FFFT: Characters and Contests

I'm fascinated by the female characters that populate and usually protagonize (new verb?) young adult literature. I usually mention if I like/dislike a character in my reviews and why, and often, the more I like a main character, the more I like a book.

An editor I admire created this list of positive character traits (find them at her blog here). I agree with all of them and more.
Lesson for Writers:  Cheryl’s Fourteen Qualities of Attractive Characters***:

1. Newness (someone I haven’t seen before)
2. Viewpoint (the POV character)
3. Desire (the character wants something)
4. Expertise
5. Friends (the character likes or is liked by people the reader likes))
6. Enemies (the character is disliked by people the reader dislikes, so we like the character -- Harry Potter being hated by the Dursleys is the classic example)
7. Action (the character does something)
8. Jeopardy (being in it)
9. Kindness
10. Positivity (a good attitude in general)
11. Humor/Wit
12. Enthusiasm (passion for one specific thing)
13. Complication (meaning that while they have at least one likeable element, as per #9-12 generally, they do experience darker & deeper emotions)
14. Mystery (the character is keeping secrets, even from the reader)

Speaking of Cheryl's blog, she's running a contest right now for some of her latest books. What's that? You missed the link above? Here you go! A couple of her books are on sale right now as ebooks. Have I told you I'm joining the tech-savvy world and getting an e-reader for Christmas? Might have to partake of this sale myself!

Back to characters we love. Check out this fun Tournament of Heroines from the YA Sisterhood, a fellow YA blog. 

But what about those characters you love to hate? Here's an interesting article about Bella from Twilight that argues she's not the weak, passive character you see upon first glance.  

Okay, that's enough reading for your Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

Friday Food for Thought

Fridays are hereby designated as days for sharing. I always find lots of neat stuff online through the week relating to YA lit and to books in general, and I want to share it with you. This week’s finds include:

The world’s smallest library

Book art in Edinburgh

 This is now my computer background- so beautiful! 

Have you heard about the gay-YA hoopla? This sums it up better than I ever could, but it is a bit lengthy. The gist I got was that earlier this week, an literary agency was reported to have suggested an author "straighten" a gay character. The internet exploded in protest, and many authors and publishers insisted they would never do this. Eventually, everyone agreed that YA books should have diverse characters, and to show publishers/authors/agents your support, readers should buy books that have gay (or other diverse) characters. As @maureenjohnson likes to remind me on Twitter, #YAsaves. Kids need books like these too. (Has anyone read Will Grayson, Will Grayson? Great book with gay characters.)

I also read (okay, skimmed, there were a lot of names and numbers) an interesting article about children's bookstores in the tough economy. You can read it here. They remain positive and slightly hopeful about the position of children's books, but I was miffed at their reporting. Being a Kansas City native, I noticed that while our favorite indie bookstore, Rainy Day Books gets the article lead, our well-known exclusive seller of children's books, The Reading Reptile, isn't mentioned at all (is this article about kid booksellers or isn't it?). It's easy to think that the big bookstores are the indie's worst competition, and now that Borders is gone, the indies will do better. But maybe competition between the indies will now grow worse, and that's not necessarily a good thing.

Just food for thought.