. He had to grow up very quickly in a 'war time' scenario and, even though he doesn't sound like a kid he still has vulnerabilities that make him human. He appeared to be quick to adapt to situations but he was just a child. I could go on and on but I really cannot do him justice in trying to explain why he is a hero of mine.

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins)
I just finished re-reading this series and, once again, found myself admiring this character. Similar to Ender, Katniss is a young girl who is thrown into a dangerous game where her life is at stake. What makes her stand out is a similar theme for me. She has doubts, she is not perfect. Occasionally she can be selfish or jealous or angry. She feels emotions and isn't perfect, which makes her real. Plus, like Jo March, she is fiercely independent and relies on herself to survive a lot of the time.

Matilda (Matilda - Roald Dahl)
There are so many great characters that Dahl created and it is hard for me to narrow them down so I pretty  much just chose the first one that popped into my mind. She is somewhat appropriate for this list as she is a reader, intelligent and, once again, plopped into an unfair situation from which she lets her true spirit shine through. Plus, she is funny. Because of how she was raised by her parents (and I use the term parents loosely) she develops an unique set of morals and ethics.

Shadow (American Gods - Neil Gaiman)
I have the feeling that Shadow is an odd addition to this list. He is the only 'adult' character in the list but there was something about the way he held himself and his entire journey that just seemed to stand out in my mind. He has attributes that I wished I had; namely the ability to stay quiet when needed. I have never been accused of being laconic although I wish I had. He appears to take everything in stride, which is something I wish I could do as well. Shadow is also a very complex character in my mind. He is difficult to describe and somewhat difficult to understand but he is a great character as well.

Now, this is a very short list and as I have been writing it I have a dozens of other characters demanding my attention in my head. It is amazing how writing about this great characters reminds me of many books that I haven't thought of in a long time.

I hope you have enjoyed this short list. (Maybe lists of five may be my theme...who knows.)

Peace and pancakes to everyone.

Holding out for a hero...?

When I was but a wee slip of a girl I had many role models, people who I looked up too in a near obsessive way. My mum can tell you stories and, this may or may not surprise you, many of these people were not celebrities. I recall doing a project on Marie Curie when I was in primary school and on Mary Anning. Dr Jack Horner was another such role model. (Further proof of my impending geekiness...) Sure, there were some singers/songwriters who were my inspirations but when I became a bit older it was writers such as Tamora Pierce and Stephen King.

Even now I still find people that I admire - Neil Gaiman, John Green and his brother Hank (who is awesome, btw!) I also admire strong characters from my favourite books and shows. KayLee from Firefly. Angela, Hodgins and Temperance from Bones. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. These are just a few.

Anyway, I do not like many of the so called 'role models' that people have these days. In my mind a role model is someone who you aspire to and you hope that your actions echo their choices and decisions.The end result is that, in having a role model, you can make yourself a better person. With that being said, I find it more than a little alarming that there are so many bad role models out there. This is not just a jab at those in the celebrity world because, although many may complain about being a role model, they have put themselves out there. Though I can't see what kind of role models that Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton are and I'm not going to apologise for not seeing them as positive role models.

Now, before you think I'm just standing on my soap box doing my little rant I would like to point out that what I think may not be what you think or believe. What I feel strongly about, however, is that we do need more positive role models in our lives who are complex and not just some airbrushed ideal that is plastered on a poster. How can we expect our children to grow up idolising such things as Bratz Dolls or other gender stereotyping figures be they male or female.

I am not saying that celebrities are all bad role models as there are some very positive role models in the acting world and this goes for authors as well but I'm going to leave that alone.

After all this rambling, my main point for this blog came about when I was trying to focus on a new character for a novel that I am currently working on while waiting to send my draft off to the publishers to see if there are any bites. I was writing about this female character and I suddenly found myself obsessing over how I portrayed her as I wanted her to be someone that readers would admire but I didn't want her to be perfect, basically, I didn't want to create a Mary Sue. This lead me to thinking what my favourite authors would do and how they create such vivid characters that I admire. They have flaws, like real people, and they have emotions, like real people...I hope you get where I am going with this because there is so much that I would like to say about the idea of role models but I don't want to end up making this into some self righteous blog where everything I say is set in concrete.

To finish up I would like to say that having role models is an important thing but choosing the right role model will always be up to you. For all my writing I cannot make you like my favourite role models and I wouldn't want you to like something just because I like it. What I would hope is that you find someone you admire and use them as a guide - and, just because I don't particularly like someone doesn't mean that you should stop liking them.

Anyway,I'd love to know who you admire? Or what kind of character traits you think are good, bad or ugly?

Peace and pancakes all...

P.S. I promise to get this blog proper sorted out as soon as I know what I'm really doing...I apologise for it being a little wonky...

Good fantasy books...aka Neil Gaiman is my idol...

So, as I have been told by many, to be able to write you must read a lot. And, I do. I love urban fantasy, high fantasy, science fiction, crime and other general fiction and I am always on the look out for another good author.

As I want to write an urban fantasy novel I try to read up on a lot of different ideas and I have just started getting into steampunk fiction but am not really sure where to start with that. So, if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Yet, I have to admit I love reading anything by Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere was the first of his novels that I read and I can't get enough of it. It's such a work of brilliance. The whole idea of being able to disappear into a world that interacts with our own but is still really different. I used to have daydreams about stuff like that. I probably still do but that's a different story.

And then I read American Gods and too this day I really want to go on a road trip across the States just soaking in the plethora of unique culture that you cannot find anywhere else. The way that Gaiman writes his characters makes them so interesting. They are not your typical heroes and I love that. Shadow seems like a interesting character, he's not the smartest of people but he's not dumb. He knows what he's good at and he readily accepts his mistakes. Not many real people can claim that much.

And Gaiman's short stories give of the same ideas. They are so unique and I have all his books and I swear I have bought Neverwhere as a present at least eight times...

Anyway, if you can reccommend any other good books or authors please let me know.

Until next time...

Novel Word Count - still planning...and packing