📌 Some Favorite Characters, aka Fictional Best Friends

As Dolly sings, "Back through the years I go wanderin' once again...Back to the seasons of my youth..."

Some of you may know that I’m enrolled in Storyteller Academy (which I’ll have to talk more about later). Well, recently, I’ve been working on a mini-course they offer, ‘Creating Characters,’ by author-illustrator Ben Clanton.

The course materials are proprietary, so not to get into all the details (which are worth taking the course for!), but one exercise he has us do is to think back to when we were kids and list our “fictional best friends.”

It seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world to come up with a list of your favorite characters, but this was shockingly hard for me. I typically stan for great authorial voice, quirky humor, plot twists, and/or delightful structure. However, for this exercise, I set aside the warm fuzzies of the many, many books I love for other reasons (great reasons!) and exclusively focused on characters. And the results, as they say, surprised me!

I created two batches: one set for novel characters and another set from picture books—eight in each—because my drawing even that few is probably already blasphemy.

WARNING: I LOVE ALL THESE CHARACTERS. Please forgive me for my “quickie” illustration-sketchpad trespasses as I continue to learn. For example, it was definitely not my intention to give poor Claudia Kishi a “marker beard”—among many visual issues somehow created! LOL!

Some favorite PB characters include:

I cheated a little and did a mix of PB faves then and now (instead of just then). These are much more varied than the other set! While it’s not super easy for me to see many obvious commonalities yet, I do think:

• they are all strong-willed.

• except for Toad, they are all brave risk-takers.

• except for Jane and Miss Nelson, they are also hedonistic (in a kid-like way--though Jane does have honey toast and mint tea at midnight, so maybe that would count).

• half of them are sly/sneaky.

• a few are what you might call "performers,"--meaning they appreciate an audience.

• several of them are bossy, or as Tina Fey might correct me, “are the boss.”

Some favorite “older kid” novel-type characters include:

(I know it’s weird, but I read Agatha Christie in upper elementary and middle school. So I think Hercule “counts.”)

At first consideration, I wasn’t sure these characters had much in common. Still, the more I pondered, the more I saw some interesting overlaps. Each of these characters:

• is super curious.

• is sneaky.

• is a smart-aleck who values being right more than being popular.

• is a risk-taker.

• believes strongly in justice (according to their morality, not the rules)—and often isn’t afraid to dish it out themselves.

• is a big fan of “alone time.”

• is a hard worker (in their way—Claudia Kincaid even makes her brother “learn” while they are at the Met, LOL).

• can be off-putting at times, even to their best friends and family.

Well! I wonder what I saw of myself in these characters? 😂😂😂😂

I loved this exercise, and it’s helped me pin down how I think I want to handle an emotional arc in a new MG I’ve been drafting. Which is…pretty major!

Which characters would be on your fictional friends list? Do you think they inform your own character choices?

Yours in character,

Elayne

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