Why I Don't Choose Favorites, Especially When it Comes to Characters | NaBloPoMo Day 4

Alright, so I haven't been planning on using the prompts from the NaBloPoMo list a whole lot this month, however today's prompt is "Who is your favorite character of all time?" And this brought up a lot of thoughts so I figured I'd take the prompt and roll with it.

I have two problems with this question: firstly, how am I supposed to choose a favorite character? There's so many to choose from. Maybe I haven't even met my favorite character yet. And secondly, I really don't like choosing favorites because I don't really think it's possible.

So let's start by pretending I believed in favorites and wanted to pick one for this question. What criteria am I going to use? Attractiveness, overall awesomeness, badassery, character arc? Can I choose a nonfictional character if it's from a memoir? There's so many options I really don't know who to choose. In reality, I'd probably choose Teddy Lupin. Who even is Teddy Lupin? Well he's mostly a character I've created in my head after years of Harry Potter withdrawals and fan fiction. He doesn't even exist canonically and my idea of him is probably entirely different than JK Rowling's. Out of canon characters, I'd have to say Draco Malfoy is pretty high up there. Percy Jackson for being awesome. (And many other characters from Rick Riordan's tales, because let's be honest, his characters have more development than pretty much anything.) Artemis Fowl, Ender Wiggin, and there's a billion more I know I'm missing. Not to mention some awesome character that I'm sure I haven't come across yet, but will love in the future. (*cough* Will Herondale I know you're out there. I just haven't read about you yet.)

Basically what I'm saying is it's near impossible to actually choose a favorite character and I'm sure most of you would agree with me.

That brings us to my second part of this post which is going to probably deviate from the original topic and morph into a rant of some sort. You have been warned.

Why do people constantly want others to choose favorites? Favorite movies, favorite books, favorite colors, favorite foods. They're go to "get to know you" questions. Favorites are really just a way to see what kind of person someone is. They give us an in to judge what we think of someone. If they're favorite movie is a lovey dovey rom com, they're obviously a hopeless romantic that is looking for their true love. If it's a fast paced action movie, they must be adventurous and exciting. Whatever your impression is from someone's favorite whatever, it's giving you an in to decide something about that person.

Now I'm not anti favorites by any means, I just think it's kind of an uncreative way to find stuff out about people. Also it's hard to choose favorites for anyone. Why subject people to that level of difficult decision making?

Maybe next time you have to ask someone a question to get to know them, think of something a little more creative to ask. Like what three things they would take with them to a deserted island or if you could be any animal what would you be or something even more creative.

Leave your creative questions in the comments!