A to Z Theme Reveal

        I’m going to take part in the April A to Z Blog Challenge once again, and today is the official grand Theme Reveal.  Since last year’s theme was block printing, this year's is writing.  Specifically, I’m going to be self-centered and feature a character from one of my own books for each letter of the alphabet.  My plan, to keep things short and sweet, is not to do a lot of analysis, but simply to illustrate each character with an excerpt in which they’re introduced, described, or reveal aspects of their personality.  As you’ll discover, if you aren’t already familiar with my work, most of what I write is at least somewhat fantastical, and much of it is for children of a range of ages.  But those genre distinctions may or may not be evident in the excerpts I share.  It isn’t about the plot or the setting, although of course elements of those will be intertwined; it’s all about the characters.  Some are heroes, some are villains, some are just innocent bystanders.  Some of the characters are the main protagonists of my stories, while others are the main protagonists only of their own stories, and are quite minor characters in my books.  I hope that they will all seem equally worthy of attention.

        Of course, that begs the question inherent in sharing my own work: why should anyone care at all?  It’s an excellent question, and one that I don’t have a good answer for, since I still, after nearly eight years of blogging, can’t really understand why all us bloggers, tweeters, instagrammers, etc. seem to believe that everyone else in the universe should care what we have to say!  I’m no best-selling household name, and none of my books has ever been made into a blockbuster movie.  Not one!  But the alphabet challenge offers an interesting way to force a selection of characters that might not otherwise be obvious, to test the premise that every character should be interesting.  So I invite you to meet 26 of my characters, and see whether any of them catch your attention, make you curious about their stories, or just tickle your imagination.  I hope you’ll find them an entertaining bunch.

        I'll be doing a slightly modified schedule, starting early so I can spread out my posts just a bit.  (Don't worry: they'll still all be linked on the correct days.)  And while you wait for everyone else to begin their posts in April, if you’re interested in what other A-Z Challenge bloggers will be sharing you can check out links to all their Theme Revelations here.