Jan 04 2009
Need inspiration for book characters? Try TV. My 20 faves.
One of the hardest things about writing, in my personal experience, is making characters work so well that they pretty much write themselves. I have one or two in the book I’m currently writing, but the other characters need a lot more work. Recently I’ve been looking for inspiration elsewhere and I find that some of the best characters written are characters for TV. I’ve constructed a list of 20 television characters from a range of shows (limited to ones I’ve seen of course) that I think jump off the screen… Here’s hoping yours jump off the page!
As always, please feel free to suggest some of your own. There are a ton of shows I don’t watch and I’m sure many of the include some pretty awesome characters worth watching.
In no particular order:
1. Josh Lyman, West Wing*
2. CJ Cregg, West Wing
3. Toby Ziegler, West Wing
4. Danny Concanon, West Wing
5. Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls
6. Luke Danes, Gilmore Girls*
7. Gregory House, House*
8. James Wilson, House
9. Michael Scott, The Office
10. Jim Halpert, The Office*
11. Pam Beesley, The Office
12. Dwight Schrute, The Office
13. Shawn Spencer, Psych*
14. Adrian Monk, Monk
15. Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
16. Bret McKenzie, Flight of the Conchords
17. Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood
18. Bill Compton, True Blood*
19. Michael Bluth, Arrested Development*
20. George Michael Bluth, Arrested Development
I regret missing out on characters of shows I don’t watch, like ER, Lost… Although I do want to start watching Big Love and John Adams! That is, after I finish West Wing.
*Should also qualify for hottest men on television… just saying.
