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I noticed something the other day and wondered if other writers felt the same way. 

My favorite music is heavy on storytelling–by singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, etc.   Music genres like the blues also hold a strong appeal for me.

My favorite art tells a story.  I do like landscapes, but only if they seem like a story setting or draw me in to the picture.  I like portraits where the people’s eyes are speaking to me. I’m interested in Munch’s The Scream, where the focal point is in agony and the other people on the bridge seem unaware of his distress.   There’s  a story. 

  As a reader, I think I’m a fairly demanding one.  I want an escape, and quickly.  I want a good story.

Maybe that’s why I can’t leave my drafts alone.  Is it good enough? Does the reader want to be friends with my protagonist?  Have I told a good story? 

I’ll admit I’m a real fan of imperfect protagonists. If I’m reading a book and I can’t identify with the main character because they are just too sweet, then I’ll put the book down. Even Pollyanna had her moments when she wasn’t wonderful.

But then….where’s the line? How far can we push the reader before they dislike our protagonists for having too many faults? The last thing I want to do is alienate a reader by having them get frustrated with my protagonist.

This post goes along a little with my post yesterday. I feel like character qualities (good and bad) influence their behavior in a plot and the outcome of different events.

At the same time, I try to balance the good qualities and the bad ones. I tend to focus more on the bad, though—that’s the source of much of the humor in my books.

My protagonist in the Myrtle Clover series is a feisty woman. She’s smart, caring, active, and witty….but she also has a sharp tongue, a huge stubborn streak, and a proclivity to irritability.

I try to ensure that Myrtle’s warm-heartedness, even though she’s not a sentimental character, shines through her actions. I try to minimize her vices by having her machinations backfire on her in humorous ways.

Do you write protagonists with obvious vices? How do you successfully keep the reader engaged? How do you balance the good with the bad?

I love reading novels where characters’ faults or virtues play a role in determining their fate.

Take me, for example. I did something stupid on Wednesday that could have taken my day on a completely different trajectory, had I been unluckier than I was. I went to the grocery store to get some of the ingredients for the breakfast casserole on the food blog.

It was already raining, but lightly. I hate carrying things around with me, so I impatiently just hurried into the store without my umbrella. When I came back outside, it was pouring. Most people were intelligently waiting near the door for the rain to let up (which it did in about 3 minutes.) But….I was impatient again and dashed across the pedestrian crosswalk. Note: I did not have my children with me. I tend to use my brain a lot more when they’re around.

It was raining, I was in a hurry, and a young man in a car was, too. He tore out of the parking lot area, swerving left toward me as I ran for my car. He slammed on his brakes and I froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. I looked at him—pale 20-something with a goatee and a shaken expression, still holding a cell phone to his face. I rested my hand on the hood of his car.

Now, let’s look at this as far as plotting goes. Both my impatience and the young man’s put us in the situation. But what got us out of it? If he hadn’t been as young as he was, maybe his reflexes wouldn’t have been quick enough to stop on a pin like he did. Honestly, his reflexes were a lot faster than mine—I could only stop, not even try to avoid the car.

What are your characters’ virtues and vices? Are they stubborn? Naive? Are they nosy? Do they have an inferiority complex or a superiority one?

What are their characteristics? Do they think quickly on their feet? Are they meticulous? Gifted? Slow? Adventurous? Shy?

It’s interesting to think that you could take one character out of a plot situation, plug in a different character and have a completely different situation happen. What if a distracted mommy had been driving the car that nearly hit me? What if I’d had road-rage (on-foot rage?) and angrily pulled out a gun when I was almost run down? What if I’d been a child and too small for the person to see me?

The next time I get stuck with a plot problem, I’m going to play around with this scenario a little. Maybe I’ve just got the wrong character in the situation. Perhaps the scene was meant for a different character.

And I’m going to start carrying my umbrella.

Please join me today at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen for a little Southern comfort food—a little dish I like to call “Breakfast for Supper.” Yes, it’s a breakfast casserole and highly adaptable. Please pop over and check it out.

I promise I’ll be on my home-base on Friday. :) You’ll find me here tomorrow with some tips for character-driven plots.

Today my interview on Lesa’s Book Critiques posts. Honestly, I’ve been more excited by Lesa’s review than anything I’ve gotten from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, or Mystery Scene. That’s because of Lesa’s occupation and my affinity for the place where she spends a great deal of her time. Please head over to her blog to find out more! :)