My friend and fellow author, Jen Hritz, did the coolest thing last week. She put up a quiz that tells you which character you would be from her novels. If you haven't read her books you need to (not just so you can take the quiz) because you will fall in love. I fell in love with Joel and coincidentally Joel is the character I would be based on Jen's quiz. Here comes the point of my blog today. There is a saying that opposites attract; I say not so. We fall in love with our mirror. It is always about the mirror.
Think about your friends, the ones you love so much that you would go out and rescue in a driving snowstorm in the middle of the night an hour away. The ones you call when you need to cry or talk about an impossible crush that can never really be anything, but who tell you anything is possible (trust me anything is NEVER possible, but it is so nice to hear that it is). These are the people who inform your identity. And in a sense I am in love with those friends (like Jen) because I see something of me in them. It works with those crushes and the ones who become lovers too, but for me (like Joel) we always end up mirroring some dysfunction rather than something positive as with my friends.
In a book I fall in love with the character who is most like me. In my books I don't need a quiz to tell me I'm Sage. That's why she told the first story. Now to extend this idea to the characters in my books I have to be honest about who each character really is. Elena and Sage could not be more different, and Elena's love for Sage is really more of hero worship; she wants to be like Sage, but Sage is not her mirror. Finn and Sage are definitely mirrors though. And many of my readers are rooting for them to be together. That leaves Ethan. Ethan. Ethan. Ethan. My sweet and powerful enigma. I will not give you any spoilers today.
The closer I get to writing in Ethan's voice the more nervous I am. In my mind I am nothing like him, but I love Ethan the most, so if my hypothesis is to prove out, he must be my mirror in some way. I have a feeling that when I figure out how, not only will his voice and story come easily and powerfully, but I will learn something very valuable about myself through the journey.
So go read Jen's books, I Too Have Suffered in the Garden and The Crossing. Take her quiz and fall in love with your mirror. http://jenniferhritz.com/
Interesting things mirrors, and very astute comments on your part. Perhaps Ethan is the you that you see through the selective lens of the eyes. I am of the mind that we all don't look into the mirror and see a rose-colored view of ourselves; some of us see the darker (read that however you like) parts that no one else can see. Anyway, remember that the mirror reverses the image seen in it; hence it may be more apt to be somewhat the opposite of your mirror. But writing can be the chance to go through the looking glass, so to speak. I like to think that writers get to invoke their demons, face them, and make them dance for them. While most ask shall we face our doppelgangers, and if we do, do they destroy and replace us (that fear being a horror convention and a recognized psychological disease), the good writer likes to peek into the mirror and sometimes beyond. Or words to that effect, and congratulations on your book. I will order a copy for my library. Any chance I can get it signed?
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