Monday Musings: Character Chemistry

I don't want you all to get too excited and start sending me flowers and edible arrangements, but tomorrow is my two year wedding anniversary.

It seems like only yesterday (even thought it was five years ago) that I met my husband. And for some reason we still have that chemistry. He still likes to cuddle when we sleep at night and I still love to get dressed up for him or try out a new recipe.

It's like this when we write characters or read them. We want to see that initial spark, that initial chemistry, and then see how it expands throughout the novel (or the series).

There are so many couples in literature that have that *spark* that can continue on through novel after novel even after the initial flame has died down.

Some of my favorites include:

Sookie and Bill- The Sookie Stackhouse Series
I'm not going to give away any spoilers for the books, but even though Sookie has met many different men throughout this series, Bill is the one that always seems to still make her heart flutter even if it's not clearly written.

Noah and Allie - The Notebook
I'm not a fan of the movie, but Nicholas Sparks does a beautiful job in the novel weaving the story of two people whose love can transcend time and place.

Kate and Taylor - My Sister's Keeper
I'm ashamed to say I have not read the book yet (the movie made me cry so much I had to wait to read it), but I loved the chemistry of the two cancer patients brought together because of their shared medical condition, but then ultimatley went beyond that.

Okay, you got me, most of these are adult novels. So you have any favorites that spark your interest? What makes that character chemistry work for you?

Last minute literary Halloween costumes

It's Halloween and you don't have a costume?  Have no fear because I have the perfect solution for you in the form of some of my favorite literary characters!

Alona Dare from The Ghost and The Goth Series- Former Homecoming queen turned to Queen of the Dead, is the perfect last minute Halloween costume. All you need is a plain white t-shirt and a pair of red gym shorts. Really want to add to the costume? Go for a blonde wig, Homecoming sash, and some tire marks on the shirt. Need something for your significant other to wear? Just put him in all black and he can go as Will, The Goth.

Frannie from the Personal Demons series - A hot girl with special talents who falls for a demon, who wouldn't want to be Frannie? All you need is a white tank top, low rise jeans, and a giant cross necklace. If you really want to add to the look you can pal around with a guy dressed as a demon and another dressed as an angel.

Evie from the Paranormalcy trilogy- A pink dress and a blonde wig are the main components to setting the stage as this IPCA paranormal fighter. If you really want to add some authenticity get an arsenal of pink weaponry and bring a date who dresses as a water shifter.

Malini from the Soulkeepers series- Need a costume that is a little bit scary and a little out of the ordinary? Once Malini finds out what she is, it's not only great for her, but it's a great costume for you! Wear a red dress and white gloves, for extra authenticity you can have one of the gloved hand be made of bones and walk around with a boy who carries a water bottle.

Hopefully that gets you some ideas to work off of. Do you have any literary character costume ideas? Are you dressing as a literary character for Halloween?

Freshman Five

(Yes that's me in the center doing a reenactment of Romeo & Juliet in English class)

( My freshman yearbook photo.  Yeah it's tiny and yes I had long curly hair and braces...hot)

With lack of a Fangirl Friday interview, I decided to truly embarrass myself and do a little “Freshman Five,” on the blog.  Ten years ago I was a freshman in high school and now I’m feeling very old…I also thought a lot about how people change from their freshman to senior years and how one writes characters differently from age 14 to 18.  So this Freshman 5 adds some random facts about my freshman year that will probably make you giggle and wonder if I’m just making this up, or if you really should feel sorry for my utter ridiculousness.

1.)     My freshman year took place in 2001, that was the year of 9/11 and the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.  I remember sitting in gym class when we heard the news.  I honestly thought that people were just watching footage from the Oklahoma City bombing until there was an announcement made over the intercom.  The rest of the day, the entire school was glued to the TV and I can remember my mom saying, “I’ve never been happier to be surrounded by cornfields.”

2.)    Freshman year was also the first year that I was able to go to homecoming.  But if you look at my pictures—you know the girl with a little extra poundage, braces, and some ferocious eyebrows then it’s pretty obvious why in my entire high school career I had only been asked to a dance as a date ONCE and freshman year wasn’t that year.

3.)    In October I went to one of my first co-ed Halloween parties.  I dressed as a princess and a guy held my hand while we watched Bring it On.  This then ostracized me from the rest of the girls at the party because one girl had “claimed” him and it was wrong of me not to know and to have been hanging out with him at the party.  Girls are mean.

4.)    I had my first boyfriend at the end of my freshman year.  He was two years older and my parents wouldn’t let me go on a date in his car.  It all worked out because he ended up cheating on me with some girl he worked with at McDonalds and promptly dropped out of school that next year.  I really picked the winners in high school.

5.)    My naiveness was to the max at age 14--  I remember the first girl in my class that told me she lost her virginity and I was just mortified.  I had barely kissed a guy let along do THAT.  At the same time I bought my first pair of thong underwear that I refused to wear on days that I had gym class, thought hand holding was one of the best things that you could do with a guy (still do), and had never spooned with ANYONE.

Okay…you can laugh now. 

What was your freshman year of high school like?  Were you as naïve as me?  Have you thought about these things when you write younger characters?

Things that irk me.

So there are alot of things that irk me. But today's irk is my latest in a tirade of irks that I feel I must express my anguish for.

I really, REALLY dislike it when in books (or movies or TV shows for that matter) do not develop their charcters relationships enough to make me believe that they really like/love eachother. I really hate that I am supposed to believe that this girl is madly in love with this boy when they have only known eachother for a week and all they have done is screw.

Now I respect Judy Blume's book "Forever" for what it has done for literary and young adult fiction, but I just don't find the character's romance believeable. I really would have liked to see Katherine and Michael hang out and do more than just fool around. I did feel like their whole relationship was based around sexual desire and I don't think that sex=love. Why can't we see them go to the movies? Or maybe even a scene with them talking on the phone? It seemed like everytime they hung out Michael was just trying to get in her pants and it really irked me.

But then you have books like Twilight...
Now the first movie did not do justice to the relationship of Bella/Edward. In the book I actually felt them develop into a relationship (though I think it was based on the fact that he just wanted to smell and stare at her). But with those 500 million pages you saw their relationship develop without anything more than kissing.

Now don't get me wrong I am all for kissing and making with the love in YA books, (Yes my MS has all of the above), but I don't think that should be the entire focus of the book. Develop the characters! Make me want to see the couple make it through! (And I am going to be struck by lightning for slamming Judy Blume). But I truly believe that to truly get an experience you need to see more than just the characters bump and grind...unless of course it's an erotic novel then all bets are off.

That's all..I should go back to work now.