Happy Wednesday! Continuing our riffs on character this month, let’s talk about other people’s characters for a minute. There are some really awesome and memorable characters out there – Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, Cork O’Connor, to name a few. So Wickeds, is there a character out there that you wish you’d written?
Sherry: I would have loved to have written Elizabeth Bennett the protagonist in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She’s smart, feisty, flawed, and rises above the restrictions of her time. She’s one of my all time favorite characters in one of my very favorite books.
Liz: Edith, I hear you about Clare Fergusson, but I think I would say both her and Russ Van Alstyne, because one without the other just wouldn’t be the same! Also, yes, Jack Reacher – because how cool is he, wandering the country restoring order in his badass ways. And any of the Harry Potter characters – especially Snape.
Barb: This is a hard one. It’s so tempting to call out the characters who have become a part of the culture and our lives: Pip, Scout, Huck, Gatsby, Jo. But for me, it has to be the protagonists in the mystery series I love: Reg Wexford from Ruth Rendell and Adam Dagliesh from P. D. James. They do lead me naturally to some of the characters others have mentioned: Clare Fergusson, Gemma James, Armand Gamache, Thomas Lynley, Jackson Brodie.
Jessie: This is such a great question, Liz! I have a category in my bullet journal entitiled Books I Wish I had Written. This is a fun twist on that same subject! I wish I had written Flavia DeLuce by Alan Bradley. Utterly charming. I also wish that I had crafted the enchanting, melancholy Emma Graham character by Martha Grimes in her books like The End of the Pier, Hotel Paradise and Cold Flat Junction.
Readers, share your most memorable character in the comments below!