Day 8 – 2018 AWAC

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The 2018 August Write Away Challenge

If you’re just joining us, please feel free to go back and read the previous content so you’re up to speed! Otherwise, scroll down for today’s prompt.

• 2018 August Write Away Challenge original post
• Day 1 – What book did you read over and over again as a child?
• Day 2 – Some of the things that make me happy are…
• Day 3 – Name three things you’d do if you weren’t so afraid.
• Day 4 – How easy is it for you to forgive those who have caused you pain?
• Day 5 – What are your best character traits?
• Day 6 – What grand adventure do you wish you could go on?
• Day 7 – Dear past me…

Reminders before we get started:

• The prompt is to use or ignore as you wish;
• Absolutely any form of the written word is allowed;
• All participation will be on the honor system, though sharing is strongly encouraged;
• Participants will be asked to let me know each week that they’ve written daily;
• Those who do write daily for the week will have their name entered into a drawing at the end of the month for a $25 Amazon Gift Card;
• Any blogger who participates and writes every day for the month will receive a badge for your blog.
• Please send me an email or contact me to let me know you’re participating!

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Wed, Aug. 08 – If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be?

If I could meet any fictional character…?

Wow, that’s a tough one! As you know, I love characters — real and imagined. There are so many characters I’ve loved reading (or watching on screen)… so many I would love to spend even an hour with in conversation! There are a half dozen from Jane Austen alone. And C.S. Lewis? And Tolkien? I love an author who can bring a character to life on the page.

I could tell you how much I’d love to spend a day with Miss Elizabeth Bennett, walking and talking and laughing at the world.

But then I’d want to spend a day with Mary Bennett, the most misunderstood creature in all of literature, I suppose.

And then I’d want to spend a day with Smeagol (pre-finding of the Ring). And then Boromir (also, pre-Ring). And Theoden. And then Eowyn (pre-finding of the Ring). And then Eowyn again (post-destruction of the Ring). And Haldir. And Pippin. And Lucy. And Tumnus.

You see the problem? I just really love my characters. The honest truth, however, is that I’m less enthralled by the characters than I am by the men and women who bring them to life. I think about Jane Austen, a woman who never married, and how she so expertly wrote about human behavior in the socioeconomic dynamics and expectations of her time… or Lewis, a Christian apologist and a scholar of medieval and renaissance literature who somehow brilliantly wrote fairy tales for adults who are old enough to believe in them again… or Tolkien, a philologist who used a very basic story premise (good must overcome evil) and wove it into a masterful tapestry of relationships… no wonder their characters come alive on the page, for they, themselves, were characters!

But if I had to choose a character from fiction… someone whose brain I’d love to dig into and ask about her life and goals, her hopes and fears… I would probably choose Mahra, who is an exceptionally difficult character for me in my own work, Wicket Lake. She goes through so much transition in the space of half a breath, most of which is not charted (yet) in the Wicket tales, and that kind of sudden change can cause even the strongest character (real or imagined) to falter. Her story, for the reader, is just now beginning to truly unfold, though I’ve been weaving it far longer than I’ve been actually writing the story. She is one of my favorite characters, not only in my writing but in all of literature (so all will likely end well for her… unless I pull a GRR Martin and she dies in the next chapter, but… let’s just assume that’s not going to happen… yet), and truth to tell — it’s a bit humbling to try and write her.

So there you have it, a nice simple answer to a great prompt:

If I could meet any fictional character (or crafter thereof), it would be…

Lizzy, Mary, Smeagol, Boromir, Theoden, Eowyn, Eowyn, Haldir, Peregrin, Lucy, Tumnus, Jane, Jack, John, and Mahra.

*And breathe.*

Happy AWAC writing!

From the shores of Wicket Lake,