*laughs like Urkel*

It’s the last week of our series! And that means it’s the last week of March, which means preorders for my latest novel open on Saturday! Don’t worry, I will be reminding you all week long. You know, so you don’t forget to go order yours ahead of the official release, May 16.

Today though, I’m going to do my best to focus on the topic at hand. He’s the first of the male characters I think you should use, to replace the ones we talked about last week. And he’s also a lot of fun to write, in my experience.

The Nerd (who’s not sexy at all)

In this day and age, we all know them. Admit it: you might even be one. Nothing wrong with it. 

But who is he, really?

Well, the nerd is just that. See, last week we talked about the Smart and Sexy Guy, who I think just doesn’t make any sense when it comes right down to it. The Nerd, however, is someone who makes real sense. How? Because he’s not so perfect as the Smart and Sexy guy.

Unlike SSG, the Nerd is just a guy who likes nerdy things. It probably means he’s exceptionally smart in more than one area (I’d say at least four or five), and that he spends a lot more time inside than out. And if he’s a white guy, then that means he’s probably pasty white, because he never sees the sun. It also means he’s probably not great at talking to people in person, an effect of spending so much time on a computer.

Let’s look at the rest of our series’ questions, to get an idea of whether or not he’s a guy we should really write:

Why should we read him?

What’s his purpose in life?

What is his draw, for the reader?

This, to me, is where the Nerd gets really interesting. There are a multitude of things that could’ve caused him to become the way he is, nerdy to a fault. And there aren’t a massive number of writers who have really explored those reasonings. So there are a ton of things we can do with him—and that makes him interesting, for our readers.

His main purpose in a story, if he’s your main character, is probably that he’s smart and needs to overcome something to do with that smartness. If he’s a minor character, he might be used as comic relief. And because we all know nerds these days, it makes him an even more interesting character to use.

He has draw for the nerdy folk, because we know what it’s like to be like him. And he has draw for the not-so-nerdy folk, because we frequently want to know what’s going on inside the heads of the nerds. Trust me, everybody does. Even if they don’t admit it.

That, in and of itself, is enough for me. The Nerd is an awesome character, and one you should definitely use.

[love]

{Rani Divine}