Characters

One of the reasons I'm hoping to get 'Blue' published is because I like my main character. That's always helpful, isn't it? 

Characters can be really daunting to write. I know people who do full biographies of their main characters. What is their favorite color? What is their favorite food? Where do they go to have fun? Etc., etc., etc. I don't quite go into that depth, but I can 'see' her/him. 

There's a character in a favorite movie of mine that exemplifies, to me, the depth that a character can have. The movie is "Howl's Moving Castle" and it comes from a book of the same title.

In the book, we are introduced to a scarecrow who plays a very insignificant role.

In the movie, however, the scarecrow is, IMHO, a major character. 

The oddity of this movie character is this: he has no lines, doesn't speak at all, is a stick figure (really) with a turnip for a head, he has no facial movements, no arm movements (his arms stick out to the sides like a good scarecrow's should). 

In the movie - I became entranced by the scarecrow and by the end, I was rooting for it. Always afraid when some calamity was happening to the group and hoping that the scarecrow would also survive the travails.

It was in the little things that my heart became enchanted. How he finds a walking stick for the old lady, how he holds an umbrella above her as rain pounds down, how he fetches her coat when it goes flying off as she tries to enter the moving castle. Many subtle actions that endeared him to me.

Now - this gives me such impetus to try to imbue my characters with the same 'character.' A challenge, but well worth it. I want my hero/heroine loved as much as I loved the scarecrow. (BTW - he survives!)

Life is little accomplishments.