13 Links about Characters and Characterization

This month at Beyond the Veil we've been posting about characters. Here's a quick round-up:

1) We started out with Xakara talking about Character Crushes (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/characters-welcome-and-readers-too.html)  and she kindly included photos of Michael Shanks, Vin Diesel and Nathan Fillion.

2) Then from A. Catherine Noon, we had an analysis of characters from several science fiction franchises (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/characters-i-love.html).

3) Sela Carsen ackled mythological characters (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/characters-from-mythology.html)  and archetypes, encouraging us to look around as less common mythologies for story research.

4) Characters who cause conflicting emotions (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/characters-you-love-to-hateor-hate-to.html)  were the topic of Carolan Ivey's post--a prime example being Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series.

5) Amy/AC Ruttan talked to us a little bit about a favorite historical character, Boudicca (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/most-memorable.html),  the spelling of which I had to check several times because nothing looked right.

6) Bianca D'Arc talked about how she is turning HERSELF into a steampunk character (http://paranormalauthors.blogspot.com/2011/08/convention-time-again.html)  for a conference.

7) I am going to continue the listmania I've already started by sharing some links to writerly articles about characterization or characters. First, from my own blog, here is the first entry that came up when I typed in characterization that wasn't one of Meankitty's interviews: http://blog.jodywallace.com/2011/06/whats-up-with-larry.html  This short article is an examination of the character of "Larry" from the Young MC song "Bust A Move". Yes, characterization can occur in works of fiction as short as songs and poems! Let's just say it's succinct characterization (as long as you're not J. Alfred Prufrock).

8) Here's some tips about making character's lovable: http://www.netplaces.com/writing-a-romance-novel/the-nuts-and-bolts-of-characterization/making-characters-lovable.htm

9) Here is a list of deaf characters in romantic fiction: http://www.myshelf.com/deaf/romance.htm  which is more than a little awesome.

10) Author Gabi Stevens talks about writing romance novel protagonists: http://gabistevens.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-write-romance-novel-characters.html

11) A slightly older essay from Jennie Crusie about learning tricks from television to use in your romance fiction, including for characterization: http://www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/the-five-things-ive-learned-about-writing-romance-from-tv/

12) For some snarkier fun (yes, snarkier than Crusie!), here's a look at historical male character (stereotypes) from a website called Literary Dilettantes: http://literarydilettantes.com/2011/03/15/deconstructing-the-romance-novel-characters-edition-part-2/

13) Last but not least -- because (nearly) every character needs a name, here's some character naming tips from Anne Marble with a special section for speculative romance authors: http://www.writing-world.com/romance/names.shtml

It's in character for me to do a Thursday Thirteen at the last minute but I'm actually posting this on Wednesday night! That's slightly OOC (editorial shorthand for out of character) for me but I put not one but 3 reminders on my computer this week so I wouldn’t forget.

Happy reading!

Jody Wallace
So much cyberspace, so little time!
www.jodywallace.com  / www.meankitty.com