QotD: My Fictional Counterpart
What character in a book can you connect with or relate to the most?
Submitted by Eating A Book.
I never got around to answering this one when it was the QotD, so I'm answering it now. Well, I'm sort of answering it. I couldn't really think of a character that I've connected to a lot recently, which is strange for as much as I read. The character that really stands out in my mind is one I connected with when I was in elementary school, and that would be Harriet from Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.
I never wanted to be a spy, but I wanted to be a writer, so I always had a pen and notebook with me. I also was (and am) a big people-watcher, and I often wrote little snippets in my notebook about the people I saw or my thoughts about why people did what they did. I'm much more of a watcher than a joiner, and I had this whole theory as a kid that I was an alien left behind to figure out the humans and eventually report back to my home planet. I blame that completely on my dad and all the Star Trek we watched together. LOL
I also learned a very valuable lesson from Harriet that people may not want to actually know the things you can pick up about them. When she lost her notebook and people saw what she'd written about them, everyone turned on her. With that in mind, I wrote stories about what I saw and didn't actually use any real names or real locations. I had a very elaborate code that I used, and when my notebook got picked up by someone else, I got lots of praise about my funny stories. No one needed to know that they were the stars of the show, so I didn't tell them.
I still carry around a notebook, but I don't try to keep any secrets in it. In fact, I often use it to jot down ideas for future blog posts. :)
