When we were single, my friends and I had endless conversations about what we wanted in a mate. Melissa (these names are all made up) wanted a man who was in touch with his feelings (last I heard she was still living solo in her Upper East Side studio). Mary wanted to meet someone from a Good Family (read: wads and wads of dough). She did, and resides these days in a leafy Connecticut suburb. Peter wanted a woman who was thin, and shared his love of physical fitness (he suffered two fractured ribs once in a Kickboxing class, at the foot of a woman he had a crush on).
I just wanted to marry someone who wouldn’t embarrass me in front of waiters.
Sounds trivial, right? Not really. I kissed a few toads before I met my Prince Charming, and discovered along the way that–more than anything else–I wanted to spend my life with a man who had heart, compassion and good manners. I found all that and more, eventually, but that’s another story.
To read more about what characters have taught Margaret and for a chance to win please click here.
One Comment
Margaret Carroll: Thank you for your blog. Here you raise a fascinating possibility.
I'm intrigued by your idea that an author writing about a fictional person (or, I assume, a real one), or a reader reading about one, can analyse that person to find out what one's own self is really like. One can ask: What is it about this person that causes me to identify with him/her? Of the many traits in that one figure, which are the most meaningful to me? Why?
I must try this technique, with both the characters I read and those I create. The results should be interesting, possibly eye-opening.
Anyone else want to try this?
Mary Anne Landers
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