Anyway.
Back in October, I wrote about Miley Cyrus. Heard of her?
Oh, good. My readers are living, breathing people, then. I'm so glad.
I said back then that books should be like her; bubbly, and pretty, and something that inspires an opinion. Kind of like candy, in a way; fluffy, a little mindless, but occasionally can send you into a fit because of the horrible, incessant calories.
She was the sugary treat of television.
I have something to add to that now.
I grew up with Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus isn't that much older than me. However, for a while, saying that you liked Miley Cyrus has been majorly taboo. I mean, come on; Hannah Montana? How vapid could you be?
But, like I said earlier; everyone has an opinion, just like the best books and the best characters. And millions of people loved the bubbly Miley Cyrus that we saw on Disney.
But what about now?
If you watch American Idol, you saw Miley as the mentor this week. A lot of people were slamming that decision, but it's kinda weird--she was actually one of my favorites to ever mentor.
Plus, there's this. That interview makes Miley look way more serious than I ever expected.
Suddenly, the girl in the wig looks like this;
and is talking about religion and politics.
How does that relate to writing?
Well, think about characters. The best characters change from the start to the end. Maybe, like Miley, they start out without much ground to stand on.
But slowly, they grow.
They evolve. You stop thinking candy and start thinking teenage girl. Yes, she's still gorgeous. Yes, she still is kinda bubbly. But she also comes across as smart and kind of down to earth.
My opinion of her has changed completely from just watching her speak and reading what she said. That's kind of hard to do, you know? Opinions tend to be set in stone.
So Miley Cyrus still epitomizes a good book. But now, instead of the sparkly, fluffy book, she epitomizes so much more.
She's the character you grow to like, and then respect. The one who literally grows up before your eyes and who makes you look at yourself and see more about you.
I mean, for me, looking at her at the start of Hannah Montana, I can see how young I was back then. I can see how much I've changed just from the memories that come with the show.
So what do you think?
7 comments:
What do I think?
I think that I'm jealous of Miley's eyes. And hair. And especially the dress. Sigh. I need to go shopping.
Oh, you meant the idea?
Well, I think it's quite true. I love when characters change and mature. I think that if they don't, then what the heck has been happening in the story? I think tht growing with the character is also very fun. Yepp. That's what I think :D
I think I'm jealous too. She really is gorgeous.
And I love characters that shift. It's hard to do, though, as an author.
I agree with Maggie. It's fun reading about characters that you can actually grow with and take a little bit of them with you. There are some books/characters that have touched me so deeply I think of them every once in a while maybe in some special situation. That's probably really hard to create as an author, but something I'd love to be able to do some day.
So yeah, I get your idea, and I try to do that to my characters. But uhm, Miley Cyrus? heh, I didn't grow up with Hannah Montana and to me Miley as always been too much of a bubble head. But hey, everybody's different, I love Kristen Stewart.
Aaah, your posts are always so amazing! Really, they're always so well-written and always *about* something. You're very good at this.
I agree with you about characters. I always want to write believable people that develop and grow with the reader. Trying to do that is definitely a work in progress XD
I've never looked at Miley quite like that either. I'm going to pay more attention to her now, lol!
~Kendra
Child stars do grow up. Miley has certainly had a ton of experience performing before thousands of screaming fans. It seems to me she was a very good choice for AI.
I have to say Sam...I love the way you think. You take something like a popular disney channel icon and turn her into a discussion of maturity and the elements of a well rounded character.
I would have to agree that growing up with such characters is neat because you see the person grow and mature into young people who orm opinions on issues...instead of ya know..dancing around in fairytale land. (Not that I'm dissing fairytale land. I still live there sometimes:)
It also helps you reflect upon yourself becuase you see how your opinions have changed. How your view of the world changes.
Aspen: Hah, I just picked Miley because of American Idol. Plus, I've never really liked her, but I'm kind of starting to. It's odd.
Kendra: Thank you! :D That pretty much made my day.
Bish: I think she was good choice too. It made me really pleased when she did a good job; people were SO MEAN for a while.
Maddie: Hah, if Kendra didn't make my day, that did. You like the way I think *blushes*.
FAIRYTALE LAND IS AWESOME. Don't diss it. However, I know what you mean.
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