Author Insight: Coveted Characters

What character in any book do you wish you had written?

"Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. He's so complex and multidimensional, and I always view him as both Frodo's shadow side and his true opponent in the story. Writing truly morally ambiguous characters is a gift and something that makes every story more interesting and true to life." - Sarah Ockler, author of Bittersweet. 

"Susan Voight, from Emma Bull and Steven Brust's Freedom and Necessity.  You need a good background in philosophy to read so much of that book, but it's so terribly brilliant, and at least half of that brilliance is how Susan can be strong, stubborn, smart, and then fragile in ways that aren't written to compensate for the rest, but are just make-sense human.  I want to be her.  Or maybe have lunch with her.  But I would settle for having written her." - Leah Bobet, author of Above.

"Harry Potter. Because then I would be a billionaire." - Aaron Karo, author of Lexapros & Cons.

"Elizabeth Bennett.  IMHO all reasonable women want to be, know, or have written Elizabeth Bennett. Because there is nothing about her that isn’t wonderful, but she’s still three-dimensional and believable." - Ann Stampler, author of Where It Began.

"Meg Murray, in the Wrinkle in Time series.  I truly believe she’s the perfect fictional teenager, rough edges and all." - Robin Wasserman, author of The Book of Blood and Shadow.

"That's easy. Harry Potter. Why? Because he's completely awesome, of course." - Alissa Grosso, author of Ferocity Summer.

"Morgaine from The Mists of Avalon. Absolutely. She's so incredibly complex, so incredibly tragic and strong, bound and free. A monster of a character. A monster of a being." - Kendare Blake, author of Girl of Nightmares. 

"Roland Deschain, from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. He’s the last gunslinger in a dying world, and he won’t let anything or anyone stand between him and the Dark Tower. He’s tough, single-minded, utterly practical, ruthless. I admire him, and I love seeing him soften when he makes friends from alternate dimensions of earth." - Jennifer Bosworth, author of Struck. 

"I wish I had written Death from The Book Thief. I adore the depth of that character and the courage and invention it took for Mark Zusak to embrace this force as a character." - Meg Medina, author of The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind.

"I’m often envious of other people’s villains for their complexity. Bad guys I’ve equally loved and loathed—and would’ve liked to have written—include The Man, Jack from Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book; the kidnappers in Room by Emma Donoghue and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; and someone from Lev Grossman’s The Magicians (I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the book)." - Cat Patrick, author of Revived.

"One of my favorite characters from any book is Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre. He's so broody and complex." - Gwen Hayes, author of Dreaming Awake.

"Dorian Gray—absolutely gorgeous, thoroughly amoral, and really stupid." - Nina Malkin, author of Swear.

 Stop by Thursday to find out what characters the rest of the authors wish they'd written!<< Previous