LOL! I didn't actually remember the editing, but I found my editors' comments in the file, so now it's clear what both Ami and Karen thought--they didn't like my protagonist.
What can I say? I created a woman--an INTJ--who is intellectual, aloof, independent, and determined. A warm fuzzy, she's not. ( I happen to be an INTJ, which probably explains why Diana made perfect sense to me.)
I had to try and find ways to make Diana a little softer and more sympathetic. I wrote her scenes in first person because she makes some pretty wild decisions and I thought it was important that readers understand her thought processes.
I still see the occasional review of this book where people think Diana did the wrong things and is a terrible person. Well, we all do wrong things . . . and Diana, at least, learns from her mistakes. Personally, I think Diana appeals more to readers who are "thinkers" (in Myers-Briggs parlance), and she probably repulses women who are strong "feelers."
But that's just the way she is.
Tomorrow: The results/reader reaction.
~~Angie
Ooo, I'm an ISTJ so I bet I'd like her. I love characters that are thinkers. What was the personality type for the girl in The Awakening? I loved her so much. Crazy as she was. ;) What can I say? I relate.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to read The Pearl!
I no longer have my notecards for The Awakening, but I think Aurora was an INFJ or INFP. (Can't remember if she was a piler or a filer.) :-) I always give my characters Myers-Briggs designations--helps me characterize them in a snap!
ReplyDeleteI'm an INTJ too, and I related so strongly to this book. This was the book that completely sold me on Christian fiction and made me the addict I am today. :) I literally cried my way through the first seventy pages or so. The Pearl changed the way that I viewed fiction and how it could be written.
ReplyDeleteFor those of us who are in the dark, can you elaborate just a little on the code letters you are using to describe these characters? What is an INTJ (icky, nasty, tedious joker???). Enquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteI'm an INFP and definitely found a lot in common with Aurora!
ReplyDeleteAngie,
ReplyDeleteI came across this list of Famous INTJ's and thought you might enjoy it:
Famous INTJs:
Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers)
Susan B. Anthony
Arthur Ashe, tennis champion
Augustus Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus)
Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)
William J. Bennett, "drug czar"
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironsides)
Chevy Chase (Cornelius Crane) (Fletch)
Phil Donahue
Michael Dukakis, governor of Mass., 1988 U.S. Dem. pres. candidate
Greg Gumbel, television sportscaster
Hannibal, Carthaginian military leader
Veronica Hamel (Hill Street Blues)
Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote)
Orel Leonard Hershiser, IV
Peter Jennings
Charles Everett Koop
Ivan Lendl
C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Joan Lunden
Edwin Moses, U.S. olympian (hurdles)
Martina Navratilova
Charles Rangel, U. S. Representative, D-N.Y.
Pernell Roberts (Bonanza)
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California
Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh), mystery writer (Brat Farrar)
Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor
Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense
General Colin Powell, US Secretary of State
Lance Armstrong
Richard Gere (Pretty Woman)
Katie Couric
U.S. Presidents:
Chester A. Arthur
Calvin Coolidge
Thomas Jefferson
John F. Kennedy
James K. Polk
Woodrow Wilson
Fictional:
Cassius (Julius Caesar)
Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)
Gandalf the Grey (J. R. R. Tolkein's Middle Earth books)
Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis
Ensign Ro (Star Trek--the Next Generation)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Hamlet)
George Smiley, John le Carre's master spy
Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs)
You can find this list and more info on the INTJ personality type here:
http://typelogic.com/intj.html
Of course, being a uber-Google-savvy INTJ, you've probably already seen this ;)
Kelli
Yes, I had seen it, but it's just as fascinating the second time. I match Hannibal Lecter and Mr. Darcy! Eeek. At least I see where Diana gets her detached quality.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kelli!
Angie