Monday, April 14, 2014

L is for Love

L is for Love. Love for the written word. Love for stories and books. How can I forget the love we feel for characters; both the ones we write and the ones other writers create. I get so attached to some characters when I am reading books that I cry when I read their death scenes.

I fell in love with Dumbledore and Dobby in the Potter books. I made the pages wet when both Dumbledore and Dobby died. 

When I read The fault in our stars, I fell in love with both the characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus “Gus” Waters. Every time Hazel and Gus suffered I cried.

I feel that it’s my love for my characters that sees me scared to put them in trouble. I also hope that I create characters readers fall in love with and identify with.

Do you have any characters that you love to the sense of completely identifying with them? Do you love your own characters to the point of making things easy for them?

Note: this is my post for the A to Z Challenge. My theme is Emotions and Feelings writers experience.


24 comments:

  1. Well I don't think I make things easy for them but I love seeing how they develop and cope with what I throw at them. Proud of those guys!

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  2. Love for characters in every shade is a natural thing, Rachna and sometimes I feel that it is even around:)

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  3. Love Dumbledore and Dobby too. I fall in love with many characters in really good books and am sad when the series ends and I can't be part of their lives anymore.

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  4. I like my characters a lot, but I have no qualms about throwing them in harm's way.

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  5. I'm not a fiction writer, but as a reader I do love characters and am saddened when they disappoint me. Pete Marino in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell is a prime example.

    Wendy at Jollett Etc.

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  6. I do have to really force myself to make things difficult for my characters. Loving our characters is necessary, though, because if we don't, chances are no one else will either. But then we have to love them enough to be willing to stand back and let them trip their way through life. I am your newest follower, as of this moment. :-)
    Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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  7. I didn't realize how much I loved Dumbledore until I started stalking dummbledoreisnotdead.com. Daily.

    Hurting those we love is hard, but necessary sometimes.

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  8. I love all the characters I write about, and a few years ago, I realized I was over-protective of them. In recent years I've gotten better at putting them through their paces.

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  9. I recently killed off one of my characters, and writing about the pain experienced by those left behind broke my heart!

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  10. There's nothing better than finding characters you love that much. :)

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  11. That's why they call it killing your darlings- it wouldn't be worthwhile if we didn't love them.

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  12. This is the love that makes me first and foremost a reader. At first it did make it hard to put my own characters in tight situations, but luckily, (being a reader first) I understood that no one (not even me) would read a "safe" book.

    Now I love my characters even more when they find the strength to grow and overcome the challenges they face.

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  13. Hi friends, I am slowly learning to put my characters in hot water. That way their stories will be more interesting to the readers. No letting them have an easy time. I can always get them out of trouble later.

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  14. I love the characters I wrote in my debut novel. The MC is based on my son, so it was hard to put him through difficult times. But it was worth it!

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  15. Dumbledore and Dobby...sigh...I cried for them too :(

    I suppose I fall in love with my characters as well, but I'm trying my very best not to make things too easy for them as my writing evolves. It's hard though!

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  16. I love books where the characters feel so real that I think if I look up from the page, they'll be standing right there. Although, I don't really want that to happen with some of the scarier characters I encounter. :)

    Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
    Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
    The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

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  17. It's all about love. =) Yes, I love my characters, like crazy, and yes I still have a hard time torturing them, but it must be done.

    It's hard to bring me to tears, but there have been a couple stories that pulled it off. Odd Thomas was one that really got me. EPIC. So beautiful.

    True Heroes from A to Z

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  18. I always fall for the miserable character who hates everything. I wonder why...

    mood
    Moody Writing

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  19. I haven't read The Fault in Our Stars yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It's in line behind a bunch of other books I have to read first!

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  20. We always hurt the ones we love---and that tends to be true especially for those who write crime fiction. We put our characters in outrageous predicaments, injure them, and finally drag them to safety. Not a very nice kind of love....

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  21. I don't know if I love my characters, but I do empathize with them

    Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  22. Hi Rachna,

    To feel love for the story, the characters just shows the impact the written word can have. To identify, to feel part of the story, is something a great writer can instil.

    I just love my characters. Although I'm actually a fictional character created by a dog.

    Gary :)

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  23. Love is a strong and appropriate word for books and characters.

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  24. I loved the movies. Daughter has read each book a couple of times and keeps trying to get me to read them. That looks like an awful lot of reading to me. Don't know that I want to invest that much time in reading a genre I don't write.

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