But my favorite aspect of reading is meeting the characters. Knowing them so well you feel you could guess what they would say or how they would act in different situations; this month's focus will be on a:
Character
Write about a character you find interesting, it doesn't have to be your favorite. Perhaps your least favorite or a minor one: choose any.
To clarify how this will work: I'll post various questions, don't feel obliged to answer all of them. Participants have the full month to post and share their answers. The different levels are based on how far into the book you are.
Feel free to skip around the levels if you see a question that catches your fancy.
Level 1
What phrases has the author used to introduce this character? What are your first impressions of them? Find a portrait or photograph that closely embodies how you imagine them.
Level 2
How has the character changed? Has your opinion of them altered? Are there aspects of their character you aspire to? or hope never to be? What are their strengths and faults? Do you find them believable? If not, how could they have been molded so? Would you want to meet them?
Level 3
Try writing a short (four sentences +) note or letter as the character, addressed to you, another character, the author, anyone.
Participants
Please fill out the 'your name' field in this format:
Name @ Your Blog's Name - Name of Character you Wrote About
29 comments:
YAY! I just did it...I'm hoping my book is a classic (albeit sci-fi)--EARTH ABIDES. Here's the link.
http://www.bookinamonthmom.blogspot.com
Love this challenge!
Hi everyone. My character is Alice from Through the Looking Glass.
http://bookwormbitesback.blogspot.com/2012/02/hello-classics-challenge.html
Oops I forgot to put the characters name in the widget link. It's John Thornton btw. =)
@Elisa That's ok, I've just added it in for you. :)
Great prompt! I had an interesting character to write about.
I'm writing about Norna of Fitful-head from Walter Scott's The Pirate.
My post is a letter, written from Newland Archer to Countess Olenska (from The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton).
http://btweenthecovers.com/2012/02/06/the-age-of-innocence-inspired-correspondence/
Thank you so, so, so much for doing this!!!
Not only are your questions amazing, this is also a bitterly needed vessel for my new Sydney-Carton-Love! It is simply perfect! I mean, come on, who wants boring Mr. Darcy if they can also have a heroic, madly devoted drunkard? ;)
I wrote about the characters in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, compared with the versions in My Fair Lady, which is broader than your suggested topics - but it was the aspect of the play that interested me the most, so I hope that's OK - I didn't have a single character to list.
Ooops, I was in too big of a hurry and did my link wrong - sorry!
As usual, I've ignored the prompts and done my own thing :) - anyway, I've just posted my full review of Shirley by Charlotte Bronte.
I read Gormenghast recently - now there's a classic I really enjoyed (though that was for bookclub, so I won't publish my review until after we've discussed it in a few months' time) - it's certtainly one I'd especially recommend to your readers.
Just added my link - thoughts regarding the character of Celie from The Color Purple.
I'm plugging away at Martin Chuzzlewit. Not much happening yet, just introducing a whole bunch of characters. I'm hoping it gets better soon.
http://karensbooksandchocolate.blogspot.com/2012/02/classics-challenge-february-prompt.html
What happened to your Gaskell blog? Its contents have nothing to do with her anymore, something happened?
@Luciana Oh, no! My domain gaskellblog.com expired and I didn't renew-- hadn't planned to it but it looks like someone else bought it. The true Gaskell blog is still available just at: gaskellblog.wordpress.com
Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
I really enjoyed this month's prompt and I loved North & South. Hannah Thornton was one of my favourite characters and it was a toss up between her and Mr Higgins for who I would write about.
Better late than...oh well, I'll still be reading Wolf Solent next month, anyway!
Mine's finally up! I wrote about Princess Marya from War and Peace. She turns out to be such a strong character.
I combined prompt 1 and 2 for this month. I really love these prompts--they really make for good writing and analysis! I'm not sure what I'm going to be reading next month, but am looking forward to it!
I did February prompt Level 1 and 2 for the character Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I have just read Notre Dame for the first time and Frollo is definitely unlike Disney's version of him...
Actually I'm going to work on 2 characters for this month challenge, but I put only one, that is Sidney Carton (A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens). The other one will be Doctor Sheppard from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie)
I read Antiogone by Sophokles. I wrote a letter to Antiogone, because I found it hard to answer the questions as intended for a play rather than a novel. I hope it still counts.
That bit about finding a picture was pretty difficult, but also fun! Thanks for the excellent prompt.
Another great prompt, and fun to fill out. Thanks, Katherine! :D
When I saw Jillian did this so late, I decided to dash out a post myself, though only an hour before the end of February in my own part of the world. :(
Here's my February post!
http://ahopefulheroine.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-classics-read-count-of-monte.html
My post is up (and has been for a couple of days, but I forgot to link here).
Thank you for this question about character. When I wrote the letter to Janie, I realized that I understood more about the characters than I thought I did.
I realise I'm terribly late (only discovered your blog in March) but couldn't resist sharing this little piece on Charlotte Bronte's Shirley. I like to compare it with Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
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