Who and What Kinds Of Characters Should Authors Be Writing About

By John Alexander C. Agujetas (Grade 9)

It should come as no surprise that authors are divisive. Frankly, it’s likely that no other profession has had the profound, mind-altering and thought-provoking effect that authors have caused through the years, all of them in different cultures, affecting different people and their different minds. There’s always room for interpretation in the context of a literary piece and no amount of explanation will fully clarify the author’s message.

Tackling characters specifically though reveals other things that you wouldn’t quite perceive at first glance, exactly like all the small details you would miss after glancing at a person for example. They inherently call to us, draw parallels and sometimes, they are us. Just in book form and preserved with paper and lines of ink. It calls to me personally as the purest form of character expression and the closest you can get to immortalizing yourself.

Now that I’ve blabbed on about all the artsy literature teacher over analyzation aspects of a character let’s get to the titular topic. There are two categories I want to see: the realistic and the idealistic. I’m sure that you’ve drawn conclusions from just the names but let’s discuss in depth.

Firstly, the idealistic. In all its forms and all it’s appearances, it’s always just out of reach, just barely there- that apple above your head that you always think you can reach but somehow never do. These, I think, serve as incense to the reader of what they could be, what prestige power, and respect one could hold if one just worked hard and studied hard enough.

The realistic, well it hits closer to home, right beside in fact. It’s no secret that others have it better, the lottery of birth works out that way and there’s nothing to be done once you’re in that position. Everyone around you is going places and you sit and stay, frozen. The realistic is a gentle reminder that there’s always someone in the same or worse place as you, so pick yourself off the ground and get to work.

The current situation is bad for everyone, and downright hostile to us writers: We’re quitting left and right in a de-facto mass exodus. But remember this each time you blink tired eyes at a manuscript of nonsensical words that never seem to quite make sense- to someone, they will make sense, and if that someone by any chance takes away what they needed from your so called ‘trashy manuscript’. Then it was all worth it.