This week the Warm Fuzzies question is about main characters. How do you kick them while they’re down?
Let's face it, being an MC would suck. All of my characters actually kind of have sucky lives. Octras, Tsira, Shenra, and Jake are all orphans... hmm.
But let's just focus on poor Shenra for a minute. Granted, she's not the master character of Tsirash, but she is a major one.
-Her father died when she was too little to remember him much.
-She was raised in a slum and ate rats.
-Her mother was lonely and depressed, and often told her so.
-She was introduced to a new 'father' a short time before a new brother was born.
-Shenra constantly had to protect her younger brother from bullies.
-The new 'father' only stayed for a few weeks at a time.
-...and he died, too.
-Her mother died shortly after from heartache.
-She and her brother moved away on their own so she could study Healing arts.
-As it turns out, her religious views were not accepted by the other Healers.
-So, she couldn't learn the magical part of Healing, only the medical parts.
-She learned a hard truth then, that she could not bring back the dead.
-Oh yeah, and she's also going blind.
Yet Shenra is... kind of amazing. She chooses to focus on the few good things in life. (By the way, she is the one who explains 'tsirash' to Octras!) So, based on this, could you come up with a title for a book?
-Tsira
PS. Speaking of slightly encouraging things, I got a partial request from one of my queries. It was turned down after that, but I'm still going ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshyay. :) It's a step up from a rejected query to a rejected manuscript. Ha.
Interesting concept! I'd call it "Blind Faith".
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on your partial request! Regardless of how it turned out, that's still a big accomplishment. I hope you celebrated in style. :)
Yay for a partial! I got my first full request a few weeks back and even though I eventually got rejected, I'm still over the moon. :)
ReplyDeleteOof, girl, you are HARD on your MCs! Well done ;) I like Jess's suggestion of 'Blind Faith,' but maybe 'Healing Blind?'
ReplyDeleteEither way, congrats on the request!
Title: It's all Downhill from the Rat Meat
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on the partial request! It should definitely be celebrated and proud of, even if it doesn't lead to a full. :)
"Street Rat Healer"
ReplyDeleteYay for the partial request! Keep your chin up....who knows what will happen the next time! :)
You are mean to your character aren't you?
ReplyDeleteHow about What the Blind See?
And congrats on the partial request!
Wowza, your MC has a rough life! What about View From Death? And congrats on the partial request. It is so exciting!
ReplyDeleteUm, yeah...I think your MC takes the cake so far lol. ATE RATS?? yuck. Sounds like a great story and congrats on your partial!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your partial request no matter the outcome it's positive news!
ReplyDeleteI like Cait's title idea (again!)
This totally made me go: Ohhhh! Intense!
ReplyDeleteI'm going with: Blindness (and no, that so is not related to the movie Blindness *shiver*)
I never knew about the rats, or the depressed mother.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting your partial request!
Congrats that's really good!
ReplyDeleteWhat a life ay? What about, Moving to heal
Thanks everyone for the fun suggestions. I really like Jess's title in particular.
ReplyDelete@aloeiy: She never talks about it. She's too focused on happy things like her friends and her keeper. But if you're paying attention, you can see her awful past peek through a few times, especially in Kiv's farmhouse in Aaorthela.
First: thank you so much for the blog comment. I think I might actually go with that title! It's sort of perfect :)
ReplyDeleteSecond - I'm, already so interested in your book, just from what you wrote here. I'm pretty bad with titles (obviously, since a person who has never heard me talk about it before was able to come up with a better title than I was) but something playing on "blind faith" would be good, since you mentioned her faith and blindness :) Definitely wondering what the actual title means now!
This book sounds amazing! I'm going with Blinding Light
ReplyDeleteAnd eww eating rats. Poor thing, you really are mean:) hehe
Wow, I kind of feel bad for Shenra. Congrats on the partial too.
ReplyDeleteHow about, "Seeing the Light?" The book sounds great! Good luck with the rest of the fest! :)
ReplyDelete~Melissa
Swagger Writers
Reflections on Writing
Guys, guys, Shenra's not even the main character of Tsirash. A lot of this stuff doesn't even appear in the book... It's just fun to think what it might be called if she did get her own book. :P
ReplyDeleteCongrats girl, come collect your winnings over on my blog :) www.julianalbrandt.com/blog
ReplyDelete-I'm not seeing your e-mail anywhere, feel free to find me over at julianalbrandt[at]hotmail[dog]com and we can work out the details of the journal :)
ReplyDelete