Character and traits: A. A. Milne

I read an article in a childrens' writer newsletter about finding a specific trait to assign your character in a children's story. I felt disgruntled by the simplicity of the advise, but truthfully, I need it. My children's character, Scaffold Cat, is not a unique, lovable character.

A. A. Milne used this concept in his Winnie-the-Pooh series. Pooh is greedy and covets honey. What a great set-up for children; they are greedy and covet sweets. Piglet is fearful and requires constant reassurance. Rabbit is a know-it-all who knows nothing. Tigger wants to play and has a bouncy tail. Eeyore is despondent, very different from hard-working helpful donkeys. He sighs all the time.

These characteristics make up the world of children. They are greedy, fearful, despondent, know-it-all, overly confident, and playful. Children can relate to all of these easily. The characters are exaggerated through physical characteristics.

Eeyore's tail is pinned on so of course he's despondent. He's ashamed because this isn't normal and then he's always worried about whether it's there. Sigh.

Tigger wants to play and have fun and can do many wonderful, joyful things using his bouncy tail. This tail also makes him extremely obnoxious, just like a very playful child.

Winnie-the-Pooh is greedy and the thing he wants to have is honey. This drive to acquire honey gets him into lots of fixes; a honey jar stuck on his nose, bees chasing him, stuck high in a tree. Poor Pooh!

Piglet is fearful and is also small. He needs to hold hands with others, and he also wants companionship. Which is why he is willing to accompany Pooh on forays -- even into the woods -- to find honey.

Perhaps this concept of character exaggeration is critical for evocation in a story. I'm comfortable with characters personality and motivation, but I've never thought about exaggerating those. And yet ... Duh!

Other fictional characters, especially for children, who have exaggerated character traits?

F for Failure

When I started grading my writing, I assumed that a "C" grade put me in the category of an average person. However, many people have never written fiction, even fewer have written novels, and fewer still have had any fiction published.

Grading myself against the average, everyday person, isn't fair to me, or to all those other people!

So today some clarification. My grading will be of my fiction writing, compared to other fiction writings.

I will assume here that anyone who has been published deserves, at the very least, a passing grade. That would be "D-" in our system. Most fiction is a lot better than that, thank goodness!

However, by setting this standard, I now find myself in the "F" category. Since I am not published, I'm not earning the grade. :(

I've always been a good student, actually much better than average. I'm good at homework, and learning, and schmoozing teachers. When I take a class, I pass. And I usually receive a "B" grade. Suddenly I am in the "slacker" category of students. I can't even get my stuff turned in, much less get a grade for it!

Times like this, I want to quit. What a stupid project this whole thing is. I'd be better off taking swimming lessons, or going horse back riding. Or sleeping. Or drinking a lot of wine.

But suddenly here I am, at my little blog, and working on my stories. I've chosen fiction writing to be the work I master in. I can't stop.

Time to re-think my "grades" to see how I stack up against other fiction writers, and to continue to work toward publication.

Time to get to class. Even if it is "remedial". Sigh.