Sunday, October 3, 2010

Wheels

This weekend I bought my first brand new car. I'll always love my first car, a geriatric gold Saturn station wagon that was so far from cool it was actually hip (that's what I believed, anyway).  After a lot of pondering about what constituted a "Guin car", I bought myself a green Subaru Outback. It can carry two bikes, two kayaks and my camping gear, it can tow a small boat or a cart for home project supplies, it gets good gas milage, and it it also has the all-important luxury of heated front seats.
All my musing about what kind of car fit not just my lifestyle, but my personality (VW Bug convertible? A big SUV like the Honda Pilot? A Mini-Cooper?) made me think about the wheels our favorite characters drive. 

It's just one more of the little details that help define who our characters are and what's important to them. James Bond drives an Aston-Martin. Jace Waylander in The Mortal Instruments series occasionally hops onboard a demon bike. There's Bella's truck in the Twilight series and all the sports cars of the Cullen brood.  My protoganist, Lauren, in The Goddess of Vengeance Wore Pink Galoshes drives a Honda Fit; in Shards of Glass, April drives a Ford Thunderbird. And that's important, because April is flashy and wild, and Lauren is practical and sweet.

It's not like cars define our characters (or us), but as writers we should try to use a rich detail rather than a bland one whenever possible. And as readers, we appreciate details that are specific rather than vague. What does your favorite character have for wheels?

5 comments:

dolorah said...

My favorite guy drives a distinctive, red, Chevy S-10. He likes the color red. I picked that truck for him because it is my sister's favorite.

Your new wheels is very cool.

Good luck with the blog-write :)

......dhole

Old Kitty said...

My mc drives a Landrover Discovery 4x4 and it's a very deliberate purchase by the character too who would normally not have been seen dead in one! :-)

Enjoy your car - it looks great!! Take care
x

Unknown said...

What a fun way to think about things!!! I have to say that my characters have it easy, one has the ability to travel without cars, the other would use a carriage seeing as it's a different time.

Great post! Excellent choice of car, fully functional!

Summer Frey said...

Great choice! We're looking to replace our car with something a little more fuel efficient.

The only time I've made a specific decision on a character's car was for the MC's love interest, who was a country kind of dude, a cop, and all-around Southern boy...who drove a Prius.

Katie Axelson said...

One of my characters drives an orange truck. Everytime I see an orange truck I think of him... is that bad?

<>< Katie