Hey! Where did he come from?!

18077 Views 175 Replies 26 Participants Last post by mamiller, Sep 22, 2010

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · May 25, 2009

After reading and posting on Edward's thread on Snippets, and after looking at the other threads, I see that authors seem to have one thing in common: They love their characters. I thought maybe that we should have a thread that we use to talk about our characters, you know, tell everyone about our favorite characters, the ones that make us tick and talk about how they evolved, or where they came from. I have had a number of readers ask me how I came up with so and so or such and such and I'm always just overflowing with the answers, overjoyed at the chance to talk about my knights and their ladies and my villains and other characters, especially the fairies, sorcerers (esses) and such. So what do you think? Want to say something about your leading ladies, guys, creatures or whatever? I'd say we should try to keep them sized to about the size of the posting window if possible so we don't get carried away. I can't wait to see what comes up. Happy Reading! Happy Writing! And Happy whatever else you might be doing!

41 - 60 of 176 Posts

Greg Banks

· #41 · May 28, 2009

Because I am a short story writer, primarily (at least up to now) I have a lot of stories and a lot of characters, so I have different favorites for different reasons. One of my favorite is Molly, a secondary character from the short story "Touched," from my Phoenix Tales short story collection. She's just so cute and blunt and sincere and real that I just want to rip her out of the pages and adopt her.

Meredith Sinclair

· #42 · May 28, 2009

Greg Banks said:
Because I am a short story writer, primarily (at least up to now) I have a lot of stories and a lot of characters, so I have different favorites for different reasons. One of my favorite is Molly, a secondary character from the short story "Touched," from my Phoenix Tales short story collection. She's just so cute and blunt and sincere and real that I just want to rip her out of the pages and adopt her.

Really, and you wrote her?

Hmmmmmmm.... seems like you should adopt her! I mean it's pretty sad that you created her and leave her all closed-up in a book all day!

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #43 · May 28, 2009

Meredith Sinclair said:
Really, and you wrote her? Hmmmmmmm.... seems like you should adopt her! I mean it's pretty sad that you created her and leave her all closed-up in a book all day!

I know what you and Greg are talking about concerning this topic. I, too, have had the desire to rip some of my characters from the pages of my books... but not to adopt them... just rip them out.
Thanks for posting Greg! I'm honored to have you in my humble little thread. Brendan

Edward C. Patterson

· #44 · May 29, 2009

My favorite character is Philp Flaxen, the protagonist in Turning Idolater. He's somewhat of an Oliver Twist character. I fact, Turning Idolater owes a great deal to Dickens and Melville. Philip has been disowned by his Brooklyn family for being gay, and is rooming in a tenement in Manhattan with his friend, Sprakie, who has showed Philip how to earn his living stripping on the Internet. However, Philip is smitten, by a book — Melville's Moby Dick, a volume that a trick gave in lieu of payment, and Philip now yearns for something better. And he finds it in an older man - a writer, and throughout the story this tainted innocent is drawn though the needs and wants of others and through serial murder mysteries and the ups and downs of love, until he realizes his jounrney has elevated him along the heroes' path and he joins the world of the survivng and the saved. No other character in my canon has ever sat beside me, whispered in my ear or touched my soul like Philip Flaxen. He lives in me and in all of us. I hope that each reader of Turning Idolater takes Philip's special voyage, because "it's time to go to sea," and whaling is a bloody business.

Edward C. Patterson

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Thumper

· #45 · May 29, 2009

edwpat said:
My favorite character is Philp Flaxen, the protagonist in Turning Idolater.

Ok, now I have high expectations...I started reading this last night.
High. Very high.

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #46 · May 30, 2009

edwpat said:
My favorite character is Philp Flaxen, the protagonist in Turning Idolater. He's somewhat of an Oliver Twist character. I fact, Turning Idolater owes a great deal to Dickens and Melville. Philip has been disowned by his Brooklyn family for being gay, and is rooming in a tenement in Manhattan with his friend, Sprakie, who has showed Philip how to earn his living stripping on the Internet. However, Philip is smitten, by a book - Melville's Moby Dick, a volume that a trick gave in lieu of payment, and Philip now yearns for something better.
Edward C. Patterson

Thankyou for posting. I have a wierd childhood memory of Moby Dick. I saw the classic movie when I was about six years old and I had nightmares about it for years. I can still see poor Captain Ahab's arm waving back and forth as the whale swam off into the distance $:-\$ . I was horrified.

So when I got older I read the book several times. Was it Gregory Peck? Certainly, I have been smitten by a number of Books capitol B for classic.

Particularly Tom Jones by Henry Fielding and the works of Wolfgang von Geothe.

Edward C. Patterson

· #47 · May 30, 2009

Moby Dick is really misunderstood. Most people regard it as a literary dinosaur, but it is a literary classic and unique. Melville had no formal training, except to be a whaler, and his acclaim to fame was in his travel novels Typee and Omoo, which both detailed his own experiences. He strove to write brilliantly and worshiped the ground that Nathaniel Hawthorne waled on, and even showed up in Salem to see the man (who refused to see him). Moby Dick has been called "The Great American Novel," but it was never successful in Melville's lifetime. It's prose has a poetic sweep that is incredible, but it is uniquely indulgent. Where else can you find a chapter in the literary cannon devoted to a description of the color "white." Melville ended his life selling tickets on the New York Central Railway. He was estranged from his family. (He was homosexual, somewhat in the closet, but certainly came out in his books, particularly in Moby Dick, explicitly in Redburn and wonderfully in Billy Budd). Moby Dick finally became "The Great American Novel," when his wife needed money and sold the rights posthumously. The ironic thing is, it is one of the greatest novels of any age in the English language because it invents itself as it spills over the margins. Moby Dick's importance lies less in the retribution theme of Ahab and the salvation theme of Ismael. It lies in the groundbreaking use of language — leading edge and universal.

Edward C. Patterson

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Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #48 · May 30, 2009

edwpat said:
Moby Dick is really misunderstood. Most people regard it as a literary dinosaur, but it is a literary classic and unique. Moby Dick's importance lies less in the retribution theme of Ahab and the salvation theme of Ismael. It lies in the groundbreaking use of language - leading edge and universal.

Edward C. Patterson

Thanks for the insight on Moby Dick. I never knew any of that and it's quite fascinating. I liked reading from the perspective of a whaler, which I will never actually be, of course. It's like watching Ice Road Truckers or Deadliest Catch. Fascinating viewpoints. Brendan

Meredith Sinclair

· #49 · May 30, 2009

Speaking of characters... BRENDON! WHY

do you make your fairy creatures

sooooo....DUMB.... you are actually making me MAD! Bart is NOT that STOOPID.... seriously, you continue to have them tricked by people! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I want to throw.... no, I can't do that but still, please tell me that you WILL make them PREVAIL.... eventually

...

:'(

I like fairies, my daughter writes about them, does her research on them, and she would be VERY upset that her friends are portrayed as

IDIOTS

! But seriously, I DO love the book, just not RIGHT THIS MINUTE!! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!

By the way, I am on book 10 I think, "Genesis 6.5" so don't tell me anything that will mess this up for me... just....

Carolyn Kephart

· #50 · May 30, 2009

edwpat said:
Moby Dick is really misunderstood. Most people regard it as a literary dinosaur, but it is a literary classic and unique.

Edward C. Patterson

I can't count the times I've tried to read MD and set it aside. Just no patience for it yet; it's the Finnegans Wake of its day. I'm saving it for my old age, when I can give it the time it deserves, along with the later works of Henry James (it floored me to learn that HJ dictated 'The Golden Bowl')...and, when my brain cells are giving their last twitches, Finnegans Wake.

CK

HollyChristine

· #51 · May 30, 2009

I'm really enjoying this thread! My novel is The Nine Lives of Clemenza.

Clemenza is my protagonist and the inspiration for her came from my dog. Seriously. She's crazy, manipulative, sweet, selfish, affectionate, loud, angry and soft. She amazes us and we constantly say to each other, "Now why on EARTH would she do that?" She ate through the wall in our bedroom when she was a puppy, completely consuming the cable cord and all of its components. For awhile, we were terrified that she would turn Terminator on us. My husband and I are TERRIBLE dog trainers. She runs our house, but I really wouldn't have it any other way! In the book, Clemenza has nine lives and takes the form of air, the Northern Lights, cancer, etc, so all of these characteristics were able to come to life in the book. I had to do a chapter where she chooses to become a dog... it's one of the last chapters, so I think that was my way of answering our questions regarding her behavior. She was also the cause of the creation of the book. She likes to stick her head over every book that I read, sticking the pages in between her teeth like floss, so I was forced to read in the tub for sometime... and that was where the idea began. The sink faucet was dripping and I thought, how terrible it would be to be that one drop of water and your only glimpse of human life was me in the tub and a dog with a staring problem! I'm still waiting for Clemenza to ask for royalties...

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Meredith Sinclair

· #52 · May 30, 2009

HollyChristine said:
I'm really enjoying this thread! My novel is The Nine Lives of Clemenza.

so I was forced to read in the tub for sometime... and that was where the idea began. The sink faucet was dripping and I thought, how terrible it would be to be that one drop of water and your only glimpse of human life was me in the tub and a dog with a staring problem! I'm still waiting for Clemenza to ask for royalties...

HEY! I read in the tub too... but it is to get away from the world altogether

... I think your book sounds VERY intriguing, I love stuff like this! I've read a lot of NDE books including the one where the children talk about their glimpses of Heaven... wonderful read. I do love fiction and Love to hear how others come up with their ideas for their books. Great Post! And Welcome to KB!

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #53 · May 31, 2009

Meredith Sinclair said:
Speaking of characters... BRENDON! WHY do you make your fairy creatures

sooooo....DUMB.... you are actually making me MAD! Bart is NOT that STOOPID.... seriously, you continue to have them tricked by people! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I want to throw.... no, I can't do that but still, please tell me that you WILL make them PREVAIL.... eventually

... I like fairies, my daughter writes about them, does her research on them, and she would be VERY upset that her friends are portrayed as

IDIOTS

! But seriously, I DO love the book, just not RIGHT THIS MINUTE!! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! By the way, I am on book 10 I think, "Genesis 6.5" so don't tell me anything that will mess this up for me... just....

Alrighty, then. Well, not all of them are

dummies

. In fact, many of them

know everything

... or much more than the humans do. Bart is not

dumb

, he's just

cautious and slow

. $:-\$ I mean, he practices winking for twenty years. What do you think about that? I love writing for him. Bart's a fun character to write for.

Edward C. Patterson

· #54 · May 31, 2009

I do believe in Fairies. I do believe in faiies."

Edward C. Patterson
aka Tinkerbelle

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #55 · Jun 2, 2009

edwpat said:
I do believe in Fairies. I do believe in faiies."

Edward C. Patterson
aka Tinkerbelle

Looks like you were typing fast and on the fly (pardon the pun). I actually spell the word faery or faeries in my books using the lesser known spelling used by Wise Women, Wiccans and students of the occult sciences... i.e. sorcerers, warlocks and suchlike. Faeries or creatures of the Fae Folk or Wee Folk as they are called in the Celtic countries refer to a number of fascinating creatures that I never tire of writing for.

They come in two basic flavors called the "Seelie Court"

and the "Unseelie Court"

. Evil faeries make up the Unseelie Court and include baneful creatures, who are best left alone if encountered in the wild. The Seelie Court is comprised of human-friendly faeries like the common Leprechaun or House Brownie. I have a prominent character in the later novels called Paddy Puffingtowne who is a Clurichaun, which is a distant relative of the Leprechaun fae. Just don't make a mistake and call Paddy a Leprechaun or else you might hurt his feelings and he'll chase after you with his walking stick!

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Edward C. Patterson

· #56 · Jun 2, 2009

Why sir, when it comes to a literary referenc, I believe in Faerie, as in Tolkien's theory of fantasy writing.

Sometime I miss a letter. Fat fingers and blind in one eye.

Edward C. Patterson

mamiller

· #57 · Jun 2, 2009

I actually enjoy writing about a pair of characters. Cooper Littlefield and Harriet Morgan--the proverbial 'bookends' at O'Flanagan's Inn. Their verbal jousting amused me enough to write a sequel to WIDOW'S TALE just so I could revisit the eccentric duo.

And Tinkerbell, you have some of the most unique characters....

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #58 · Jun 2, 2009

edwpat said:
Why sir, when it comes to a literary referenc, I believe in Faerie, as in Tolkien's theory of fantasy writing.

Sometime I miss a letter. Fat fingers and blind in one eye.

Edward C. Patterson

OMG! Are you really? I'm legally blind in one eye and have often considered how dashing I might be if I wore a patch over it. In fact, I just wrote to Mamiller about it! LOL.

Rocky coast, stormy night, dark beer... you know?

Uh, oh look down there... speak of the devil!

Edward C. Patterson

· #59 · Jun 2, 2009

It's the Glaucoma, my friend. In The Jade Owl I have a charcter who is a one eyed Cherokee Indian (I'm Cherokee too).

He's a landscape painter, what else.

Edward C. Patterson

Brenda Carroll

Discussion Starter · #60 · Jun 2, 2009

edwpat said:
It's the Glaucoma, my friend. In The Jade Owl I have a charcter who is a one eyed Cherokee Indian (I'm Cherokee too). He's a landscape painter, what else.

Edward C. Patterson

Seriously, Edward, I was thinking that our native Americans are really descended from the Chinese or Mongolian races that migrated across the Bering Strait, so maybe it is your distant Chinese connection that caused you to write about China? One of the best novels I ever read was about a minor Chinese diplomat set in one of the historical dynasties. Of course, I don't remember the name of it... :-[

:-[

I loved that book. I should like your book as well. I'm fascinated with ancient history. My dad says he has a Cherokee connection somewhere in his history. They are the "Civilized People", right?

41 - 60 of 176 Posts

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