Day 81 of 84 Days of 84 Ribbons: Results

I have an amazing book of traits called The Emotional Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. I depend on it to help me delve into various situations I create for my characters to navigate. Over the last couple of week, I asked you blog readers to share your thoughts.

After reading the novel, the traits  that you feel Marta demonstrates (from the two lists I provided) include: anxious, determined, humble, resourceful and nostalgic. Some of you added your own ideas: persistent, imaginative, talented and sacrificing. Your choices interest me as I move forward with Marta’s story.

I agree with much of what you see in Marta and appreciate your selecting positive traits. I’d hope she didn’t sound whiney or too insecure. I did think she was deluded at times; thinking she was handling things by herself when, in fact, others played a large role in helping her reach her goals. I also felt Marta was wary and confused when she tried to step into a relationship with Steve. Guess that was to be expected since she had not dated in high school.

Hopefully you found characters in the story who demonstrated a variety of traits (see blogs for Day 53 and Day 69). My guess would be that Carol and Madame Cosper stand out as people who pushed your  irritating ‘trait buttons’. That was my hope. Stay tuned for When the Music Stops. I have several new characters to build who will new ideas and problems (and new traits).