I remember reading in Donald Maas' Writing the Breakout Novel the best characters are often larger than life; I just happened across one today in Heather Dixon's Entwined. Lord Teddie, (full name Lord Edward Albert Hemly Haftenravenscher) is bouncy, loving, determined, and laughable. He makes me think of The Scarlet Pimpernel in his delicate language--artsy, sometimes absurd. Check out part of a letter he wrote to the king, pleading for his daughter's hand:"I'm in agony now, hoping that my steward will convince you. If not I think I'll break all the windows in the house and drown myself in a bucket."
At one point, toward the end of the book when he offered up a piece of nonsensical advice, I laughed out loud for several seconds. He uses words like "rum" and "plucky," and spouts phrases like, "rippingly ripping" and "I say!" When a princess locked him in a closet, instead of growing angry, he agreed with the younger, more hopeful girls that he had indeed been trapped in a butterfly forest, and he would love to stay.
So pick up Entwined if you would like to fall in love with a larger than life (even secondary) character. I know I did!
How about you? Come across any larger than life characters today?
Did you know that Heather Dixon is a college friend of Mr. Graham's? They were both in the animation program together. If you've never read her blog, I recommend it--it is a hilarious mix of storytelling and art. http://story-monster.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI loved Lord Teddie! He was a great character. :)
ReplyDeleteJulie, no I had no idea your Mr. Graham knows her. She seems so mature in her writing--I half wondered if she was a bit older. But I guess not! And thank you for the blog URL. I spent several minutes trying to find her online today and came up empty.
ReplyDeleteLeishaMaw. Yes. Yes, yes, yes!
Another book for my enormous "To Read" list.
ReplyDeleteMary: Your reviews and responses to movies and books are SO wonderful, more bloggers need to read them!! This book does sound delightful. I'll have to see if I can find it in the library.
ReplyDeleteI just read the poignant comment you left on my recent post--about your brother's twins. Some people do struggle so very much in this life. But they love the autistic child so much, and love is what it's about. My daughter's youngest son--for a while they thought he had high functioning autism, he had so many of the symptoms. But he's now ten, and they think he just has some learning disabilities. In so many ways he is brilliant. I think Rain Man.
Yes, I was really excited about my rankings on Amazon, whatever they mean! And we ARE friends--I hope forever!!
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets
I wish I could tackle all of mine, Kate. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ann. I hate the idea of writing something mundane. I got my copy from the library, so hopefully you'll luck out.