30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!

Today’s topic is really a let down for me because it’s repetitive of an earlier day about favorite authors.  And being that it’s day 30, the final day of the series makes it all the more disappointing.

So, rather than drone on again about authors I enjoy, I think I’ll just thumb my nose at the question and list some of my favorite characters, in no particular order, just as I think of them.  Stream of conscious-like.

Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre
Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice
Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice
Jamie Fraser from Outlander
Claire Beauchamp Fraser from Outlander
Zane the vampire from The Succubus Diaries
Terrible from The Downside Ghosts
Katniss from Hunger Games
Jessica Trent from Lord of Scoundrels
Missy Wright from The Ladies of Missalonghi
Eve Dallas from the J.D. Robb “In Death” series
Sookie Stackhouse from the Southern Vampire Series
Harper Connelly and Tolliver Lang from the Harper Connelly Mysteries
Kate Sheffield from The Viscount Who Loved Me
Emma Corrigan from Can You Keep A Secret
Calvin Morrissey from Bet Me
Rhett Butler from Gone With The Wind
Muriel from The Accidental Tourist
Maggie Moran from Breathing Lessons
Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale
Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451

I may have to edit in a few more as I think of them.

Image via Wikipedia

29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?

The short answers are “almost all the time” and “often”.

I’m always mulling over either the story I’m editing or the next one I’ll be writing.  Used to be these thoughts were much more concentrated on the currently editing and less on the next project but that seems to have flip-flopped on me lately.  Probably not a good thing as I already have a bad habit of starting more than I can finish.  My poor writing partner gets random emails from me pitching my next idea, but she’s a good sport and is always encouraging.  I have a little notebook too that I use for jotting down stray thoughts.  Some I use for flash fiction stories, others I see as novel material.

I love going to the movies early.  I get the best seats and while everyone else watches “The Twenty”, I’m mulling over ideas and not feeling guilty for neglecting anyone or being anti-social.  Best of both worlds.

Stumbling across sights or events in real life that remind me of my writing is something I’ve learned to keep to myself.  It happens but I no longer share it.  The epiphany of keeping it to myself came when I realized I’d just used a fictional situation from one of my novels to explain a human resources position to one of my employees.  She gave me an odd look and I realized I probably sounded like Ginger from Gilligan’s Island (click the link if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about).  Ginger had a habit of offering solutions to problems based on what her movie characters had done in similar situations.  And you just knew her fellow castaways probably found it cool for the first couple of days, then began to roll their eyes behind her back.  Except for Gilligan, of course.

So, I”ll leave you with a bit of advice.  Don’t be a Ginger.  Fact may be stranger than fiction but it carries more weight with non-writers.  Writers, on the other hand, will play along, God bless ’em.