Your favorite character

heyjude · Feb 19, 2009

Tell me about your favorite character (in your own work). Not necessarily your Main Character (although it could be), but the one you have the most fun writing.

I love my MCs, but there is a spotlight-stealing character named Joshie in the WIP I'm editing right now who is just fun. He's bad and creepy and he wants to do bad things to my female MC. He's so deliciously evil. He's only in two or three scenes, but there's something about him... He may have to get his own book.

Your turn.

Feidb · Feb 19, 2009

Joseph "Detach" Datchuk, the MC from my Gold series. Detach is the most fun, though his two sidekicks, Vladimir Perchenskaya and Elroy Jones are a hoot also.

heyjude · Feb 19, 2009

More please. What makes them fun?

SirOtter · Feb 19, 2009

Valdemar Soltiescu, my recurring vampire. So deliciously evil, arrogant and hedonistic, but with enough common sense to occasionally do the right thing for the wrong reasons, when it suits his purposes. There's more than a touch of Rupert of Hentzau from The Prisoner of Zenda in him.

TheIT · Feb 19, 2009

I'm sensing a theme here. Does everyone have the most fun writing the villains?

For sheer enjoyment, I'd have to nominate Noftic as one of my favorite characters to write in my fantasy world. Noftic's magical ability is the ability to erase magic, and that affects everything about him. He's hedonistic, will try anything simply for the experience, has no sense of embarassment, and is completely amoral. He's generally truthful (why lie when the truth provokes people plenty?), and delights in pointing out all those uncomfortable truths that most people would not discuss in polite conversation.

From a writer's perspective, Noftic makes a great catalyst. He lives to upset the status quo, and he's an excellent counterpoint to my MC, Gideon. I posted a piece with both characters for one of last year's SF/F challenges. One person commented that he's in need of punching.

deserata · Feb 19, 2009

I'm not at all surprised that we go for the villains/morally ambiguous ones.

That said, I like my Irish ex-gangster, Cy Mahoney.

He's a great foil for my detective, and the scenes taking place at his bar are the funnest to write. He adds color to the story. He's a strong personality, and facetious and all that, but he's also a sympathetic/tragic character.

For a few months I completely ignored my MC because I was so fixated on his personal story. He was fun to figure out, and he has everything to do with the plot and the development of my detective...the novel just wouldn't work without him.

Feidb · Feb 20, 2009

Detach is the most fun for me because he not only reflects a lot of my personality, but is capable of doing stuff I could never do.

I only have fun with a villain if they are over the top. If they are just a foil, I still like them, but don't have as much fun with them unless they are "wild and crazy" guys or gals. Unfortunately, that doesn't always fit with the genre.

heyjude · Feb 20, 2009

SirOtter said:
but with enough common sense to occasionally do the right thing for the wrong reasons, when it suits his purposes.

That's good stuff! I can see whole worlds opening up with that...

heyjude · Feb 20, 2009

esuna said:
I'm not at all surprised that we go for the villains/morally ambiguous ones.

That said, I like my Irish ex-gangster, Cy Mahoney. He's a great foil for my detective, and the scenes taking place at his bar are the funnest to write. He adds color to the story. He's a strong personality, and facetious and all that, but he's also a sympathetic/tragic character.

For a few months I completely ignored my MC because I was so fixated on his personal story. He was fun to figure out, and he has everything to do with the plot and the development of my detective...the novel just wouldn't work without him.

Cy needs his own book!

Clair Dickson · Feb 20, 2009

I'd have to say my favorite character is my MC, Bo Fexler. She's smart and sexy and gets what she wants (most of the time.) She also gets some of the best lines and I love getting to write all the snarky things she says and thinks. (Things that I only get to think to myself.)

She's the femme fatale in the detective's role. She may or may not do the "Right" or even the legal thing, but she will solve her case. She's a little prideful and, even though she's hot, she's rather self-conscious about what people think about HER (as opposed to how she *looks*). She's also dreadfully afraid of letting people get close to her... even being friends is sometimes too close.

Yes, I love my MC. For me, that makes her easier to write since I like her and her narrative so much. =)

SirOtter · Feb 20, 2009

heyjude said:
That's good stuff! I can see whole worlds opening up with that...

Thanks! His primary adversary, Wilmer Jensen, is almost as much fun to write. Wilmer is a combination of G-8, Indiana Jones, the Continental Op, James Bond, Ashenden, Jules de Grandin without the Hercule Poirot affectations, a couple others. WWI flying ace, circus acrobat, secret agent, private eye, bodyguard, government assassin, ghost hunter, he had his hand in every war and black op in the first half of the 20th Century. He and Valdemar worked together against the Nazis in Russia and during the Cold War against the Communists in Rumania; more often, they did their level best to eliminate each other. Wilmer led a crack team into Fortress Europa to steal magical artifacts from under Hitler's nose, then spearheaded the Supernatural Investigations Bureau for decades. Fun stuff, pitting them against each other.

SirOtter · Feb 20, 2009

BTW, there's a Wilmer Jensen tale coming up in the next issue of Dark Corridor, available sometime this spring from Main Enterprises:
http://www.mainenterprises.ecrater.com/

Here's a review of a non-Wilmer tale in the second issue, now on sale:
http://www.midnightfiction.com/reviews/reviews_scifi.htm

My story is 'Plastic Jesus'. Nice review, nicht wahr?

heyjude · Feb 22, 2009

Excellent review, SirOtter!

SirOtter · Feb 22, 2009

heyjude said:
Excellent review, SirOtter!

Thanks, Jude. Now, everyone, please to purchase many copies, for I have two kids in college.

Allie · Feb 26, 2009

My favorite character is a bereaved widow (oddly enough also with the last name of Mahoney... sorry esua) who was having an affair with a mental challenged man and shooting all the flowers she got with a shotgun. She even brings her lover to her husband's funeral. She was fun to write.

jubileerocker · Feb 26, 2009

Willa, my main character's best friend, she makes me feel like someone I can talk to

Fade · Feb 26, 2009

esuna said:
I'm not at all surprised that we go for the villains/morally ambiguous ones.

My favorite character is actually the second nicest character in my book because he changed half-way through.

He started out as an angry, sullen teenager who hated the world, but then he became nicer and nobler after befriending the MC (a kid his age who'd escaped from a government compound after being turned into a mutant).

Also, Jubilee, what makes Willa special?

emc07 · Feb 26, 2009

Great question.

One of my favorite characters in my WIP is Greg. He's the brother of the MC. He's rude, says all the wrong things and he is a hornball; always hitting on all the witnesses. He's a dutiful brother always helping his sister. Most times he does more harm than good.

I find myself laughing a lot when I write about him. I need to add something to him though, doesn't really feel complete.

pandora_6666 · Mar 1, 2009

Hands down it's Verchiel. He's a vampire who is.. well, I don't know if he's a villain or a good guy, LOL! But he's a lot of fun. He was actually just meant to die - he and another vamp were supposed to get killed by my leading man, but then V was too funny to kill. He's so sarcastic and flippant. My MC half hates him and my leading man definitely does, but V seems to eat that up and really enjoy that they dislike him, LOL! I think he's gonna end up being a good guy when it's all said and done.

Did i mention he is also egotistical? He thinks he needs his own book - which he does not

JBWebber · Mar 3, 2009

Its a tie for me in my current WIP. My MC Nico Tinas, he's a man with a shady past who gained an (albeit warped) moral compass. He hates pretty much everyone and does things his way which tends to make him enemies even behind friendly lines. And his secretary who started as a temp but Nico warms to quickly. Her name is Melody and she is a neveau goth with a bubble-gum pop voice. To see her in person is to see Vlad's wanna be modern lover, but to Call Nico Investigations you'd swear she was a little blonde cheerleader who just youtubed a Simple Life marathon.
I like the dynamic that has grown between these two, and find myself laughing when the two share a scene.

heyjude · Jul 7, 2009

Now that I'm on a new WIP I have a new favorite. She's fairly peripheral right now, but her name is Jessica and she's my MC's love interest's ex-wife. She's one of those "perfect" women... you know the kind. Hair in perfect springy curls, always dressed just so, flawless complexion. She's quite the contrast to my slightly out-of-control MC, who has never met a woman who can compete with her before and isn't sure how to handle it. Oh, and of course now that the man has a new woman in his life (my MC), Jessica is jealous. She's going to make trouble.

How about you? Anyone new in your life--uh, book--that's a scene stealer?

Repartee · Jul 7, 2009

Donny Williams. Bad boy extrodinaire. He's a good-old fashioned American gangster who does a little pro kidnapping on the side. I just love him. He's a blast to write.

I write crime, so technically everyone is bad, but he's so good, it's hard to tell he's bad sometimes. Until I remember he's got my other MC, Fay, tied to a chair in the other room. I keep making up excuses for him not to end up dead or in the slammer. He's just too cool to die.

htrent · Jul 7, 2009

Hmm. Right now my favorite character is a probably little old lady named Maggie who has a smart mouth and an attitude much larger than someone her size should possess. She's the character who puts everyone in check and tells them they're heathens.

Tiz_Mee · Jul 7, 2009

At the moment, my favorite character (Ben) hasn't even made it into my book. Though he's mentioned casually in the first couple of paragraphs of my Horror WIP, he's actually the guy who is behind all the crapt going on. He's a psycho, posing as a nice guy, not revealed until the last couple of paragraphs (that I have yet to write). I love thinking about how totally screwed up he is and the reason he'd even dive into something so horrible.

heyjude · Jul 8, 2009

Repartee said:
I write crime, so technically everyone is bad

You had me speechless for a moment there, but I'm back. Not everyone is bad in crime fic! We need some light to balance the dark.

My MC's love interest is a good guy. He has a strong moral base. What makes him interesting is how far he's willing to bend (or break, or stomp on) the rules when someone he loves is in trouble.

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