How To Liven Up Your Leader Character

  First post of 2017 = first post in my new blog series.
 
   Remember that 'character building' series I told you guys I would be starting up? WELL - I became impatient and decided I would do the first post much earlier in the month than I had planned. xD

   So. Here we are with How To Liven Up Your Leader Character. (there are a few spoilers in the post, so be aware of that)

   Leaders. Can I even pinpoint a story without a leader character, if not multiple leader characters (speaking mostly about the speculative fiction here)? No. I can't.

   A leader is a character who makes the hard choices, gets the other characters going again when all hope seems lost, and is always there to rely on. Stories need these kind of characters.

   Aragorn son of Arathorn, Cinder, Professor Remus Lupin - the list can keep trailing on and on and on. But what separates one leader character from the swarm of other leaders?

1.  Flaws

   A leader character needs a flaw. They cannot be perfect. For example - Aragorn, from the Lord Of The Rings series, is afraid of following the path of his ancestor Isildur and not being able to make the right choice about the Ring when the time comes. He's worried about how Arwen's fate will turn out (not that it's technically wrong for him to be worried for her - but it definitely plays a big role in how he acts). Without flaws, your leader character will come off as being far too perfect.
   Why not make your mentor deathly afraid of being alone? Or perhaps he or she is afraid of the sound of gunfire - I think this would be especially interesting in a dystopian book. To see a leader character fight (and overcome!) their fear can give us a special kind of hope, too.

2. Physical Attributes 

   Physical attributes can definitely play a big part in making your leader character. Professor Lupin, from the Harry Potter series, is a werewolf, so he has to rely on others to help him when the full moon comes around - otherwise he'll turn into a wolf and won't know his own mind until he shape-shifts back. And then there's Cinder, from the Lunar Chronicles, who's part cyborg. This attribute gives her special abilities that the other characters don't have. She can download things into her brain, use her cyborg arm in ways the others can't, and directly view news feeds in her mind, among other things.  But her being a cyborg also means that a lot of people won't accept her.
   Maybe your leader is physically disabled somehow. Perhaps he's a mix of two races that are usually enemies. Physical attributes can be both an asset and an obstacle to your leader character.      

3. Forcing Them To Become The Leader

   Maybe your character never meant to be the leader. Maybe they were kind of forced into that position.
   Let's take Katniss Everdeen, for instance. She didn't want any part in the Hunger Games - but when her sister is chosen to play in the game, she volunteers to take Prim's place because she doesn't want to see her sister killed. And then she becomes the face of the revolution when her and Peeta manage to both come out of the Games alive - it's not a role she chose, but one that she was given. And one that she must keep if she wants to see the world made right again.
   Maybe your character realized they needed to step up after someone they love gets hurt. Or maybe something happened to your leader's home to make them realize they can't stay silent anymore. Show us why your leader has stepped into this role, even if the leader isn't the main character.

4. Their Connection To The Antagonist

   The way that the leader character is connected to the antagonist of your story (whether the leader is the main character or not) can be interesting as well.
   Going back to the Cinder example - Lihn Cinder is the leader of the people who would overthrow Queen Levana. And Queen Levana just happens to be her aunt. Cinder is worried about how being connected to Levana in this way affects her.
   But you don't want your leader to be connected to the antagonist in a cliche way - be careful with this if your leader is also your main character. You don't want to end up with a copy of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
    Perhaps your leader and your antagonist were best friends when they were little (this would be a little less cliche if the leader is not also the main character). Maybe they were lovers. Or maybe the leader is fighting this villain because his or her deceased parents wished to see this villain overthrown? There's tons of stuff you could play with here.

5. Give Them Something To Hold On To And Fight For (that's not just the Quest)

  Yes, of course your leader will be fighting to fulfill whatever the Quest in your book is - whether it be getting Frodo to Mordor or overthrowing President Snow. But it can make your leader character more fully thought out if you give them something else, maybe something more personal, to fight for as well. This could be something that they hold on to and it gives them hope.

   Going back to the example of Aragorn and Arwen. Aragorn is fighting to fulfill the Quest - getting the Ring to Mount Doom and destroying it once and for all. But he's also fighting to save Arwen, the woman he loves. This is a more personal thing he's fighting for.

   Maybe your leader character has been promised something special, which will be given to them if they can fulfill the Quest. Maybe the leader has a family he or she is fighting for? Or maybe they're fighting just to get one glance of the ocean before they die. 

   Whatever you do (whether you take any of my advice or not) make sure to keep your leader unique - set them apart from all the droves of other characters. That's the most important thing of all. 

   So. There's part one of the How To Liven Up Your ______ Character series. Hopefully I gave you guys some helpful information you can try to play with xD. I'll be back in the next couple of weeks with the second installment of this series *nodnod*.

~ Savannah Grace 

What's the name of your leader character? What kind of character should be next in this series? (secondary, villain, etc.)

Looking Ahead + 2017 Goals

   *peers suspiciously into the distance* Is that a new year I see on the horizon?

   It's New Year's Eve = exactly six days after Christmas (hard as that is to believe). Does anyone other than me find the week-or-so right after Christmas to be kinda sad?

   People are taking down their Christmas lights, evergreen trees, and festive decorations. All the special things that make up the holiday season seem to disappear almost overnight. We watch our own house be de-Christmassed and put on a brave face - the cozy holiday season is over, and now we have to cope as life goes back to how it was. 

   But, as we approach the first day of 2017, I started to realize something. Life never goes back - life goes on. And there will be all kinds of new surprises in 2017, both good and bad. And I'll be facing them head on, not looking back over my shoulder at the past. Looking ahead seems like a far better idea to me.

   Anyways, enough of my ramblings. 2017 is nearly upon us what even! And I came up with five goals that I'd like to accomplish in 2017 - we'll see how many of them I can actually achieve ;).

1. Read 100 books + read/review one new release each month

   I think I read over 100 books in 2016 (but I didn't really keep track, so who knows xD), but 2017 promises to be a whirlwind, so we'll see if I can get this done. And I'd also like to read + review one book each month that came out in that particular month. Wayfarer is my book for January - I'm excited to start it! (and then come on here and rant about it, that's always a plus *shrugs*)

2. Create a tag and/or linkup + be diligent in my upcoming blog series

   I've always kind of wanted to create a tag/linkup - however, my brain tends to be blank when it comes to ideas, more often than not. But I feel like a bookish or writerly tag/linkup would be a blast *nodnod*. I almost feel like a linkup that has to do with reviewing a new release each month would be kinda neat ... but anyways, onto the second part of that goal. I'm also going to try my best to keep up with the series of posts I'm starting on my blog in Janurary - I having a feeling that it's going to be lots of fun (or I hope so, anyways xD)!   

3. Be more diligent in journaling

   Journaling takes a lot of time - and I'm a fairly lazy goldfish xD (plus, if I'm going to write, why not write a story, instead of writing about my day? *shrugs*) But I'm going to try harder this year because a) it's super helpful to be able to look in my journal and see a month's high points when it comes to writing a Monthly Highlights post and b) it will be fun to look through my journal in a year and see all the epic-ness that happened *nodnod*.

4. Start (and keep up with!) a 2017 memories jar

   I don't even remember where I saw this idea, but I love it -  it's basically where you make a note of anything good that happens during the year and put the notes in the jar. That way you can have a whole jar-ful of memories to look through on New Year's Eve, 2017. I'm awfully excited to try this (and of course I'm dragging my sisters into doing it with me :D)! Plus, if my journaling goal can't be kept, then I'll still have a jar-ful of all the best things that happened is 2017.

5. Write a _____ draft of a novel or novella

   Whether it's a first draft of something new, or a ninth draft of something old, I want to get some form of writing done in 2017. I'm guessing it will either be the fourth draft of Killing Snow (that would be me turning it into a novel), the first draft of The Dreamer's Game, or a zero draft/ first draft of something entirely different. Or all of those things at once. I've got 365 days - there will be plenty of time xD.    

   *blinks at the goals* So ... they look just a tad daunting all lined up like that. But I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with all of them.

   I hope 2016 was amazing for you, and here's praying that 2017 will be even better! Have a blessed year, my friends!

~ Savannah Grace

What's a goal you have for 2017?

Monthly Highlights - December 2016

   2017 is coming up at breakneck speeds and where on this good earth did time go?! *dies* I'm still telling y'all, something ate 2016.   

   December was a pretty quiet month, as far as months go (or maybe I just think it's quite because I'm comparing it to November - which was an insane month xD), but it was still amazingly fun!

   - We got our first good snow on December 3rd, which I was super excited about because I adore snow (sadly, there was no more good snows for the rest of the month *sniff* but oh well xD).

   - We made dozens of Christmas cards for friends and family + bakes trays of cookies for the neighbors. Those two things are some of my favorite parts of Christmas *nodnod*.

   - And of course, Christmas happened. We opened our presents in the morning, then all skipped off to church before coming home and preparing for the relatives to arrive. All in all, it was an epic-ly fun day that I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

   - Started the outline to turn Killing Snow into a novel. Which hopefully will be done by April because Camp NaNoWriMo (I'm writing the novel Killing Snow for Camp).
   It is very strange for me to have not only decided that I'm doing Camp, but also what I'm doing for Camp. Hopefully I'm not the only crazy one xD.
   I had a few big breakthroughs with that outline - and I guess those breakthroughs made up for a bunch of the writer's block I've been having as well *shrugs*. 

   - Okay, one thing you guys should know about me. When I get sick (normally it's when I have a cold) I want to edit. I literally want to edit more when I'm sick. No, I don't know what's wrong with me xD.
   But anyways, I was sick a couple times this month, so some editing happened. 

   *gives you a few sentences from my dragon's hoard of words* (no, these aren't some of the edited words, but they're words none the less)

+ The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

   *squints* Well, I certainly missed the mark this month. I was hoping to read 20-something books xD. But I have a lot more books waiting to be read in January, so I guess that makes up for it.

   - The Skin Map (by Stephen R. Lawhead) Another book that Deborah O' Carroll convinced me to read (y'all might as well jump over to her book reviews blog so she can convince you to read lovely books as well xD) and I'm super glad she did! The plot was awesome, the characters were wonderful, and I'm really excited to read the second book in the series. A full 4 stars for this one.

   - Eldest (by Christopher Paolini) Okay, so I feel like I should re-read a series in order, but I play by my own rules and randomly read the second book in the Inheritance cycle the other day. It was just as epic as it was the first time I read it (no, I am totally not biased by the dragons in the book, why do you ask?). The characters are epic, it was a page-turner even though I knew what was coming, and I don't care what people may say about how the Inheritance Cycle and Stars Wars are alike - I love this series *nodnod*. 4 1/2 stars for Eldest.     

   - (books 1-4) Byways (C.J. Milbrandt) The lovely Mrs. Kinde sent us these for Christmas (thank you, friend!) and, being the bookworm I am, I devoured them in an hour xD. They're technically for kids around the age of ten (I think) but hey, who doesn't love a kids book? Especially if it's a Milbrandt book - I love all Milbrandt books *nodnod*. I really enjoyed these, and would give them an all-around 3 1/2 stars. 

   And I've got two reading goals for 2017 that I hope to accomplish - one that's abnormal and one that's perfectly normal.

   Normal: Read 100 books (because why not?)

   Abnormal: Read a book each month that released that month and review it (because ... why not? xD It sounded like fun, and I like to be different *nodnod*)

   So we'll see how those go - I've already got a January book and a February book planned.

  
   *pets the pretty books* *goes off to find one for March*

 

 

   - Mary did a NaNoWriMo recap and shared some of her beautiful snippets from Moonlit Mirror

   - Olivia wrote a lovely poem about December that I really enjoyed (I read it twice and still adored it)

   - Christine finished the series she had been writing every NaNoWriMo for seven years (seven years, you guys. SEVEN) and posted about it

   - Cait posted about how she makes her Origami lucky stars (or Sauron stars, as she says they should be called) which I was happy about because now I can decorate my bookshelves with stars xD

   - Sarah posted about how to print your book with lulu and Canva, which will be super helpful whenever I print one of my books

   - Alea Harper did an epic post about writing Christan books

   - Julia printed her book and it is absolutely, epic-ly gorgeous

   - Ashlyn wrote a post for Burning Youth that might be the most powerful thing I read this month

   - I'm planning to start a series of posts on character building during January - so at least one or two posts from that will be going up next month.

   - And I'll probably be doing the second part of my vlog, too ;).(probably in very late January, because I have a cold right now and my voice isn't working xD)

   So. November was a whirlwind, December calmed things down with gentle snow and Christmas time, and January is now going to come roaring in. I'm excited to see what the new year brings!

~ Savannah Grace

   So how was your Christmas? Do you have any reading goals for 2017?