Category Archives: Literary characters

June 30, 2015 · 1:08 pm

What fictional character would you like most to be stuck in an elevator with?

I don’t even have to think about this one. As soon as I saw the question, Elizabeth Bennett’s name popped into my head faster than you could say…well…anyone else!

So here’s the set up. I’m on the elevator and by some time warp bend, Elizabeth Bennett gets on with me. I’m me, she’s…her. Because she was written over 200 years before I came on the scene, we’re a little differently dressed. I’m in jeans and an old Dartmouth hoodie, she’s in the typical garb of her day, parasol and reticule in hand. She nods and smiles pleasantly at me, then turns to face the elevator door forgetting I exist.

No way, Liz.

First and foremost, we need to have a little discussion about Wickham. For someone drawn as the “smart” one in the family, how come you were so blind to his narcissism? I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time at age 12 and even then I could tell he was a loser. You were a whole lot older than me when you first met him. You should have been able to see through his pretty-boy looks and brown-nosing ways. Think of all the heartache you could have saved your family if you’d told them all what a creep he really was.

Second, why oh why didn’t you tell Charlotte Lucas what a humongous mistake she was making by marrying Mr. Collins? You told the world she was your best friend, a compadre for life, and yet you let her lower herself by hooking up with one of the most unlikable, stupid –and by stupid I mean REALLY not smart – characters ever penned. Yes, I understand she felt he was the best she could do in life given her “advanced age and inadequate social status.” But Lizzy, a REAL friend would have told her to stand fast and never settle. Ever. Was it really so horrible she remain unmarried for the rest of her life? I know she didn’t want to be a burden to her parents, but really, Liz, you should have tried hard to convince her to reject his proposal.

Third. Okay, here we’re going to go a little deep. I have always wondered since the first time I read the book, did you fall in love with Darcy because you saw him for the man he really was, or because you wanted Pemberley? I know that’s a mean question because it puts into doubt your feelings for the man, but I really have been in a quandary about your motives. Seeing Pemberely for the first time, and Lydia’s defection, happened pretty much simultaneously. Can you separate the two occurrences? Did you ultimately fall for the man because he truly was the kind of man you wanted? Ask yourself, if Pemberely had been falling into ruin, would you still have wanted Darcy? If you had never seen Pemberely, would you still have wanted Darcy? If Pemberely were say, half the size, would you still have wanted Darcy? If Darcy had been the village cobbler, would you have wanted him? I know these questions are harsh, but I seriously have always doubted you truly loved him for just him and not all that he possessed.

Last, but surely not least. Your mother. Really? Did it never occur to any of you Bennetts to simply slap the s**t out her when she got into one of her ( daily) tizzies? I know medication was sparse back then, but I’d have been slipping laudanum into her morning tea every day and then in a toddy at night. How your poor father didn’t go insane with this woman is beyond me. Divorce was never an option back in your day, I get that. But seriously, she could have been sent away to Bath or anywhere where she could be hidden from public view.

Those are my questions to Lizzy.

What do you think she’d say?

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June 24, 2015 · 10:27 am

So, who was your first FICTIONAL crush?

With the advent of boy bands, teen heart throbs, and movie bigger than life superheros, do any young girls-commonly called TWEENS- read nowadays? Other than the Twilight series, I mean? I remember vividly, long summer days spent on my bed or on a blanket at the beach, reading book after book. Summer was my favorite time as a tween because it meant no reading list from school. I could read what I wanted, when I wanted. I binged read Nancy Drew Mysteries like people binge watch on-demand television shows these days.

My first ever fictional school girl crush was Brian Beldon from the Trixie Beldon books. Trixie, a pre teen  like me, had two brothers, the oldest of who was Brian. Jet black hair and a winning grin, Brian wanted to be a **sigh** doctor. He was frequently the voice of almost-grown-up reason when Trixie got caught in her hair-brained snooping mysteries and I just thought he was “it” for me. I had no real-life boyfriends until I graduated from college, ( I know: late bloomer!) so I had to live vicariously through my fictional one.

And of course, this got me to thinking: Who are some of the most popular and beloved boyfriends in fiction. This could potentially be a hot button issue because true fans are devoted to the boys they feel are the absolute best, so here goes. In no best-to-least-best order

All these  boyfriends are good guys, do-gooders, love their girls, and treat them well. They love their girls so much they put up with mood shifts, dangerous jobs, evil warlocks and vampires, societal restrictions, financial setbacks, and even terminal cancer.

But through all the foibles and follies of dating, the end result is they simply love, support, and respect their girls.

What more could you ask for from a boyfriend?

So. Who was your first fictional crush?

 

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Filed under Alpha Hero, Alpha Male, Author, Characters, Contemporary Romance, Friends, Literary characters, Romance

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June 21, 2015 · 1:01 pm

Here’s to Dads…everywhere. Real and fictional

We live in a society that for some reason values LISTS. My Google search this lovely father’s day morning was for the BEST DADS IN LITERARY FICTION. I had upward of 20,000 links I could have clicked on to. I chose a random 1o, and from those I whittled the names down to the dads who showed up on each list. I must admit, I was impressed – but not really surprised.

1. Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockinbird. I’ll admit this even though it’s embarrassing, but I don’t know a great deal about Harper Lee’s background. I don’t know if this fictional father was based on her own, someone she knew, or a total compilation of her imagination of what she wanted in a father, but Atticus Finch, for me, is it. If I could have personally ordered a dad from God, this is the man I would have selected. Calm, patient, kind, smart, fair…the descriptors could go on and on, but the aspect  of Atticus Finch that I took away from the book was his incredible sense of morality and Godliness. He not only believes all men are equal, he lives and breathes it. He walks the walk, talks the talk, and backs up when he says with his every action. This, this, is the man I would have gladly thanked God for daily, if he were my father.

2. Mr. Bennett, Pride and Prejudice. Some people describe him as a sad-sack, a man married to a harpy who disappears from the world to his solitary library whenever the pressures of his wife, daughters, and life in general get too hard for him. Well, maybe that’s true. But it can not be denied Mr. Bennett loves his daughters and simply adores his second girl Lizzy. My favorite line- hands down-he delivers to Lizzy is this, and it shows how much he truly values her not only as a daughter, but as a woman as well: “I can not believe that anyone can deserve you.”  Call him what you will, but the man loves his daughter to no end.

3. Matthew Cuthbert, Anne Of Green Gables. While not exactly, biologically her father, Matthew is the first male during Anne’s formative young life who shows her kindness, acceptance, and ultimately the unconditional love of a “father.” It’s not often you read or hear of a confirmed, lifelong bachelor, set in his ways, who has an orphan thrust upon him and learns how to be a better person for it.  As Anne tells him, they are kindred spirits who found each other among all the people in the world.

After writing this, I realized the men listed above all had daughters. (Atticus had a son as well, but the book is Scout’s.)Maybe the reason why I am not surprised these three are top rated is because I am a daughter as well, and what daughter wouldn’t want a father with all the qualities of character these men possess. To be loved unconditionally; to be valued as a person; to be treated with respect and love in equal parts; to be guided through and into life; and to know there is always, always, someone right there who will protect, love and support you, is tantamount to my thought of the perfect person.

On this day we celebrate our fathers, the men who would be dads, and the special men who are as close to being fathers as can get, take a moment and think about what your dad means or meant to you. What qualities made him the man he is(or was) and for what kind of man do you think he would like to be remembered.

And then…call him, talk to him, give him a physical or spiritual hug. But most of all, acknowledge all he has done for you, simply because you are his little girl.

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June 11, 2015 · 3:46 pm

Famous Last Lines….

A while back I wrote a blog about the pressure of getting the first lines in a novel as good as you possibly can. You want them to be perfect, to engage the reader, to encourage people to buy your book if they are casually thumbing through it in a bookstore. First lines are imperative in selling that book.

But it’s been said by everyone I know in publishing that the last line of your book is equally as important because that last line sells the next book. It makes the reader want to read more of what you’ve written.

True? I’m a little skeptical. Here’s why.

These are some last lines in novels that have been arbitrarily voted THE BEST LAST LINES in literature according to 10 sites I Googled.

  1. “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
  2. “He loved Big Brother.” 1984, by George Orwell
  3. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
  4. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
  5. “A good man is hard to find.” The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor
  6. “I’m so glad to be home again.” The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
  7. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
  8. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
  9. The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling

Now, I could have listed a bunch more, but time – and my knowledge of the books – prevented me.

So, for these nine, I’ve read them all. It’s comical to me how George Orwell is listed twice for two books I absolutely hated. The only reason I read them was because it was required in high school lit. I would never have read another of his after the first one if it hadn’t been required; these two last line examples perfect reasons for that.

Now, breaking these down. There’s one romance (although I know it wasn’t called that when it was written, but in my mind, GWTW is the ultimate Civil War romance), three books aimed at children and teens, two sci-fi’s and two literary classics.

Two adult authors for whom I would have bought another book are Margaret Mitchell and L. Frank Baum.

Everyone who knows me knows I lovelovelove Gone With the Wind – movie and book, and The Wizard of Oz – movie and book. I can quote pages of dialogue and exposition for both. And based on the last lines of both books above, I would have run out and bought the next thing each author wrote.

But the others? Not so much.

I did read all the Harry Potters. They were fabulous, but the last lines of the book had nothing to do with wanting to read the rest of the series. I wanted to know what happened to Harry. The line above tells it all and when that book was published, I was done. I haven’t read anything else by Rowling, including anything written under her new pen name Robert Galbraith.

Dickens, although being a master writer, is just too much for me. Now, I happened to like A Tale of Two Cities – the story line, not the execution of it (too verbose!), but I wouldn’t have read something else based on the last lines in the work. If I read anything, it would have been because I liked the story or the way in which it was told.

Now, E.B. White I have read as a child and as an adult and have enjoyed. Charlotte’s Web was my first introduction, and I actually love the last line of the book. Stuart Little, the Trumpet of the Swan, and even his work On Dogs, are all favorites of mine. They are well written, easy to read and interpret, tug at heartstrings and deliver their messages subtlety. You are not whacked over the head with their themes, but you can identify them readily.

I never did get Catcher in the Rye. I actually think – and don’t send me hate mail because of this – it’s just my feeling – the book is hard to get unless you’re a teenage boy. I never connected with the character and most of the plot seemed way too contrived. Has Salinger ever written anything else that came close to this book’s popularity? I don’t know. And believe me, I really don’t care, especially based on that last line.

So, how important is that last line, last sentence, last paragraph, for the reader to want to pick up something else you’ve written? I don’t know about other readers, but for me, it’s the whole story and how it’s told that really makes me want to shell out some cash for another work by the same person. If I’m disappointed in the nuts and bolts of the story, the last line could be the best line ever written and I still wouldn’t read something else by the same author.

I know manymanymany people are going to disagree with me about this and that’s fine. This is still America and we are allowed to– supposed to!- have differences of opinions. I personally just think the entire story is more important in my choosing another book by the same author, the last line be damned.

 

 

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May 7, 2015 · 7:46 pm

The Pressure of Opening Lines.

Recently, during a weekly on-line author chat with the publisher and editors of The Wild Rose Press, the topic up for discussion was how to hook a reader from the very first line/page of your book. It’s important to establish this hook because the reader spends on average 3 seconds deciding whether or not to buy the book. If you’ve only got 3 seconds – or less (Egads!) – you need something that’s got WOW FACTOR all over it – be it a great opening line or paragraph. You must engage the reader and compel them by doing so to purchase the book. I know for myself I have picked books up at the bookstore, read the back blurb and been intrigued enough to read the first few lines. Many times I have not purchased the book because the hype in the back didn’t translate to the story on the page. The hook was more a jab ( heehee) and didn’t land well with me.

Can you tell I watched Rocky last night? Sheesh!

Anyway…this got me to thinking: what are some of the most memorable lines in books?

Google and Wikipedia are quick, fun tools that have lists compiled for every conceivable thing. So I typed into a search, Best Opening Lines in Books and was virtually assaulted (get it?!) with book lines.

Here are some I recognized:

  • “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”—Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina 
  • “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
  • Call me Ishmael – Herman Melville, Moby-Dick 1851
  • It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen – George Orwell, 1984 ( 1949)
  • Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. – Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway ( 1925)
  • It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. – Sylvia Plath, the Bell Jar ( 1963)
  • In the town, there were two mutes and they were always together, – Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter ( 1940)
  • As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous verminous bug. – Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis ( 1915)

Everyone of these opening sentences immediately draws the reader into the story by giving them something to think about and a question or two to ask.

In the case of Moby-Dick, Call me Ishmael are three of the most recognized words in literature. Who is Ishmael? Why are we to call him that – does he really have another name but just wants to use Ishmael? Who is he talking to? These natural queries make you want to get answers to satisfy your curiosity. And the way to satisfy that curiosity is to…read the book!

In the 1984 line…. the clocks were striking thirteen… the reader immediately knows something is off because clocks DON’T ( as a rule) strike thirteen. Why are they doing so in this story? And what is the significance of them striking thirteen times? Is something going to happen? Or did it already and the thirteen is the announcement of it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thinking back on the first lines I’ve written, I know in my heart some of them haven’t been filled with the wow factor – something I will work on arduously in 2015. With the plethora of books to choose from on-line, in bookstores and the library, a writer has to stake their claim on the reader’s attention IMMEDIATELY. No small task, but a worthwhile endeavor. And the payoff is a memorable book ( and a sale!)

Here’s the first line of my new release THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, available right now!!

Moira Cleary paid the taxi driver and took her first full breath in over twenty-four hours.

To find out WHY– buy the book! Here are the links:

amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Place-Like-MacQuire-Women-ebook/dp/B00VU85CBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428623157&sr=8-1&keywords=theres+no+place+like+home+by+peggy+jaeger 

The Wild Rose PRess: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1235  

Barnes and Nobel :http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theres-no-place-like-home-peggy-jaeger/1121798145?ean=2940151238489

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August 26, 2014 · 4:33 pm

The 10 Book Challenge

Recently on Facebook, I’ve seen several posts about people who have been challenged by friends and family to list 10 books that changed their lives. No one has challenged me, but I think this is a great blog topic, so here goes.

The 10 books that have had a profound impact on me during my life are – in no particular order:

1. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. Best book about self actualization ever written.

2. The Wizard of Oz ( Dorothy’ Adventures in Oz)  by Frank L Baum. Because there really is no place like home.

3. Irish Thoroughbred by Nora Roberts. First Nora I ever read. This story and this writer gave me my love of romantic fiction.

4. Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss.  First romance with actual sex in it I ever read. Quite an education, in addition to being a great story.

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. Helped me focus on the goals I wanted to attain during my lifetime.

6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. In my opinion, the most perfect book ever written.

7. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As a child raised in the 1960’s and 70’s, this book brought home the meaning of racial inequality like no other to me.

8.  The Oxford American Dictionary. Hello! It’s filled with WORDS!! Fabulous words!!

9. The Bible. This one needs no explanation.

10. Become a Better You by Joel Osteen. This book really did help make me a better person.

So, what are the books that have influenced you?

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