Character

came to a bit of a realization today.

last month i mentioned how i was going to make a female main character who wasn't just a damsel in distress? yes? well, over the past 20+ days I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking about this story to the point where it has kind of almost taken over my life! (not to be dramatic or anything O.o)

No, but seriously, this thing has become about so much more than just one girl. for starters, there's a power-hungry supercomputer, a soulful Head of Security (aka torture), a handful of corrupt military men (and women), a newly recruited young man in way over his head, a notorious assassin in a ginger cat suit, a society caught in a struggle to survive in a slow threat to collapse, a young woman who wants to save it, and a young man who just wants to play the piano....

but anyway. my realization. i was sitting in my college's campus center, looking out the window, half-watching the snow fall and blow around, and half-spacing out, and this idea just kind of crept up on me.... first i was telling myself (again) how i wanted to make this story seem real (even if it does take place 100 yrs or so in the future and under a slightly different society), i wanted the characters to seem real, ya know? like, memorable. but then this time i thought: what makes a good character memorable? what is it about those guys that, even if you've seen the movie/read the book a MILLION times you still cry and cry and cry? what is it about them that breaks your heart?

and then i got it: they're human. imperfect. emotional. irrational. in other words, they are us. they're like us. we cry because we empathize with them. our hearts break with theirs. so, to make my story crazy awesome amazing i don't just need to think up characters--pawns that i can shuffle and ideas i can rearrange--but i need to create humans. i have to think up legitimate people with legitimate flaws!

(laugh if you will if this seems obvious to you, but i thought it twas a fantabulous epiphany. so there! XP)

Damsels

Today while lazying around my home, on vacation and yet half wishing i was back at school so at least i wouldn't be so bored, i really got to working on this new idea i had for a novel.

(For those who don't know me, i've been an aspiring writer since 5th grade--aka approximately 8 years now. scary thought...)

The other day i ran out of books to read (i long ago read all the books in the local library and my personal collection is temporarily stunted since being a poor college student i can only afford so many new books), and i got to thinking about my favorite books, my favorite characters, and why they were my favorites. And what i realized was that nine times out of ten my favorite character is also a male character. Usually (or at least in the books i've read), the female characters, whether protagonist or supporting, annoy the hell out of me. They complain, worry, fantasize, and are overtly irrational and unbelievably hormonal and dramatic. Its ridiculous. There's just too many damsels in distress for my taste. And when they aren't, there's no growth. i mean, COME ON. For the story to be worth telling, your character needs to GROW. ANY writer knows THAT.

So. i decided to create a likable female character. Or, rather, a more human, less ditzy female character.

Enter Vanessa.

19 years old, stuck between adolescence and womanhood (whatever that IS anyway), she's the subtle black sheep of her family, of her time period. You see, after World War III--a heinous outbreak of atomic bombs and general human stupidity--only about half the world was left, and only about a quarter of the population. As you can imagine, there also weren't many resources--but there was technology. Now, in a world slowly being overtaken by technology that's also falling apart, can Vanessa find her way, her purpose in life? Or is she and the human race doomed to be consumed by their own mistakes?

Sounds good, right? Trust me, i've got it like all outlined in my head and DAMN is it exciting! i can't wait to write it! it just seems so daunting, ya know? But i'm gonna finish this one. i have to. or i'd be letting you guys out there down. You guys deserve to have the option to read this story. i mean, of course, assuming you'd want to that is.....