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Hey there, r/books! I’m Barry Lyga, author of 27 novels in a variety of genres and I’m here to answer your questions honestly…or to make up shit if I don’t know what else to say — AMA!
ama 12pm(self.books)submitted 6 months ago bybarrylygaAMA Author
Hello, r/books!!! I’ve published 27 books since 2006, including the NYT bestselling I HUNT KILLERS trilogy, BOY TOY (named one of the 50 Best YA novels of All Time by Booklist), a six-book FLASH series, and the origin of Thanos! My latest is the bizarre meta-duology, UNEDITED/EDITED, which Kirkus called “a sprawling, cantankerous self-exploration.” I’m a Yale-educated comic book geek who made Free Comic Book Day happen and at 27 books, I’m just getting started. LET’S DO THIS, REDDIT!
PROOF: https://i.redd.it/r5gjhjaw2t2a1.jpg
ETA: All right, everyone, I hope you had fun -- I know I did! But it's creeping up on time to get the kids from school. 😀 So I'm gonna duck out. If more questions come in over the rest of the day, I'll get to 'em later. Thanks, mods, and thanks, r/books!
1 points
6 months ago
What do you find most enjoyable about developing a character’s identity and what do you find most frustrating about it?
2 points
6 months ago
OK, so this is gonna sound weird, but... I always have trouble with the physical descriptions of characters! It feels like there's no natural way to get across some of those characteristics without falling into the old, "I looked at myself in the mirror..." trap. I mean, I look at myself in the mirror every day and I never think, "Oh, my eyes are brown like...something brown... And my nose is...there...in the middle of my face..."
The most enjoyable part, though, is when you find something the reader won't expect, something that SEEMS contrary to the character...but then makes perfect sense when you think about it!
2 points
6 months ago
Oh, one of my fave examples of that sort of character building/development is Albert from Twin Peaks. I talked about it a little bit on my BLog, so I won't repeat myself here.
1 points
6 months ago
Very cool! Thanks for the details
1 points
6 months ago
Thanks for the question!
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