*cutesy smile*

Happy Monday! This week, I believe, is bound to be full of new and wondrous things. As many of you know, I completed the final novel in the Druid series last week, which means this week is a lesson in finding something new to write. And it’s been a great many years since I’ve really done that, let me tell you. (don't worry though, Dwr is only the third in the series, and I've just finished the sixth)

But even though I’ve now completed my fifteenth full-length novel, there are still a lot of things I have yet to learn. Especially about characters.

Last week, if you recall, we talked about the girly girl, as our first point. Click Here if you never read it. You’ll want to catch up.

And now, I present to you, the character I think you should replace your girly girl with:

The Dainty Girl

Who is she, you ask?

Well fancy that, because it’s the first question we wanted to look at anyway.

The dainty girl is the cousin of the girly girl. They’re similar, but the dainty girl, I believe, is more well-rounded and far more real, at least in terms of relatability. She’s a girl who’s girly in some ways, but really, she’s just cute and dainty.

She’s probably one of those girls who keeps her voice a little quieter and a little higher-pitched, but not enough to annoy. She walks at a slower pace, and she observes the world through eyes of innocence, because she’s so darn dainty that she couldn’t be anything but innocent, could she?

And that’s where the fun comes in.

Here are our last three questions, to keep you on track with the discussion:

Why should we read her?

What’s her main purpose in life?

What is her draw, for the reader?

See, the thing about the dainty girl is that she’s not as obvious as the girly girl. The reader doesn’t always know right away, what she’s about and what she’s going to be like. Because the girly girl is always just that, girly. But the dainty girl is dainty in varying ways, depending on the character.

We like to read her because she’s interesting and cute, the sort of person many of us are drawn to in real life. She draws us in by the fact of her being gentle and innocent, even if that’s not what she is on the inside.

Often enough, for the dainty girl, that’s all we need.

And that’s why I recommend blending her into your story in place of the girly girl, to make your character stand out much better, and make your character less of a cliché. 

Dainty > Girly. 

[love]

{Rani D.}