Limyaael’s Rant of the Week: Spunky Characters That Aren’t Annoying

Welcome to the first of (hopefully) a long series of discussions covering the challenges, pitfalls, and solutions to writerly problems, helped along by the wise and mysterious Limyaael.

Lisa and I had to sit and think a while about what topic to choose first – should we just jab our fingers at the screen with eyes closed? Should we roll a 424-sided die? Should we pick something that we haven’t seen discussed on other websites yet? (oof, would that ever be a big list!)

Ultimately we decided to pick something that we believe are learning the most from at this moment – something that has a direct impact on the way we’re writing our own stories.

We hope to this Rant of the Week become a regular affair and give us all a chance to discuss and learn from each others’ experiences – and Limyaael’s.

So, without further ado…

Limyaael’s Rant No.207: Spunky Characters That Aren’t Annoying

Lisa and I have a weakness of sorts. Our protagonists turn out to often be spunky and outspoken, armed with wit, self-esteem, and confidence. But spunk can turn annoyingly irritating on a dime. Outspokenness can make enemies and alienate friends. Wit can prove to be tasteless and self-absorbed. Self-esteem can lead to trampling over that of others; confidence – to disaster.

And so it should be.

Journey Jovelle, the protagonist of Gatecrashers, is all of those things – and having carefully weighed Limyaael’s commentary, we’re starting to realize that the little brat needs a few more thorns in her path, a few more solid bitchslaps to take the wind out of her sails.

From the way the receptionist keeps her cool despite Journey’s poking her nose into business matters, to hitting it off with the Woolverton twins when, if anything, they’ve got reasons to fear competition.

When you’ve got an easily malleable WIP on your hands, going back and revising is always easy. But not everyone is so lucky.

So, in the interests of promoting wise literary decisions early on in the writing process, I would like to declare this discussion open and invite your comments and feedback!