Sunflower Blogger Award

Hi all! I've been awarded this award by Rye. Thank you, Rye!

The Rules:

• Share 11 facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you
• Nominate 11 bloggers
• Make 11 questions for the nominated bloggers

So here we go. First, eleven things about me...

1. I was born in China

2. I'm in public school

3. I like salad

4. I enjoy singing

5. I have (long) black hair

6. I love email and Google Chat

7. I like painting

8. Anime is a new fascination

9. I hate iPads

10. Google Drive is one of the best things ever created

11. I like meta tags

Now for the questions I'm to answer:

1. What are you currently reading?

The Royal Ranger...after skipping a bunch of books.

2. What book coming out soon are you most excited about?

The Warden and the Wolf King by andrew Peterson!

3. Do you like Mountain Dew(if you don't, I'll still forgive you... maybe :P)

Not allowed to have it.

4. Who is your favorite author?

How can I say? Bryan Davis...maybe.

5. What is your favorite series?

Echoes from the Edge.

6. What is your favorite stand-alone novel?

Moccasin Trail.

7. Do you like cats?

Depends on the cat.

8. What is your opinion of dogs?

They're awesome!

9. What is your favorite state(In America)

Good ole MN.

10. Spicy food or sweet food?

Definitely sweet.

11. What is your favorite movie?

Uh...Return of the King.

Now I tag...

Trista

Dark Wolf

CN

Raptor

Jag

Hyper

Agent

Yeah...that's not eleven, but I don't know of any others who regularly check my blog.

Now for my questions:

1. What's your favorite food?

2. What's the strangest thing you've ever done while writing?

3. Favorite type of computer?

4. Favorite sport?

5. Horses or dogs?

6. Did you watch at least some of the Sochi Olympics?

7. Salt or sugar?

8. Snow?

9. Hot or cold?

10. Favorite genre to write?

11. Favorite horse? (by name)

Developing Effective Protagonists

First off, I'm working on a blogging schedule, and it's very likely that Wednesdays will turn out as days I blog on writing, but I still have a few things to figure out, so bear with me please.

Okay, onto the the subject. A LOT of people blog about this subject, I know, but I decided a give it a try as well. So, first I'm going to go through a few things that irritate me about many Christian Fiction protags.

Virtuous

These characters have every virtue we could ever imagine or want. They make us feel like we can never live up to their example. As much as I love Bryan Davis, his females seem to have this problem. Well, Kelly not so mucht, but Bonnie, Sapphira, Lauren, and Elyssa certainly do.

Attractive

They are often extremely attractive, especially if they're single, and they don't even know it. That makes them even more appealing to the other gender. Not to say you shouldn't give your characters good looks. Just try not to lay it on too thick. Abigail from The Seven Sleepers has this problem.

Knowledge of the Bible

This group knows the Bible cover to cover...and that's a good thing! It's when they start preaching it constantly that it becomes a problem. You see, it's not that they know the Bible well at all. If they're a Christian character, they probably should. However, we, as Christians, should not just go around talking about the Bible, they should be doing what the Bible tells us to do (James 1:22-23).

You might be saying, "Oh Kya (or whatever your preferred name for me is), I don't make any of my characters like that!" I'm not saying you do. I'm just giving a heads up on some of the problems fiction writers have with their characters.

Now I can start talking about what to include in their characters once I've got the don'ts out of the way.

Flaws

They. Need. Flaws. It's as simple as that. It could be any type of hindrance: a physical problem, a scar from the past that impedes spiritual growth, a character trait that causes them to stumble.

Inspirational

Another trait that makes a good protagonist is making them inspirational, unforgettable. By nature, we want heroes. We want a character in the story to go out and fight evil, both outside and inside. We want a character that will persevere and, in the end, conquer the evil. Our characters can be like this while having flaws. What makes a truly memorable character is them being inspirational, and at the same time have problems that will allow the reader to relate to them.

Some books I've read in which the characters seem real are the Echoes From the Edge Trilogy by Bryan Davis, The Dark Wolf by JM Christian*, and The Berinfell Prophecies by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper.

Okay, I'm done ranting now, and as always I'd love to get comments from ya'll. If you take the time to read this, thanks so much.

*A review can be found here.

Randomosity. Yayz!

As denoted be the title, we have a entry made up of randomness today. =D
But first, Happy (late) Valentines Day!
Okay, now we can begin.

I was the only one in my Chinese class on Friday
I recovered a lost water bottle
School was released two hours early on Valentines Day
Black Hawk showed me the weirdest Valentine photos
I was obsessing over my blog (yes, this one)
Some of my characters hate me
Google misbehaves often
I like being glomped
Bad grammar is good-sometimes
Serving in Badminton is insanely hard
"Heart Week" at my school is obnoxious
My math teacher is awesome
So is math itself

Olympic Loyalties

This is a rather personal issue with me, but after much thought, I decided to post it. So here goes. *Takes a deep breath*.

So this Olympics posed a question for me: which country would I be competing for if I were in the games? Yeah, you might think I'm crazy for even considering competing for a country other than the US. Truth is, most of you are missing an important piece about me: I'm adopted from China. Yep, that brings up the question of whether I would be for China or the US.

I've always been a crazy Team USA fan, but this time I wondered what I'd actually choose. I mean, sure, I'm completely American, but I look Chinese, and that's also my origin. I really can't just ignore that.

I've seen Olympic athletes take both sides. There have been those who were adopted and chose to be with their home country. There have also been those who have gone for their birth country, even this year I know one who has chosen this.

I'm not going to tell you my decision right now, but I'd like to hear your opinions. Try seeing it from the eyes of an adoptee, and make a decision. If you don't want anyone to know, that's fine. I just want you to think on it a little at least. *shrugses* If you care to share, comment, and if you just want me to know, email me or put "private" in the comment. If I see that, I won't publish it.