Possibility of Being
Good morning, everyone. You're probably wondering what my title has to do with SeX. Absolutely nothing...lol. I've been thinking about what to write since I found out I was on the list. Nothing funny or earth shattering was coming to mind. So I decided just to tell you what's been on my mind for the last couple of days.
POSSIBILITY OF BEING is a wonderful poem written by Ranier Maria Rilke. He's one of the greatest 20th century poets. Of course, he wrote in German, so we lose something in the translation. It's a poem about unicorns, but I think it fits with any book or movie we've ever seen.
"Not there, because they loved it/it behaved as though it were.
They always left some space/And in that clear unpeopled space they saved/
It lightly reared its head,/with scare a trace of not being there."
As writers and readers (because let's face it, every writer is also a reader), we leave a space for our characters to come alive for us. Even though those characters are only words on paper or a computer screen, we allow them to come and join us for a time. We love them. We hate them. Some we hurt and some we heal. All of them we love enough to make them real.
We've all met characters who will come and join us for our morning coffee or night time snack. We chat with them about our days and what we'll be doing next. There are characters who hide and we must search them out in the dark to shed light into their hearts.
There's Maximus from GLADIATOR..the wounded hero looking for revenge and we cheered for him and cried for him. There's HARRY POTTER, a young boy simply searching for his place in a world that's gone crazy. Vanyal, the main character in Mercedes Lackey's HERALD MAGE series, breaks our hearts with his pain and devotion to duty.
We all have characters who live with us each day because we simply left them some space and gave them the possibility of being. :)
If you stop by and read this, why not let me know what characters still share space with you?
Have a wonderful day.
Tiffany Aaron
POSSIBILITY OF BEING is a wonderful poem written by Ranier Maria Rilke. He's one of the greatest 20th century poets. Of course, he wrote in German, so we lose something in the translation. It's a poem about unicorns, but I think it fits with any book or movie we've ever seen.
"Not there, because they loved it/it behaved as though it were.
They always left some space/And in that clear unpeopled space they saved/
It lightly reared its head,/with scare a trace of not being there."
As writers and readers (because let's face it, every writer is also a reader), we leave a space for our characters to come alive for us. Even though those characters are only words on paper or a computer screen, we allow them to come and join us for a time. We love them. We hate them. Some we hurt and some we heal. All of them we love enough to make them real.
We've all met characters who will come and join us for our morning coffee or night time snack. We chat with them about our days and what we'll be doing next. There are characters who hide and we must search them out in the dark to shed light into their hearts.
There's Maximus from GLADIATOR..the wounded hero looking for revenge and we cheered for him and cried for him. There's HARRY POTTER, a young boy simply searching for his place in a world that's gone crazy. Vanyal, the main character in Mercedes Lackey's HERALD MAGE series, breaks our hearts with his pain and devotion to duty.
We all have characters who live with us each day because we simply left them some space and gave them the possibility of being. :)
If you stop by and read this, why not let me know what characters still share space with you?
Have a wonderful day.
Tiffany Aaron
SExed by Anonymous at 7:43 AM
9 Comments:
I LOVE Vanyel! And I love the Heralds of Valdemar series, as well -- Talia's books. She and Dirk and Kris stayed with me for a long time, as well as the Companions. Also, Alanna and Jon from Tamora Pierce's books, and Darius Santiago from Galen Foley's Princess. And so many more!
And Rilke -- his love for Lou Andreas-Salome nearly killed him! As much as I enjoy his work, I always remember him more for his obsession with her. But then, she snared a great many of the greatest thinkers of her time. What a woman she must have been!
Thanks for posting -- I loved it!
Lily
Tiffany, what an interesting blog!
Lots of characters have stayed with me long after the book. A few are Jamie in Gabaldon's OUTLANDER, D'Arcy from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Meggie in THE THORN BIRDS, Ashton and his Princess from M. M. Kaye's THE FAR PAVILLIONS.
Thanks for making me think about some of these books this morning! Makes me want to search my bookshelf and do some rereading!
Lovely blog, Tiffany.
The characters I want to offer for consideration are every single person from the leads to the bit players in Stephen King's The Stand. What a fantastic, rich story. Good old Stephen can make you feel you know and care about a character in a few short paragraphs -- then kill'em off.
His baddies are especially rich. Who can forget the pure evil of Randall Flagg or the pathetic Trashcan Man or Lloyd Henried, the criminal who finally earns respect as Flagg's right hand man. How about the conflicted loser and eventual betrayer, Harold Lauder.
Then there are the goodies, the wonderful Mother Abigail and the whole crew of world savers; Stu, Larry, Tom Cullen, Fran and Nick, to name a few.
Characters in books and shows can seem more real than real world people sometimes. Maybe because we are allowed to look into their souls.
There have been many but I want to give special mention to Andy McGee from Stephen King's Firestarter. The novel started compellingly from his POV - a father with his little daughter in tow, facing tremendous odds to evade from the government agents dogging their heels. His desperation, exhaustion, and strong love for his daughter struck a strong chord with me. Even though he's not the main focus of the book, I couldn't stop reading until the last page because I wanted to know what happened to him.
I have to say pretty much every Linda Howard hero & heroine are my favorites. I worship the alter of Linda Howard. Her characters come alive for me and I always cry. Always. After the Night and Shades of Twilight are two of my all-time favorite reads because of the characters. Faith Devlin & Gray Rouillard in After the Night are awesome. But, man, Roanna from Shades of Twilight breaks my heart. I've lost track of how many times I've read both books but I sob everytime in Shades. Every time. She gets me every time.
I'm also absolutely adore Nora Roberts' Cam Quinn in Sea Swept. He just revs my engines. And the son in Shelby Reed's Midnight Rose.
Good characters come alive for me and I remember them - always. What a gift. And I agree with Bonnie Dee's statement. Maybe that's why I love these characters so much - the writer's given me their souls. Gawd...I love that!
I have read so many books over the years that to try and choose one author or character is impossible.
I am very thankful that authors put their stories out there for us to read and enjoy. Those stories help/allow us to laugh, to cry, to be angry, to learn, and to comfort as well as to be comforted. And let's not forget that some of those stories turn us on so dang much that we are reaching for our husbands or boyfriends (or fans, ice water, turning up our air conditioning, etc.)
So, please keep those stories coming! :)
Hmmmmmm Pretty much any character by Jude Deveraux. I still remember reading Julie Garwood's historicals--her heroines ALWAYS made me laugh. Daisy (i think that's her name) from LInda HOward's Open Season--GAWD I loved that book! Pretty much anything by King (shawshank is probably one of the best film adaptations of a book followed by The Green Mile). I remember reading TGM LONG before they made it a movie and it's definitely one with characters who stick with you in so many ways. King is a master--so is Koontz, despite his proclivity for being wordy (like I have any room to talk right now LOL), From The COrner of His Eye will alwasy be one of my favorite Koontz books as will Strangers (probably because it was my first).
Pepper,
I second Scarlett O'Hara. What a strong, unforgettable character! I'm talking book now, not movie. I actually cried when Melanie died and Rhett walked away, just when she'd finally figured out her priorities.
Nessie
Paige: I love Tuesday Next. She's so smart, resourceful and ironic and the literary references in the books are just neat.
Tiffany: I adore Colin Firth! He's such a fine actor and he does smoldering so well.
Tiffany/Jenna: Rowena in Shades of Twilight is such a sweet and maligned character, you just want to shower love on her. I'm sorry I didn't enjoy After The Night as much. The premise is brillant but I couldn't connect to Gray. He seems too cold and hard for me.
Amanda: AKOD is one of my favourite JM. The scene where Royce did not defend himself from Jennifer's kinsmen in the tournament because of his promise not to hurt them was so brave and heartbreaking.
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