Greetings!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday. The sun is finally shining outside and there are no storms looming. Since I finished editing Under the Burning Stars, I’ve taken a little break to catch up on some reading. I’m still working on Insurgent – while it’s a good novel, I think it moves rather slow. And I’m not really sure or understand the MCs intentions half the time. I like Tris, I do, but sometimes I think she could be stronger. Or maybe it’s just that she’s not portrayed well? I’m not sure what it is. She seems to have a death wish and seems to be a little selfish. These are my opinions and I realize they may not reflect many of yours. I know there are times in my series where my MC, Ava, has weak moments. Everyone does. But what makes a character stand out is what they’ll do in any given moment. Will they stand up and fight for themselves and to save others? Or will they just give up? I wanted to write a strong female character in my novel, because I think we need more of them. Especially our youth needs more of them. I can only hope that I’ve done that. I see Ava as strong and never one to give up (even when sometimes she should let things go). I get asked a lot about why I wrote about her having a not-so-great boyfriend in the beginning, Thomas. If Ava is so strong, why is she with a jerk like Thomas? Sometimes, we stay with people because it’s familiar, and in Ava’s case, she stays with Thomas because she truly believes she is bound to him. But we all know she’s in love with Peter and Peter is much better for her. Thomas is all she’s ever known though and with his new powers, he changes. They all change. They evolve (for the most part) and with part 2 of the series, you will see those changes. I wanted to create characters that you love to hate, but also ones that grow and change with time, because I think that’s important in books. It would be boring to read a series where the characters stay the exact same even through all they encountered. Take Damon in the Vampire Diaries (the TV show – and yes I know I really need to read those books). I actually hated Damon when he was first introduced, but you were supposed to. But he was one you loved to hate. He is a good character – he has depth and you begin to understand why he is the way he is. Even Caroline…omg, I found her to be so irritating in the first season. But she changed, and now she’s one of my favorite characters. She learned from her mistakes and learned to be a better person. I’m hoping Tris in the Divergent series will do just that. And I know characters are supposed to sometimes do dumb things that get them in trouble (hello conflict), but she seems to do them without rhyme or reason really. Or maybe I just missed the point. I’m almost done with the novel, so we’ll see. I heard people were upset over Allegiant and I can guess that one of two things happen, but I’ll save that for a rainy day.

Who are some of your favorite characters from books you’ve read and why?

Happy writing (and reading)!

Carrigan