Character Type: Tricksters

A couple weeks ago, Elisa asked about characters: what about them attracts us, and why? And what might that say about us?

Both as a writer and reader, I love sneaky characters. Tricksters. I love thieves and spies and assassins. I love when characters pretend to be something they’re not, particularly when discovery would put them in extreme jeopardy.

As a kid, this meant that I adored Robin Hood and Zorro. Discovering Tamora Pierce’s first Alanna book at age seven, I fell in love. Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief? Watch me drool.

I love writing sneaky characters. I won’t claim to be good at it, but I love it. They’re harder, because so much is going on below the surface and the writer has to know what. The writer has to drop hints and foreshadowing without giving the trick away. Or maybe the reader is in on the trick, which presents its own set of challenges.

There are some blindingly obvious parallels between my love of characters who pass as something they are not and my love of theatre and acting. What it says about me? That I would make an awesome spy.