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Favorite Characters From My Books (Challenge)

I was challenged by SGMijumaru to talk about my favorite characters from my own books. Actually, the name of the challenge was different, but I didn't care for it. Also, it looks like I'm supposed to list off my top five characters in reverse order, and I'm not going to do that either. What can I say? I'm a bit of a nonconformist.

In the spirit of the challenge, I'm going to be sharing about all of the characters I love writing about from my books on Wattpad. They're not going to be in order because I would feel so bad for the characters that didn't make the top. That's also the reason why I'm going to include as many as I feel like -- I can't bear to leave good characters out! Yes, I know these characters are fictional. They live inside my head, ok?

Anyway, since I'm going to be sharing characters from a few different books and discussing aspects of them that may have only been revealed near the endings, there will be spoilers ahead. Especially consider yourself warned if you haven't read to the end of The Girl with the Chikorita. Thank you! This has been your public service announcement for the day.

* My version of Delia Ketchum (Pokémon Rewritten) *

Easily my favorite character to write (at least so far) of Pokémon Rewritten. Delia definitely has a mature, adult perspective that I find to be both refreshing and emotionally resonant. While writing her, I've definitely gotten the sense that some of my readers might not connect with her so easily because of that, but I find myself enjoying rewriting the Pokémon anime in a way that could appeal to adults, regardless of whether or not there are any reading Pokémon fanfiction on Wattpad.

I love Delia's emotions and the way she handles them. They're often very strong, and she's not afraid to show them, even through tears. I enjoying promoting the idea that a "strong female character" doesn't have to be less like the traditional idea of a woman. She doesn't have to be less emotional. She can be a mother whose family is the most important thing to her. She can spend most of her day cooking. She can even give up on her chance of becoming a great Pokémon trainer (the world's idea of success) in order to raise her son. Ultimately, it's about why she makes the choices that she does and especially about the fact that she does the right thing in spite of great difficulty. Allowing those powerful emotions to shape her while also overcoming them when necessary is just one example of that.

I love challenging the simplistic view of "Ash's mom" shown in the original anime as well as challenging ideas about women both in the real world and as characters. I also personally connect with her in some ways that make me feel attached. I've got some great ideas for where she'll end up going as the story continues to unfold.

* Mary Ann (The Girl with the Chikorita) *

Mary Ann is a character who started from a really awesome concept. For a long time before I started the sequel to Getting Out of Fuchsia, I had an idea bouncing around in my mind of a character who could use sign language to speak to Pokémon. The notion that a Pokémon could speak in sign language arose quite naturally from my chosen worldview vis-à-vis Pokémon -- creatures with all of the intelligence of a human but merely limited vocal ability. It only made sense that they would be able to communicate through gestures and even through sign language as we know it if they happened to possess humanoid hands. Hypno is one such Pokémon, possessing five beautiful fingers on each hand.

I had been falling in love with my ideas for psychic Pokémon trainers, based partially on my memories of Sabrina from the anime and partially from the games themselves, which portray psychic trainers levitating pokéballs and performing other feats. That makes for some awesome abilities as well as the awesome depth that comes from being able to connect with your Pokémon on a telepathic level.