Here are some of mine:
Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien) My all-time favorite character. He's humble, brave, loyal, hard-working, determined and optimistic. I think Tolkien must have loved him too, because he gets everything he wishes for in the end.Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game, etc. by Orson Scott Card)
Emma Woodhouse (Emma by Jane Austen)
Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) Who doesn't love Elizabeth?
Jo March (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
Charles Wallace Murray (A Wrinkle in Time, etc. by Madeleine L'Engle)
Harry Potter (by J.K. Rowling)
I could go on and on, obviously. It's a thrill when characters jump off of the page (or screen or whatever) and start to live in your head. Even better is creating your own characters that become absolutely real to you. The biggest thrill of all though, in my opinion, is when those characters you created start to live in somebody else's head. A friend complimented me once by saying I was really good at creating believable, likable characters. That made my day. I ask everyone who reads my novel to tell me who his/her favorite character is. The answers always delight and often surprise me. There are quite a variety of characters they name too, which makes me hopeful that my characters are well-rounded. I loved it when my mom complained about the bad guy and how she wanted to kick his butt up between his shoulder blades. He was real to her. I love that.
So, what characters are so real to you that they feel like old friends. Who do you love or love to hate?
