sovay | The secrets that you want to know are yours, not mine

Current Music: Jennifer Beals, "One Girl in a Million"

The secrets that you want to know are yours, not mine

This pleases me far more than a silly quiz's results should, I think:

Dorothy Parker writes you, you wonderfully urbane,
witty boozehound, you.

Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Men never make passes at girls who wear glasses . . . I am fond of Dorothy Parker. And not only because she occasionally appears in zombie form in Cat and Girl, either.

(Cut for further silliness and some dark secrets of my youth.)

Menolly

You are Menolly, talented and sensitive, even a
little shy. You have a knack for taking complex
subjects and reducing them to something that
everyone can understand; you are a natural
teacher.

The Ultimate PERN Quiz!
brought to you by Quizilla

Ah, the fandom (though I wouldn't have known the word) of my childhood. Did I ever mention that I made myself—with some help from my father, who knew well the mysteries of the sewing machine—a fire-lizard in seventh grade? Well, I did. Sleek cloth-of-gold skin that has since faded to a rather pleasant apricot, armature wire in the tail and wings, dark-blue jeweled eyes. And named Sheyne Meydl, which altogether tells you as much about me in seventh grade as you need to know. She's still sitting on my dresser. I can see all the stitches. I don't care.

Of course, I'm still faintly sorry I didn't test out as Masterharper Robinton. All right, I'm not a faintly disreputable, always trustworthy musician-diplomat with the drinking capacity of Ernest Hemingway and the gift to talk myself into and out of any situation on the planet, but he was my favorite of the available choices. I like Menolly well enough, but she's got protagonist stamped right across her forehead, and I've always been more about the supporting roles. I might as well confess right now that my heart still belongs to Domick, Master Composer of Harper Hall—sarcastic, cynical, a relentless perfectionist who claims not to like anybody, including himself; and prickly as he is, not a bad guy. Is anyone surprised that I went for him? Right. Thanks . . .

Which brings me back to the original point of this post, as discussed last night with

fleurdelis28: if I were to devote some time every now and then to the contemplation of favorite characters of mine, would anyone be interested? I'm particularly curious to see how other people reacted to the same figures, but I'm well aware that not every one of them will be as easily recognizable as Severus Snape.* Characters from the assorted fictions of Peter S. Beagle, Greer Gilman, Patricia McKillip, Carol Kendall, Cordwainer Smith, Diana Wynne Jones, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Lloyd Alexander, Mary Doria Russell, Mary Gentle, Terry Pratchett, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Charles Dickens, Ursula K. Le Guin—or more—are fair game. I will even take requests, although I can't promise I will have read whatever books you might name; or, more importantly, found a favorite character in them. But I'm game if you are. And there's a lot of fucked in the head to go around.

*It wouldn't surprise me at all to be told that Harry Potter is the largest fandom on the planet right now. I still feel rather as though I lucked out with Snape: it's not just me!

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Dark secrets, indeed. Dish! Dish! Dish!

Hey, you already got one if you read under the lj-cut!

Whee Domick. He and his quartet seemed more interesting to me than protag!Menolly, even then (likewise middle school). In retrospect it may be because McCaffrey managed to make them distinct characters who came together for music, whereas Menolly--Dragondrums' inevitability aside--seemed created to be interesting only until she found a place in society. Solitary is fine; individual is better....

Yes please to character contemplation :) whether or not I've met the chars before. (Am greedy reader, I guess.)

Oh yes please. Do obsess.

Nine

I keep meaning to take a formal look sometime at whether protagonists are by nature and convention prone to be less interesting than the secondary characters. I can't be the only person who consistently fixes on the supporting cast; and when I do take an interest in a main character, it's a rarity. They have to be really interesting. (Sydney Carton is the first example that comes to mind, and he actually makes the curious evolution from walk-on to secondary character to protagonist over the course of the novel—but he's not the vanilla hero. Hm. Perhaps more about this later.)

(Am greedy reader, I guess.)

Please. I don't mind at all. : ) Anybody—or any book—you'd particularly like to see dissected?

I'm always interested in people's reactions to characters, Kiernan in particular since she's taking up so much of my brainspace lately. I wonder if I should start a support group for people crazy enough to fall for Scarborough Pentecost...

I wouldn't be able to subscribe to that club—if I did a Kiernan analysis, I'd probably talk mostly about Deacon Silvey—but I'd certainly support its creation!

Oh, yes - go for it! (Please)

Apparently The Thomas was written by Flannery O'Connor.

I'm happy the description of F'lar mentioned his ruthlessness. It's always bothered me that some of Lessa's entirely valid complaints about him were always poo-pooed by the text.

Ooh! Who's your favorite Diana Wynne Jones character, and why?

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

Hee. Me too. I think I made a squeeful little noise when I recognized him. And then someone on my f-list included him on that 10 fictional characters you'd like to shag meme, and I realized I wasn't alone in my tragic love.

That would be splendid! Especially Pratchett, Alexander, and Le Guin.
There's certainly a TENDENCY for protagonists to be less interesting--they have to be normal enough for you to relate to them, which excludes the REALLY off-the-wall personalities. That said, I'd say Vesper Holly does a pretty goo job of being an interesting character, as do most of Pratchett's...in fact, I found it really interesting how some of them DO become supporting characters, as Vimes does in The Truth.
I'm babbling again, aren't I?

I've never actually read Pern. Do I need to?

(You're not babbling, you're discussing. It's different.) I've imprinted recently on Moist von Lipwig, from Going Postal. He's both multifaceted enough to support a novel and flat-out weird enough to hold my interest, and he's the type of character who is usually not found on center stage. Besides, he has masks; and those fascinate me.

I've never actually read Pern. Do I need to?

Depends on how you feel about telepathic dragons. From about fifth to seventh or eighth grade, I read the books intently, and I'm sure they formed some crucial element of my fictional worldview.* I am still rather fond of the original novel (Dragonflight, which is incidentally much grittier and in some strange way harder science fiction than the rest of the series), the young-adult Harper Hall trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums), and the prequel (Dragonsdawn). The series slumps as it continues, however, and Anne McCaffrey's romantic tendencies really start to run away with her. I stopped reading with All the Weyrs of Pern, which I figured was an ideal stopping point for the series—and then she wrote another, and I gave up. I still think they're a landmark in science fantasy. And certainly changed the image of dragons in the genre . . .

*Other than making me want my own telepathically-bonded dragon, or at least fire-lizard, which I'm sure happened to everyone.

All right . . . I am extremely fond of Tacroy (The Lives of Christopher Chant), as I have mentioned. And I really love Sempitern Walker (A Tale of Time City), because every city needs at least one buttoned-down bureaucrat-cum-ritual-king who deals with stress by running around screaming in his underwear for a half-hour before every major ceremony. But if you want the character who went straight into my childhood subconscious and imprinted permanently on my pack of archetypes—and caused the term "slithering out" to become common parlance in my household—it's Howl (Howl's Moving Castle). Probably for the reasons that I have seen explicated online in various discussions of movie versus book: that he's self-centered and vain and cowardly ("Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!") and lies like the proverbial rug and throws the most memorable hissy fit in all children's literature when a dye job goes wrong . . . and he's wonderful. With all his faults. And besides, he's Welsh, which just rocks.

I've always loved Howl, and I have a deep soft spot for Sempitern Walker. But the major places in my heart, oddly enough, seem to go to Hathaway, Torquil, and Erskine (Archer's Goon), especially Hathaway, who is dealing with the godsawful mess of that family with grace, humor, compassion, strength, and an impressive means of getting as far away as possible. Torquil is such a brat I can't help but like him, and I respect Erskine's intelligence greatly.

Also, I identified so strongly with Polly from Fire and Hemlock that I can't even tell if I liked her or not. That book is an essential part of my worldview; probably my three favorite DWJs are the ones I've mentioned characters from in this comment, though I feel that The Ogre Downstairs is often underrated and that Eight Days of Luke takes some kind of award for causing me to like it even after I guessed the premise from the title.

The only DWJ I actively hate is Dogsbody, because I read it way too young (seven) and it hurt very badly.

FUnny- I tried to read a couple of the Pern books and they did nothing for me, while I devotedly read the vast majority of McCaffery's other books, including the really bad later sequels to the Ship Who Sang and the Rowan. It's sad how series go downhill so often. Even if some of those original books were probably theoretically trash... My first McCaffery book was Crystal Singer, which I acquired with all the other books my uncle didn't want to bother taking to his own place when I was about 7 (and he was therefore 27)... (This event was what made me an SF/F fan.)

I really liked The Ship Who Sang. I don't recall that The Rowan and Damia ever did much for me; although I own copies, so someone must have given them to me at some point. Killashandra was one of the earliest Anne McCaffreys I read. I am not sure, however, that I ever got around to reading Crystal Singer . . .

If that's how you're going to become a SF/F fan, that's a pretty awesome origin story.

I need to read Archer's Goon again. It's one of her novels, like The Homeward Bounders, that I couldn't find for years and as a result have read only once on loan from another library. I remember the outline, but not whether I particularly liked any of the characters; from which I conclude I didn't imprint on any.

Fire and Hemlock might have been my first introduction to the Tam Lin story; I read it so young, I can't even remember the first time. The characters themselves didn't go straight into my psyche the way some others did; but I think the story did.

The cover for the copy of Eight Days of Luke we had in the house when I was small gave away the story—a redheaded young man and a giant snake? Pass D'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants, please . . . I didn't get any of the Wagnerian stuff, though. Just all the gods.

I suspect the characters I wouldn't recognise are going to interest me just as much as the ones I will.
I have only read a small portion of Dicken's novels, but I am particularly curious about your choice(s) there.

Have you read Air by Geoff Ryman? I'd be interested to know what you think of Chung Mae, if you have.

I have not—although I'm open to requests. (I'm not sure I've read anything by Geoff Ryman beyond his novella V.A.O.) Do you recommend it?

Oh my, yes. One of my favourite books of the last few years. It's an expansion (well, really a continuation) of the story 'Have Not Have'; if you're intrigued by that, I'd say there's a good chance you'd like the whole book. (By way of comparison, I would say that V.A.O. is moderately good, but no more than that.)

Of course, if you want lush/dense/sensory writing, I should probably be telling you to read River of Gods by Ian McDonald, instead. I think Air is beautiful, but it's a beauty that comes from deftness and grace.

Oh, please do! I admit to being woefully ignorant of most of the authors you mention, with the exception of Pratchett, McCaffrey, and Alexander, but I adore a good character analysis.

Of course, being a newcomer to your blog, I would never have the audacity to make a particular request... *cough*LordVetinari*cough

Heh. I fear that I might need a PhD in clinical psychology to analyze Havelock Vetinari accurately, but I can certainly give it a try. He is one of my favorites. Even if I'd have to be certifiably insane to play poker with him . . .

Even if I'd have to be certifiably insane to play poker with him . . .

Oh, absolutely. I'd have lost the minute I sat down at the card table with him... but you have to admit, it would be, in its own way, sexy as hell :)

Agreed on not being the only person to find supporting characters of more interest, definitely--though I wonder how much is writer's tendency, how much is conscious craft, and how much is reader's inclination. My auto-fixation seems to be cross-/inter-cultural characters of any stripe, not only the deliberate outsider but chars with names like "Gwydden Ochoa" who're Just Like Everyone Else. They're rarely the main character... but more on that later, perhaps, re: HBP.

I haven't any requests, but thank you! Lately, finding time to read (online or off) provides sufficient adventure, and character studies for books I haven't read are quite welcome.

They're rarely the main character... but more on that later, perhaps, re: HBP.

Okay, now I'm really curious . . .

sigh Menolly was so much more interesting when she was living alone with the fire lizards wasn't she. Although I did love the Harper Hall and wanted to live there quite badly b/c who wouldn't...trudging up all this I want to go dig up my old copies of the series. I distinctly remember the first time I read Dragonsong b/c it was an old hardcover copy that my teacher leant to me out of her locked glass cabinet in the back of the classroom. It was given with the admission that she trusted me a great deal to lend me one of her favorite childhood books. That made the series that much more special... How sad I'm finding myself nostalgic for 5th grade.

Seldom, seldom, seldom.

"Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses," is the quote. I wonder why people have this persistent tendency toward superlatives, that they usually misquote it as "never."

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