Hello, everyone! I’m thrilled today to have fantasy author Zen DePietro talking about the kind of characters she likes to read about. Here’s some music* for you to enjoy while you read through, and I have a question as does Zen at the end of her post. But my question is who are some of your favorite characters from books or movies? And now here’s Zen!

Dynamic Heroes and Heroines: Characters I Want to Be When I Grow Up

I like characters who are unique. Different. Messy. Memorable. The kind of character who kicks ass, has a fondness for cookies, and inexplicably hates wearing socks. Actually, I’ve never met that character, but I’d like to.

And the characters I have met? There are some amazing ones, but too many of them read like a game of Mad Libs. Fill in a few blanks, slap it all into a genre and tada. Another book that reads like a million other books, with a hero and a heroine that are like a billion other heroes and heroines. They play nice with others and fit right in.

Oh, there’s nothing wrong with those characters, or the people who like them. They’re just not for me. I want a heroine who impresses me with her strength and intelligence, while working with the inherent quirks of her life and personality. I made a meme a while back to remind myself to be intrepid and always facing the future. Here it is:

That’s the crux of it. I want protagonists that that don’t toe the line. Ones that are comfortable with being who they are, even when they’re very different than the norm. Like Iron Man’s Tony Stark or Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet. At first glance, these two characters have nothing in common. But when you look closer, you’ll find them both crazy smart with a razor wit. Neither of them is typical of their respective worlds. Yet they both totally own what makes them different and make it work for them rather than against them.

I’m curious how others feel about this topic. Do you approach books like comfort food, and love to stay in the zone of what you like, or do you look for stories and characters that will surprise and challenge you?

And here’s Zen’s latest release. If you click the cover it can take you to a book store.

An earth-like world of high-tech humans faces the reality that their world is not as safe as they thought it was. Five people are thrown together to quietly get to the bottom of an unfathomable event that must stay quiet. If the population of Terath becomes aware of the truth, it will spark a civil war. That war would pit the majority of the population against the powerful minority with the ability to harness and manipulate mana. The resulting cataclysm would decimate the population and tear apart the foundation of society.

The five people chosen for this must reconsider everything they thought they knew about mana, even as they learn to trust one another’s abilities. They must embrace everything they never wanted in order to prevent the devastation of their world. One of them will be forever changed. Love will be denied, badassery will be unleashed, and Terath will never be the same.

Even success comes at a price.

*Music composed by Adrian von Ziegler