I know the title of this post sounds really weird and mystical, but don’t worry, it’ll make more sense once I explain. 😆

But first, things are happening!

I have a book signing this Saturday (August 30) at Bonsai Books (in Cheyenne) from 1-3! This is the launch party for We Gave Our Tomorrows, which I’ve been trying to coordinate since May, lol. Oh well, that’s the way life goes. 🫠 And looking further out, on September 13 I’m going to the Christine & Co pop-up sale (flea market in Cheyenne) from 9-2, and October 11 I’ll be at the Cheyenne library’s annual Local Authors Celebration, which is from 2-4.

Now, on to that mysterious revelation . . .

So, I stole this idea from Rachel @Hamlette’s Soliloquy (which I found due to our shared love of Combat!), because I read her post and I was like “duh! Why didn’t I think of this?” (Well, because she thought of it first, obviously. lol)

Anyway, I thought her post was really cool, so here’s the gist of it. The Realization/Revelation is a handy little test for determining what draws you to certain stories – often it’s character-related, but it could be a specific plot element or trope instead. Basically finding out the common denominator of your loves, if you will. The Realization is the main element in the story that attracts you, while the Revelation is which character you’ll probably like best. (For plot-driven people, the Revelation might be something like what era or setting you prefer. So for my brother, his Realization is that he likes clean action, while his Revelation is that he likes more modern settings.)

So, since I am DEFINITELY a character-oriented person (I mean, part of why I watch Combat! IS for the characters, after all), here’s what I came up with for me —

Realization: If I’m gonna enjoy a story, it needs to have at least one character I look up to.
Revelation: I’m probably going to like the character who cares about others, no matter what form that caring takes.

Applying that to my top 10 heroes and other characters I like, I find that this holds pretty consistently true – how cool is that! Saunders? Check. Shane? Check. Miss Celia and Lady Carliss? Check. Captain Nemo? Ehh . . . kinda sorta? Sometimes? 🫠

Now, there are other character elements/types that I also tend to like, including:

• the Cinnamon Roll
• the Outsider (because I 1000% identify)
• the Tortured Hero (though they need more character than just being tortured)
• the Protector (again, I identify – I have a mother hen complex 😆)
• the Good Leader
• the Mentor (whom we need to protect btw! Stop killing off the mentors!)

I’ll be honest, it used to be that if a character was a Tortured Hero, they were gonna be my favorite, hands down. But now that I’ve gotten past my teenage years (in which I had some, ahem, *issues*) I’ve come to realize that not all the Tortured Heroes I used to love are actually all that great. Take Ben-Hur, for example; I love the book, and I sympathize with the character, but to be honest I don’t admire him that much for most of the story. Captain Nemo, on the other hand, is also a Tortured Hero, but he has a lot of depth to his character and a lot of admirable qualities.

Your turn! What draws you to a story?