Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What Would Your Character Do/Say Wednesday

I’m always looking for questions to ask my characters; anything to pull them out of their shell and see how they act in foreign territory. I wondered what it would be like if my characters participated in other Middle Grade and Young Adult stories. How would they act in Narnia, or at Hogwarts? It’s interesting to see how your characters act in a completely different setting.


Forgiveness, light, love, and soup. These essential ingredients combine into a tale that is as soul-stirring as it is delicious." — BOOKLIST (starred review)


Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.

The Tale of Despereaux


1) What kind of soup would your character make?

2) Does your character believe in him/herself? Do they listen to people who try to bring them down?

3) Would your character fall in love with someone from another species?

4) Would your character want to repent for bad deeds?

5) Is your character envious of any other characters in your story?

6 comments:

  1. Awww this book sounds so adorable!!!!! And how can it go wrong with such a mouse called Despereaux?!?!?!?!

    So sweet! thanks for the info to this book! One of my characters would certainly struggle with these questions although I'd like to think she'd make a mean bloody mary soup! :-) Take care
    x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love all her books! She's a gifted writer...and I love that she writes about animals so often.

    Also, wonderful writing exercise! :)

    Love,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Tale of Despereux looks like a cool story. I love anything with dungeons in it.

    My character loves cooking vegetarian soups with lentils and beans and vegetables.

    He does believe in himself and would think that he wouldn't listen to negative influences, but he is vulnerable to them.

    He'd never fall in love with another species. He loves his wife too much. But he might go to bed with one of them given the right conditions.

    He would definitely repent for bad deeds, as well as mess it up somehow because of those negative influences.

    He's not envious of other characters. He's more the one who's envied.

    Jai

    ReplyDelete
  4. Totally off topic here. Melissa, is it possible that your email account got hacked? I got an email from you today which looked to only contain a link. I didn't open the email, so I can't be sure that's all it was, but it looked suspicious (no subject, for example).

    I'd of emailed you privately, but if your account got hacked, you probably won't see it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, welcome to my nightmare. As Suzi mentions above, my e-mail account did indeed get hacked. What a mess, but the worst part is that I got robbed in the process of trying to fix it.

    AOL told me I needed to call Dell. Dell took 240.00 and then tried to charge my account four more times. They refused to acknowledge that they had received the 240.00 even when I put my bank on the phone to verify that the transaction had processed. So they took my money and refused to fix my computer.

    NEVER BUY A DELL COMPUTER!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh no, Melissa! I'm so sorry to hear about the email hacking problems. Dell are such a disappointment. I'm never going to buy another one.

    Jai

    ReplyDelete