The Rival

The best part about writing a story is seeing how people react to the characters. Granted, I haven't had that many stories finished to the point where I can show people and experience this but this weekend, I got it!

So, let me go into a little bit of depth on this, cause I was so stoked about it. 

This is my character, Claire (the one on the front)

 

She is the traditional, "Rival" character that is mandatory for any romance comic. If you're know Japanese comics, which my mom is fairly immersed in thanks to me, you know this; you know the character; you can spot her in an instant. So, when we were watching an anime this weekend together the rival character appeared and my mom says. "Oh! it's Claire." 

I just about cried. 

I don't know if this means that I've mastered the persona of "The Rival" in Claire, or that my mom was just actually paying attention to my piddly little 30 page chapter. But the one thing I do know, is that my character was memorable, even just a little bit, and that made me very, very happy.

What's interesting about the rival and my main character, who she's rivaling, are really the two halves of who I am; Jamie is the outward expression of myself and Claire is my inward self. I wonder if my mom sees those attributes of me inside the characters?

As this story develops and I write more and more about these characters, it's nice to see that attributes are developing which others can recognize or relate to. Maybe that's why there is always a "rival" in all the romance comics? Maybe everyone can relate to combating her, or even being her.