Recipe for likable characters

Just shy of 10,000 words and taking a little break to recharge the muse. I dug out some of my writing books for just this purpose and have been going through one of Orson Scott Card's, Characters and Viewpoint. I think most of what he writes about are things good writers and readers know instinctively, but when you're in the middle of a NaNo slog it doesn't hurt to have things laid out in black and white.

One of my concerns with this story is that my heroine is, well, unlikable. So far she's been put in a situation where the reader is prone to feeling sympathetic, but I also want to give her some character flaws to overcome (or not) and to keep her from becoming an inadvertant Mary Sue. So this is kind of a quick-link reference for myself... if anyone else wants to put it to use, go ahead. Like I said, this isn't anything earth shattering, mostly just things to keep in mind when crafting characters.

Common factors when writing likable characters:
- Familiarity: At least superficially like the target audience
- Altruistic: choosing to put others' good ahead of her own, rescuing others in need, willing to sacrifice herself if no other options remain
- Proactive: not always reacting to things other people do
- Courageous: willing to take risks
- Fair: plays by the rules
- Attitude: not a whiner
- Dependable: stands by her word, keeps promises
- Clever: Rather that being merely 'intelligent'
- Endearing imperfections: See: Han Solo

new new new!

Made a new banner for my newish layout (one of my favorite songs by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals) and picked up a couple of Community icons 'cause I love Community now, especially kooky Abed, the Abed and Troy bromance, and of course Jeff and Annie :D

Kids and movies and itches, oh my!

Just rewatched the movie A Little Princess to refresh my memory of the horrors of boarding school. It's NaNo story research... honest.

I really want to show it to my students at school, the 4th graders at least. It's not one they'd be likely to see on their own, but I think they'd really enjoy the storytelling element, the villainous headmistress, and whole whole drama of Sara losing and (in the movie version, at least) finding her father. Maybe I can get away with it as we get closer to Thanksgiving. Dovetail it with a writing assignment about things we're thankful for. (Hey, at least I'm not showing them Kung Fu Panda because they read a story that takes place in Chinatown. No, seriously, that really happened.)

I'd also like to show, closer to Christmastime, the Muppet version of A Christmas Carol (appropriately titled A Muppet Christmas Carol). If you haven't seen it, get a hold of a copy pronto. Michael Caine is one of the best damn Scrooges out there, and the muppets are both hilarious and adorable. It's also a good kid-friendly introduction to a classic. Oh, and the music!

Now for something completely different... a few months ago I changed my detergent. Big mistake... after using it a couple weeks I was super itchy all the time, especially my scalp. I got some All Free and rewashed everything - which took AGES - and for a while it was all good (no pun intended). But the last week or so I've noticed I'm feeling rather itchy again... argh! I would go back to the original detergent I had been using but to be honest I don't remember what brand it was. They kind of all look the same when you're standing in the aisle in Target. The next time I wash clothes/sheets, I think I'm going to try using no detergent and see if that makes any difference.

Just to tie this whole post together... Kermit may say it's no fun being green, but it's even less fun being itchy :(