Lynne Marie Has Thoughts about Unlovable Main Characters

 by Sue Heavenrich

Being a bug-loving person, I often read books with characters who, if we met them in real life, we might swat with a broom.  One day I got into a conversation with Lynne Marie about picture books featuring “vermin.” In addition to being an author, Lynne Marie is the director of Rate Your Story and the Seasonal and Special Acquisitions Editor at The Little Press Publishing. Not only does she know a thing or two about picture books, she's written one with a main character who is a real rat! Before we get chatting about unlovable critters, let's check out Lynne Marie's book, The Palace Rat, illustrated by Eva Santana (‎Yeehoo Press, 2023).

Henri lives a pampered life in Versailles, the palace of King Louis the XIV! Cook serves Henri the tastiest tidbits. Tailor stitches up attire fit for … well, the King’s pet. The palace servants wait on Henri paw and food, but not everyone is happy to serve a … Rat! So they set out to rid the palace of vermin. 

Fortunately, he escapes an untimely demise and ends up in the company of country rodents. They take Henri in, and teach him basic survival skills while he plans his return to the palace. But can Henri adapt to a simple life? I don’t want to spoil the ending for you; you’ll have to read it and find out for yourself.

Me: Hi Lynne Marie and welcome to the GROG! You already know that I love slugs and bugs as characters in a book. But do you feel there are readers who are reluctant to buy books with unlovable animals as main characters?

Lynne Marie

Lynne: These characters do appeal to certain folks. There are people who gravitate towards creepy crawlies, and some who love monster stories. Others prefer bears and bunnies. But for some reason some people have a thing against rats. (my note: Despite that, the movie, Ratatouille  received a 96% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.)  

And it’s not just rats. People also don’t like bugs, specifically spiders. They have preconceived notions about these creatures. This reluctance tends to disappear when you look at people who read STEM books featuring them. It could be that with nonfiction books, you’re  already appealing to a subset of people, most of whom will like bugs, for example.

Me: I realize you wrote The Palace Rat a long time ago. What made you choose the rat as the main character? 

Lynne: I went back to college a couple decades ago, and got to spend the summer in France. I was waiting on line at Versailles, gathering story ideas, and happened to see a rat running across the courtyard. That got me wondering: what if that rat was a relative of a rat from the French Revolution? Or a pet of the Sun King, Louis XIV? And what if it was dressed in finery, and dined on gourmet food at the palace?

And then I wondered: what would happen to a pampered rat if he escaped a plot to exterminate him and ended up in Avignon? In the countryside? I was thinking a bit “city rat/country rat,” only in this case the palace rat would be quite the snob.      

I wrote this story in 1998, as I was studying and spending time in France, but it was published just a couple of years ago. It may sound like a simple story, but there are a lot of layers, a lot of things a reader can take away from the tale:

• It introduces us to new places and a historical era;
• It examines the question of what true riches are; and
• It asks what brings people happiness. 

In Henri’s case, he discovers that what’s most important is paving your own path in life, having friends who appreciate you and finding your talent and audience.      

Me: There is no shortage of rodents in kid-lit. I remember reading about Ralph in The Mouse on the Motorcycle. 

Lynne: There are a few other literary rats, too, but often they are presented in a negative light. Templeton, the rat in Charlotte’s Web, helped save Wilbur the pig. But he had a number of undesirable traits that may not have endeared him to readers. Then there’s Scabbers, Ron Weasley’s pet rat in the Harry Potter books. Scabbers was old and scraggly, and eventually revealed to be the evil Peter Pettigrew. 

Here’s a thing about rats: most people don’t understand how fascinating they are. Scientists taught rats how to drive small cars, and discovered that the rats preferred driving over walking! (There's a video of them driving around on YouTube)

Me: Thanks for sharing that video with me. I found out that the rats liked their cars so much that they would take a longer route to the rewards if it meant they could drive! Like some people I know... 

Thank you so much, Lynne, for joining us here on the GROG today. Folks can learn more about Lynne Marie's books and other ventures at her website, literallylynnemarie.com

Rats aren’t the only unlovable critters in books. There are picture books featuring cockroaches, slugs, snails, naked mole rats, dung beetles, skunks, and ugly fish. Sometimes all these characters need is for a reader to take them home from the library for a few weeks and read their stories. Who knows – you might be amazed to find yourself falling for an unlikely, and possibly slimy – or smelly – hero.

After reading The Palace Rat, you might want to read some of these books (and there are tons more - check your local library and bookstore):

Creating Characters with Melquea Smith

 

Photo by Pablo Izquierdo - Capturing Belief

 Melquea Smith (pronounced "Mehl-kwee-yah”) is an award-winning children’s book illustrator based in New York. She is an administrator for BlackCreatorsHeadquarters and also a PAL member of the West-Central New York SCBWI region, which is how I met her. And – she has two books that release this fall: The Time Machine (October 2) and The Biggest Gift of All (November 16).

I’ve been wanting to chat with her about illustrating kids’ books, and we finally got together (virtually) a few weeks ago. It was a delightful chat; Melquea bubbles over with joy when she talks about the characters she has illustrated. I asked her all kinds of questions about how she goes from an author’s manuscript to creating a three-dimensional, very much alive character on the page.

Cardinal Rule Press

Me: What’s the first thing you do when creating a character?

Melquea: I start with the story, and after reading it over a few times I begin thinking about what sort of character might inhabit the story. In particular, what sort of character haven’t I created before? I think about their features: are they light-colored or darker? Is their hair kinky or curly? Who is in their friend group, and how do they fit in? How do they dress? For example, in The Time Machine the main character, Bailey is very sciency. She’s not the type of girl to wear frills – but her best friend, Nia, is.

Also important for me is to find a way to add the experience of black girlhood, from the accessories they wear to how they act. This is where I bring my lived experience, growing up a Black girl.

Includas Press

I also think about what I don’t see in the media. I want to showcase the spectrum of personhood, celebrate the soft, dark-skinned black boy, for example. So many times we focus on spunky characters or those who have been hardened by life experiences. This is why we need more books, because one single book can’t be the catch-all to represent the spectrum of experiences.

Me:  I notice that you illustrate characters from diverse ethnicities and cultures…

Melquea: Yes, and I do research, just as an author does. Tia and Mia, in The Biggest Gift, are twins. They are also Asian. Whenever I create characters, I pay close attention to stereotypes of marginalized groups and steer away from them. Stereotypical images are like when you write a cliché. The other thing I do is try to add a little bit of myself to my characters. Mia, for example, wears cat ears. I’ve done that – and continue to do that!

Me: Once you get your idea for characters, what’s next?

Melquea: I begin working on “discovery sketches” – just to learn who my characters are. I grab a sheet of computer paper and a marker and I start playing around with shapes for their face. I might snap a photo with my phone for sketches I particularly like, Then when I get a good feel for the shape and language of my character, I’ll go deeper. I might play around with proportions, sketch different body types, try on some different hair styles: afro? ponytail? locs? I’m looking for what feels right for that particular character. 

At the same time, I want to make sure that my character doesn’t look like others I’ve drawn in previous books. I’ll also put them in a line-up with other characters in the book to see how they complement each other, as well as how they differ.

When I get their looks down, I play around with how they move through space. I might invite them to go out for ice cream with another character, and sketch them together. I’m also attentive to visual and personality quirks that help them interact with other characters.

Me: I’ve invited a character or two to share hot cocoa and cookies with me…

Melquea: Yes, like that. Illustrators need to sit with our characters. We need to know how they move both within the story and outside the story. How are their fingers positioned when they talk to a friend? Sometimes adding a small detail to a face can really make their emotion come through – and we have to capture that emotion on the page.

Me: Thank you so much for inviting us into your illustrator’s life!

You can read more about how Melquea designs characters over at her blog. Learn more about her and her books at her website and on her  Instagram .