A story comes alive only with- characters

All the photographs and sketches nave been made by (hello, me) Akshita Gupta.

I love reading books. I love reading books that are good  so interesting that you just have to, no matter what happens have to finish it- even if an earthquake comes, or an alien invasion or maybe even the morning cup of tea being boiled over. Okay, that's an exception.

And now, the book which can fit into the category and my shelf of satisfying books- Jacob Hills. Check the book out.

Ismita Tandon Dhankher with the book

 Jacob Hills got this one point in my head which I had not realized earlier. What runs the story? A plot. What runs the plot? The story. 

That was the typical thing I had in my mind since I came into some 'book club' in fourth grade.

But this book got a new thing in my head- I tell you, the best things happen over a great cup of hot coffee. Why was I so desperate to finish the book? Why was I praying that everything should go good? Why was I believing this book? Why did I treat it as real?

Simple. It had characters. 

Great characters. Intense, graceful, bold, adorable characters. 

You wanted to interview the villain. You fell for the hero. From the ankle to the attitude, everything was happening right in front of you. The imagery created was 'awe- stonishing'. 

Another book, was the Hobbit. It had a lot of description about the characters  so well created and written.

And that's what has kept inspiring me. The characters. 

You wrote a book? 

Hmm. 

It's got good characters? 

What?                                                                   

Good characters, hello, do you have any? 

Dunno. nope.

Gracias.

And hereby, the unique character herself, Akshita Gupta, presents you a set of fresh characters, all ready to amuse or mystify or upset or depress or anger or happy you. It's showtime!

yes, made by me. (I added coffee powder for that brown smokey look)

1. Stan the man. Just kidding. REKHIMP THE GREAT 

REKHIMP THE ROBBER

He robs. Chains, gold and your business company right in front of you.

But, there's a flashback...he robbed someone's heart.
By that, there are two meanings.
He let go of a lover, and he killed someone.
And both are connected in one very common way......
Now they just call him the robber.
No one pays attention. One day you can't see him, or maybe no one noticed, and the other day he is just sulking behind the bar. He does not even want to get fast money, it's just that there is a reason he has to.
There are five main points in his life, the can be depicted like this:

Satisfied and glad,
With everything he had.
A roof, a girl,
but then someone just made it twirl.
There was a promise,
and someone not of his word is not a man,
another won the heart,
and his, injured,
in a fraction of events, everything blurred.
The promise was still pending,
The heart was not mending.
But he stuck up to being brave,
he had to do what he could save.
Blood and anger flew past,
faster than light, the urge was fast,
in a second, a heart darkened.
And another stood by the end of the road.
And she had to take up another load.
For it is more painful to witness something you have lived not to see.
But maybe life makes you ready for something you did not want to be.
He had fallen somewhere...
You might have called it love,
Well, After that, no one saw a dove.
But everything that falls has to break,
if you have to give, you have to take.
So he had to compensate,
his love was now just his hate.
He fled, he did not want to make anything worse,
He left the place with a curse,
He returned back, but depressed,
He knew he could not mend what he had messed.
And now, he sits by the bench,
smoking his merciless pipe,
thinking about those days that would never come back....
but his soft heart still had this lack....

loved the way I drew her!

2. Bella Diable 
In the Catalan language, she means 'Beautiful Devil'.

And she is one.

Slowly, swiftly she makes her move. Her advantage is her looks. She attracts people- no one's ever seen someone like her,  and then

she does what she wants to. She does not commit small crimes like robbery, instead she aims at the big things that have a good value. She's broken hearts, cheated suitors of their money and murdered dealers. 

She is the bella diable. What's in a name? 

3.  Crimscar
Crimscar is not as beautiful as Bella Diable, but she is good enough.
She is rather dumb, and thinks of her being the opposite.
And this foolishness lands her in trouble, for herself, always.....


4.  

4. Breohk 
Breohk is young and lively, but she has an annoying habbit that makes people tag her as the 'I'm ready girl'. That's just the polite version of what she's called. What they really say is 'unnecessary phobia creator'. 
She's scared that something will happen to her, something, she's not sure what. 
So she has hidden cameras, air pressure tubes, skate-cum-shoes, snorkeling equipment, water proof T-shirt, a hiking and trekking rope, a pepper spray with her - all the time.
She is comical and makes people laugh without exactly making a fool out of herself.
But she's scared, all the time. Nothing even happens to her.
Though in the end, something does happen....

5. Miyantra- the extremist

Beauty has changed it's meaning over the world.
But Miyantra is very beautiful; without make up, without fancy clothes. 
However she is an extremist.
And that's the problem.

6- You know them- they're all part of the Cliche

THIS ILLUSTRATION STARS....

Minnie, Natasha, Vini (left to right)

Natasha rules these girls. And that's how their cliche is formed.

Minnie and Vini are less cooler (or whatever adjective you want to add) of Natasha.

These three characters can come of use in any kind of story.

A one with high school drama fits in perfectly.

A romantic genre can also work.

Otherwise, maybe some very girlish book. You get what I mean, don't you?

Had to paint the background and then do the drawing. Anyways, it was worth it  

7. Jasmine- a (desperate) desi housewife. Or maybe just a wife. 
Sometimes, not even a wife.

Parties, boyfriends. money gambling girl. Money spending girl.
A little- dumb. And also, very cunning- a little smart. 
Marries for money. Breaks a marriage for money.
She is rich. She is crazy.
An Americanized version of the typical modern bahu.

  8. The Loner
Mysterious, dark woman. She is not scary, but she is not someone who makes people smile either. 
She roams around at night, often when the stars are bright.
No one has really seen her face. 
And she always wears a blue dress, with grace.
 Seen her around? 
She's easy to spot. She is one of a kind, you see.

9. For the fiction lovers, I present to you....

Hisavah, the- oh well, just add on something

This one is for the fiction lovers. You might just want to watch another Scary Movie.

By that, The 'Scary Movie (s)', are not exactly scary, unless and until you are a person who gets spooked by the smallest cobweb. A lot of irony, huh?

Hsivah has got that crackle in his laughter that makes people want to cry.

His smile makes people nervous.

His paleness makes people freeze.

His eyes make people hypnotized. 

His stupidity make no one make fun of him.

His intelligence makes no one praise him, either.

10.Not exactly on the wanted list....

No one really knows him, but it is alleged that his name is XXX (Identity cannot be given).

But many people, instead call him Sam. 

Funny name for a typical Indian street roamer who spends his time on cheap bikes and teases girls.

Okay, not very sure about the latter, this man is pretty busy- does some strange work..

11. That's the dream.

She's actually: (somewhat) 

People really expect and anticipate a lot. 

But deep in, they anticipate with practicality. 

And by practicality, I mean the attitude or the correct sensation of:

I know it's never going to happen.

And that's exactly what Anita is. 

Dreams of being a dramatic queen- hold on she is one! So I guess, it's just a queen.

poor girl. (Yes, financially and sympathetically)

Maybe, Dreams never come true.

Well, to get some hope, hop on to the next character.

Not exactly how she looks.  But yes, it's the feeling she emits...



12. Smita ....
Heard that song by the boy band You don't know you're beautiful!"
That's what Smita is.
She makes everyone smile, and spreads laughter.
She has a good sense of humour,
and she loves playing the guitar.
She is not pretty, but her bubbly face and heart filling smile makes everyone gaze at her with amazement.

13. (The unlucky number..)

Now, shouldn't there be a good setting for our characters.....??

14. The man who comes and goes...
Profepest- (With the Past, Present and Future)
According to me, the sketch has been made exactly like this character. The background shading represents the past, shady, dark, and over. His fingers are in the direction of the present form, where he currently is and he walks into the future. This man does not keep the trust of people- not dishonest, but not to be sure of either. And neither does he trust anyone else. He is dark and cynical- two words that actually define him. 

The weird teacher

She is always angry. It's creepy when she suddenly gets a smile on her treacherous face. She pulls kids by her ear, and treats herself as being very important, but kids really don't care about the french teacher. Her name's xxxx (sorry, cannot tell that, her identity has come out of my experiences..)

She makes the class laugh. Not because she's got some awesome sense of humour, she is- you know what. The teacher. Good bye, scary, gloomy and boring ones who remember to put on their lipstick. 

17. Nerdy Naina
She's a nerd who lives to study and studies to live. And that  too not only textbook based. She's incredibly intelligent, of course, but also fun. 
The sad fact is, people only like her  when they're alone with her. They act as though they're out of her league to hang out with her but they all know how interesting it is to be with her- to never get bored.


THE LAST AND FINAL CHARACTER- DRUM ROLL, PLEASE

That's right.
IT IS YOU.


You are the next character. It is you, only you, who can be YOURSELF.

You are different, you are great. 
Some people love you, some people hate.
You have someone, you're all alone,
Some just love your tone.
You are different, better than the rest,
And that is proved in the, 
life test.
You always light up,
like in a fest.
And you are sure that...
you are the best. 






This contest is in association with The Jacob Hills contest by Indiblogger.



Don't Forget to read Jacob Hills! And tell me what you feel about the characters in the book!
And mine too!!!



Need some help, guys? These characters are great, (I know, they're created by me, that's why!) but how do we start with a story? Hmmmm....according to me, it can go like this.....


No one likes a 'once upon a time' start anymore. It's dark and faded like pages gathering dust, and not appreciation. Gadreston town was a place everything seemed to happen and nothing too. If you were an insider, you would know everything, in and out. But if you were someone like a tourist, this place would be incredibly boring. 
The wind started a conversation about the season. A man sat on a bench, smoking his cigar. He looked into the sky. What he was thinking nobody knows. Luckily, this dark and cynical man is not a hero in our story. Moving on, a young girl was walking through the lane. She was insecure and looked introvert. She wore an indigo top, and black jeans with her spectacles. With hardly any make- up on, she looked pretty. She was carrying a bag full of papers, files and documents. And if you would check it, you would be able to see an effort to make a visa- for Europe, it seemed so. Her name was Naina. She smiled at Profepest and walked away.
..................
He sat next to Rekhimp, and patted him. He took a cup of tea from the chai walla and nodded. "Long day, huh?" No reply.
"How's everything? Oh, stop smoking that poor pipe and get some self esteem back!" Finally, Rekhimp stood up. "Profepest, I would appreciate it if you left me alone for some time. I have some thinkin to do." He had a fair complexion, but his dark circles outlined that away. It all looks so easy, life. People teach about how to marry, raise kids, go to college, but who taught you, at the start about how to live?? 
.................
It's funny how lives connect with each other. Cases might be incredibly different but in Gadreston town, everything was possible.
Everything.
....................
The lights were on and a woman entered. She walked swiftly, gracefully. She wore a long, red dress. She had dark curly hair, and only wore a necklace with a pendulum of an oyster.  It was attractive, extremely. She had a glass in her hand, a quarter of her champagne was left. She was la bella diable. Beware. As she walked on, she held tightly to her purse, as though it was more important than a person's life. A person's life....
......................
Jasmine tried her best to not look stupid. She could not cook even one thing, she cursed herself. She was feeling low lately, ever since her second marriage did not seem to work out. It was extremely painful. She wanted to show the world she had feelings. That for her, her life mattered, and it was not like just another trip home. It was painful, extremely. She picked up the phone, ready to call in some food. And she dialed.....
......................
Come on, Mini, Vini. How long are you going to take, she thought. She wore a lot of gloss, and hoola loops. Her hair was hazel and brownish, with purple highlights. Finally, two girls arrived. "Natasha, where do we go now?"
She cursed under her breath. "I need a new makeover. Lets go."
And they went around, sat in the car, and switched on the radio....
................
"How long will you continue this crap, Miyantra?" 
She sighed. Women wore long earrings and boots.They also had long, beautiful hair. She was a lady in black, forced like that. Oh how she longed to break free!!
 OR ???
......................



So well, that's about it!!!!
Be a good character yourself, don't be influenced, and remain an original  forever!!!!!