Question of the day, #1

[mrissa]

So I was thinking about the recent rants from "oh noes, girl cooties in my SF" people. I was thinking about which traits of mine are most crucial to my reading experience when reflected in characters. I do not, for example, find it particularly difficult to care about male characters, or non-white characters, or homosexual characters. But I was pretty sure that if I thought about it, I would come up with some things where I really did want characters to be "like me."

What I came up with is loyalty.

I don't require a character with whom I can identify; caring is enough. But when a character is blithely disloyal to people who are showing them loyalty, I have a hard time not putting down the book and walking away.

How about you? What traits do you want to share--or at least not blatantly not share--with a character in order to care about their story?

Comments

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Girl cooties? For really real?

I can't stand it when a character starts falling in love with someone who's a total jerk to them.

(And also, now you know how far behind I frequently get on my friends page!)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"Girl cooties" is my scornful paraphrase, but the person in question was very explicit that the presence of wimmens in "his" genre was ruining it.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I'm--amazed that that sort of relic still exists, and am pleased I haven't noticed them.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

They are not worth your time, truly.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also the shorthand name that pops up associated with your lj name makes me sometimes think of you as "Abra Southwest."

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I like it! Kinda rural mythic.

Really, I just decided to put my full name on my journal front but not linked to all my comments to help keep search results on my name relevant.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That makes sense.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

But if I ever need another pseudonym, I'll keep "Abra Southwest" in mind.