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Favorite Characters From My Books (Challenge)

And I love that a character who has so much awesomeness is really sweet and humble about the whole thing.

In truth, there's a lot about Mary Ann that I never truly got a chance to showcase in The Girl with the Chikorita, partially because of the way I wrote it but mostly due to point of view constraints. I was bound to report only what the first person narrator knew and saw, and there was a lot she didn't notice about Mary Ann and even more that she was simply unable to understand.

Of course, that did also prove fun for me in its own way. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed writing about what seemed to be a budding romance from the perspective of a character who was both taken completely by surprise and then absolutely mystified by the entire affair.

* My version of Sabrina (The Girl with the Chikorita) *

Another character from the anime, this one was chosen because I have so much fun writing my version of her. The episodes from the original anime that featured her had some of the biggest impacts on me of any from the entire series, and I love being able to take that and blend it into something of my own.

Sabrina is awesome, there's just no other way to put it. With psychic powers like no other, crazy intelligence, and just the right amount of strangeness and mysteriousness mixed in, she makes for a very unique character.

I love being able to write her dialogue in a formal style with a hint of mystery. I also like noting all her little mannerisms and quirks. Of course, writing about levitation and teleporting and prophesying the future are obviously fun as well! 

* Chica (Getting Out of Fuchsia, The Girl with the Chikorita, and Chica's Story) *

Chica is another character that I enjoy writing about and another one that I feel a connection to. That stretches all the way back to my childhood of watching the Johto series of the anime. The character actually stretches all the way back to that time as well (which explains the name -- it's a sentimental nod to the past). All I did was put her in the story with my main character.

To be sure, I have expanded certain aspects, the most notable example being the way that her scent is tied to her emotions. For the most part, though, she's just a beloved character.

* Elliot (Getting Out of Fuchsia and The Girl with the Chikorita) *

Ah, Elliot. This character falls very solidly into the "so much fun to write" camp. I've already shared in the afterword to The Girl with the Chikorita how his character came to be and why I decided to keep him around. Any character who redirects the course of an entire book series the way he did must be one the author really likes.

I like Elliot's humor (intentional or otherwise), his excitement, and his passion. The main character has a penchant for belittling his intelligence -- and sometimes he does do quite funny things because he isn't thinking properly -- but she really does tend to underestimate him. The real secret, which I'm not sure that readers have picked up on, is that Elliot is not unusually stupid at all. The main character is the one who is unusually intelligent. She just puts other people down instead of recognizing the great things in herself.

Elliot is a sixteen year old teenager who's mature in some ways, immature in others, and doesn't have everything figured out yet. I think that's normal, but you don't always see it in a world where canon says that ten year olds are completely independent and even frequently capable of shouldering gargantuan, world-saving responsibilities. I enjoy showing an age difference between Elliot and my main character, and I also enjoy showing the ways that he can sometimes surprise you -- because any truth applied too broadly and simplistically can act like a stereotype. Real people don't always meet your expectations. Real people are complex, and I enjoy showing that with characters like Elliot.

I also enjoy making fun of him. XD

* The Character Usually Referred to as The Girl with the Chikorita (Getting Out of Fuchsia and The Girl with the Chikorita) *

The main character with no official name, the first person narrator of my two best known works on Wattpad was obviously going to show up on this list eventually. You don't just write two whole books from a character's perspective if you don't consider them to be a favorite.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about the character from the beginning was her voice, the way she described her world with something approaching admiration and wonder while simultaneously poking fun at it. When Elliot joined the story, I also came to enjoy her conversations with him, which have been among my best experiences as a writer. I often find myself completely wrapped up in them -- I hear their voices in my head, each one responding right where the other one left off, and I just sit at my computer and transcribe it all.

I also like her emotional and psychological complexity. I really enjoy writing about her inner conflicts more than just about all of the external conflicts like battle scenes. There's so much to explore, and I'm certainly not finished yet.

As a point of view character, I have to say that I also like my decision to use her as someone who originally came from our world as opposed to the Pokémon world. It really lends her a unique perspective that a native wouldn't have that allows her both to explain things using real world terms and concepts (which a native character couldn't realistically do) and to recognize everything in the world around her that is strange or ridiculous or, on the opposite end, amazing and incredible.

I also enjoy the way her weaknesses and limitations allow me to use irony, and, conversely, I enjoy writing the story in a way that throws light upon those limitations at just the right times. I have a much deeper connection to a character who isn't perfect and really struggles at times with issues that run deep and seem nearly impossible to overcome.

She really has so much complexity that I could go on like this for much longer, but I will also mention that I take personal enjoyment from putting focus on her as a solitary character and making it (hopefully) impossible to throw her into different ships. I should make it clear that I didn't force her identity on her for that purpose -- it's just the way I imagined her from the beginning, and it continues to seem only natural for her -- but I do enjoy writing it. I should also say that shipping isn't necessarily bad, but I do think that romantic relationships are far too overemphasized in our culture as a whole. And, as I personally find it easier and more pleasant to identify with characters not involved in a romantic relationship, I tend to hope some others might as well. To all the die-hard shippers, I say, please, give us at least one.

Conclusion

I'm going to stop there, unless I wake up tomorrow morning and find that I neglected some character or other that I can't believe that I left out. I think I've covered all the major ones, at least from my books on Wattpad. If I did this exercise for everything I've ever written, I don't know how I'd ever find the end of it.

Anyway, I challenge Risa-White and VanillaWind and ChronaLilly ? I don't really care if you don't do it, though.