*hair flip*

Welcome back, to Too Many Books to Count!! Today is the day I’m sure you’ve all been extra excited for, as today is the day when we finally start this month’s series. Woo! It’s a series unlike most everything I’ve done before, and I hope to give you some pointers along the way, within it. Though really, that’s my usual goal here, isn’t it?

One thing we, as writers, really need to be good at is the creation of characters. But that’s also one of the hardest things that we’ll ever have to learn, when it comes to writing in general.

And that’s what we’re going to talk about this month. It’s all about characters, and how to make ones that aren’t the same as every other out there.

First up, this week I’m going to describe for you three of the most common characters I’ve noticed in today's books, and ones that I’ve honestly grown tired of, for how often I’ve read them.

#1: The Girly Girl

Oy, she’s everywhere, isn’t she? I’m sure most of you are tired of her as well. She’s in nearly every movie, and in far too many books. She’s either there as the main character, as the sidekick, or as a minor character, and you know what? She’s not very realistic.

But that’s not what we’re talking about today.

Today, we’re going to talk about the girly girl, and how to recognize when you’re writing her.

Who is she?

She’s just what it sounds like. She’s the character who’s unbelievably girly, who literally does every single girly thing under the sun. She always wears skirts, she does her makeup perfectly every morning, she wears heels and giggles whenever she’s around the guy she likes.

Okay, maybe she’s not that bad, but you get my gist. She's so girly that it's hard to forget she's a girl, and really, we want our readers to think of her as a person. Not just a girl.

Now, here’s the part you really need to pay attention to, the questions I’d like you to ask yourself, when you think you might be writing the girly girl:

Why should we, your audience, read her?

What’s her draw, for us?

What's her main purpose, in the story?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself, in order to determine if you’ve written a real girly girl, or a female character who’s far too girly for the story.

See, it’s okay to have a girly girl. It really is. Some girls really are extremely girly. But for a story, she has to have a good reason for being that girly. And if she doesn't, you might just have fallen into a character cliche.

Maybe we read her because she’s somehow compelling, beyond the girlishness. Maybe her draw is that she doesn’t really know who she is, and that she’s girly because she doesn’t know another way to be. And maybe her main purpose is to learn about herself, and discover who she really is. You have lots of different ways you can spin her girlishness into a positive, if you do it right.

But if you can’t give a solid answer to even one of those questions, then you may have a problem.

Check back next Monday for my advice on how to fix it. 

Yup, I'm making you wait a whole week. Don't worry though, I'll still be here on Wednesday, with another character type to help you watch out for. 

[love]

{Rani D.}