Charming characters make you smile like good friend do.
I always get amazed when a writer has the immense capacity of developing characters that get alive in our minds.The way these characters are described and presented in different kind of stories make us feel them real, as we’re able to have a very clear image of them in our minds, so much that little by little they start gaining more and more space in our everyday thoughts.
As the days pass by, we want to know what’s going to happen with them, and how the story’s going to develop for them. In some extraordinary cases, we even rush home to get back to our books and see how things are going for these special characters.
In some cases we even identify with them, and we get attached to them the same as we do with a dear friend.
Then, when the story’s over, we remain close to these characters for a long time, and even forever.
Of course, I have a group of dear characters that I keep in my mind and close to my heart, even when I’ve read some of these books a long time ago.
The very first want that made this kind of impression on me was Peter Rabbit, from the series of books by Beatrix Potter. I first read a Peter Rabbit book when I was a little child, and ever since, this lovely lovely little rabbit has remained as one of my favorite characters ever.
Of course, I’m pretty fond of Sherlock Holmes, that it’s said “is the character that every writer would like to have written”. For that I admire Conan Doyle a lot, however, I have to say that my very very favorite character is Dr. John Watson.
I’m just totally taken by him. Not only because he’s the real image of a loyal friend but also, because in the story, besides being a doctor and Mr. Holmes’ partner, Watson is a writer who really enjoys writing Sherlock Holmes adventures in a very detailed way.
Another character I’ve totally got attached to is Captain James Holland, from the fast-passed suspense novel Pandora’s clock, written by John Nance. In this book, Captain Holland, the pilot of a doomed plane, becomes a true hero in a very humane way, so much that it’s almost possible to see him on the cockpit of the plane saving the day.
And lately, I’ve become pretty fond of the characters of the old TV series Murder, She wrote. Although the characters were created for the series, what I like very much of it is the way every single detail has being taken care of, creating very lively characters that live in an ocean town which, of course doesn’t exist in the real life, but due to the way it was conceive it totally feels like the place you’d like to visit for your next holiday.
Based on this TV series, a number of books keeping the same characters have being written throughout the recent years by Donald Bain, who has being able to keep the same lovely charm of each one of the characters who live in the coastal town of “Cabot Cove”. My favorite one of all of them is Sheriff Metzger, a caring man who looks after the well being of the town and of course, his own friends.
