Friday, April 10, 2009

Your Character Crush: Dream, or Nightmare?

Way back in 2007, I wrote a post about Character Crushes.

I mentioned that I had a thing for Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Specifically, I said, "I didn't quite want to have his evil, soulless babies... but I thought he'd make an absolutely fabulous mistake."

Many of our readers had hilarious things to say about their crushes. Maren posted her list of character crushes and stated, "I look over that list, and realize that most of my fantasy character crushes are assholes and/or evil. Troubling. Which reminds me, add Professor Snape to that list."

Oh, Maren. It's so true. And it leads me to wonder... do we all seek inappropriate men (or women) in our fiction? All of my students love Edward, from Twilight (you might kill me, but I don't care). Then there's Valek, from the Mary Snyder's "Study" series (yes, yes! Bring on the ruthless assassin love!) And I don't know about the rest of you, but I've always had a bit of a thing for Liz Carlyle's character, Bentley Rutledge (you're a charming, tortured soul who's frequently implicated in criminal investigations. What's not to like?)

Share your forbidden character love with me. And tell me, if you met your character crush in person... would you want to cuddle up to him/her, or call the police?

28 comments:

Martha said...

Well, I'm retroactively concerned about my preteen crush on Zachary Grey - I was actually annoyed when L'Engle redeemed him. And then there was the Disney version where he was played by Jared Padelecki and saved the dolphins - that was a confusing adaptation!

Serena said...

Kate: I wonder what is it about those poets that you enjoy and I bet there is a contemporary poet that you would like who can meet those aesthetic needs.

professorsean said...

i've always had a thing for the female characters in chuck palahniuk novels, which means that they're invariably psychotic. often self-destructive. and occasional necrophiliacs.

yep, sounds like my ex-girlfriends.

- sean

Mowgli said...

I'm not even really attracted to men in real life, but I have the most ridiculous crush on Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars. Troubled, sociopathic rich boy with an abusive father and a serious self-destructive streak? Where so I sign up? I even know that in real life the actor is a scientologist, and it doesn't make any difference.

(I think I need to change my blogger id, because I realize this is going to show up as being posted by my dog...)

Toasty Joe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Riley said...

Sticking with the Buffy the Vampire theme, it's no secret I had a thing for Willow/Alyson Hannigan. Of course, then she started dating Seth Green and I realized I had no hope.

On the nightmare side, I had a string of name-related crushes that started with a girl whose last name was Reilly (which combined with a Saved by the Bell episode into the image of taking the name Riley Reilly) and ended with the main character in Romancing Riley (something about the handcuffs). *shudder*

Anneliese Kelly said...

Mowgli, I am so with you on the Logan Echolls lust. In real life, Mr. Tall Dark & Handsome is the farthest thing from a dangerous trouble maker (one of the many reasons I adore him). But something about Logan's so-wounded-I'm-evil schtick just works for me. Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass fills that role now, though not quite as well.

Can I get some love for Lord Byron, the original? Mad, bad, dangerous to know, and able to write perfect(ly hilarious) ottava rima.

Ladytink_534 said...

I adore Spike but Edward is pretty yummy. My favorite character besides these two is Eric Northman from the Sookie books lol. Of course I'd want to cuddle!

Kate Diamond said...

Yeah, the Romantics really knew how to live up the whole sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll thing. Good times! Bring on the pleasure dome.

Gotta love Byron, although I still resent having him inflicted upon me during an AP Lit test.

And the whole possible incest scandal with his half-sister... yeah, that's a bit much.

Brandy G said...

Yes, I always have had a thing for Spike (always much more than Angel, and extending even into the comics, if I want to out my geekiness to everyone).

I do have to say though, that any fiction crushes I've had I've tended to secretly change their 'bad guy' attributes into something much more topical and less 'bad' in my fantasies.
I guess I can't handle the true 'bad boy' unless my fantasy has me being the one to 'convert' him.
Huh.

Teddyree said...

I'm with Ladytink ~ Eric from Sookie Stackhouse novels can cuddle me anytime.

BTW - can't find the follow button or subscribe for the blog, am I blind or is it still coming?? LOL

Kate Diamond said...

Teddyree,

I think if you scroll down to the bottom of our blog, there's a link that says "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)." If you click on that, I think you'll get to subscribe.

Does that make sense? I hope I am not leading you astray!

Kate Diamond said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kate Diamond said...

(Yeah, I deleted my comment. Discovered a typo. Couldn't stand it.)

I was responding to Ladytink with a guilty confession: I was most interested in Edward in the first book, when he was (a) struggling not to kill Bella and (b) confusing her with cruel mood swings. What does that say about me, that I prefer moody, dangerous Edward to the loving, stable version?

Dorte H said...

I visited your blog the other day and liked what I saw - so I have borrowed some bits & pieces and put them here:
http://djskrimiblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/saturdays-extra.html

Cheers from a Danish blogger and crime fiction fan.

Sam said...

My character crushes tend to be older, a little bit tormented and not always easy to get along with, but also Good Guys. (Um, just like my crushes in real life. Turns out it doesn't work so well when I actually date them.)

See: Giles, Wolverine (the Hugh Jackman version), and Mal from Firefly.

Vivi Andrews said...

Oooh, Mal. Good call. I've definitely always prefered Spike to Angel. And my current character crush? Sylar from Heroes. No, I don't want to have his little serial killer babies, but an unabashed villain totally turns my crank. So much more than whiney, conflicted, angst-ridden "good" guys.

Anonymous said...

I was dragged to "Harry Potter" by my friends thinking it would be totally lame. Then I saw Snape.

I have to agree that he is an object of lust. He was like Trent Reznor, but a Trent Reznor who could give me detention for not wearing panties. And that my friends, is a good thing.

I would also totally bang Buffy.

Anonymous said...

I thought that I was getting better, as my one great fantasy love, John Doggett, is just a flat out good guy. Then, last night, my latest fictional crush, Nick Cutter (mm, Scottish!), was described by another character as "emotionally toxic" and "relationship disaster." And before that, it was The Master. Name says everything. So, I guess not much changes after all.

maren

Also, Snape detention for not wearing panties might be the most awesome thing that I have ever read.

Chantal said...

I want to be the meat in a Ranger (Evanovich Plum series)and Wrath (Ward BDB series) sandwich.
I don't care if either of them forget my name in the morning. I just want to do them. Lots of times. Over and over and over again.
Hehe.

Alaine said...

I'm going to go with Jamie from the Outlander series. There is just something so good about him. I definately wouldn' run if I met him LOL.

Kate Diamond said...

Seneca, do you have a blog? If so, we would love to keep up with you! (Blogger won't let us access your profile, which is why we ask...)

Chantal said...

Hi Kate, I do have a blog and you have been there :-)
I'm not sure why people can't see my profile anymore, I'll fix it.
Thanks for the heads up.

Kate Diamond said...

Seneca,

Excuse me for being a moron with no memory! :)

This is the message I get when I click on your name: "The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile.

If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile."

Chantal said...

Hehe, no problem :)

I asked a few people, and they are getting the same message as you. I have it set so that everyone can see my profile and get to my blog, I'm not sure what is wrong with it.
Darn blogger glitch.

Kate Diamond said...

For now, can you post a link to your blog here? I want to add you to our sidebar!

Chantal said...

It's already there, LOL.
Read with Me is me :)

Kate Diamond said...

Wow. Now I feel super-silly.

Are you judging me right now? Because I'm judging me right now...