The Writerly Sibling Tag

Hello! I am back with a tag that has waited a shameful span of time for me to complete it. Without further ado, I present The Doorman's Writerly Sibling Tag, tagged direct from the man himself. To start off, here are the rules:

• Thank the blogger who tagged you and provide a link to their post. (Thankee kindly, good sir!)
• Answer the inquiries, including any ones added by #6.
• Always use your own characters. No exceptions, unless you don't actually have sibling characters (in which case you need to go and write some) or you don't write (in which case you need to start ASAP).
• Tag three other bloggers.
• If you happen to have any siblings who blog, they are automatically tagged, and they cannot count toward your three.
• Add one question of prompt to the list you were tagged with (see at the bottom of this post, or at the bottom of Doorman's, as I was tagged first).
• Close out the post with some honoring of the King of Kings. 

Alright. Now that that's settled, I will start answering the questions.

 

           

 Name the most annoying sibling character in any of your stories (Either annoying to you as the author or to any other characters)

Eh... That's a hard one. Really, siblings all annoy one another (let's be honest), so it's more realistic to pick ones annoying to the author. (Unless you're talking about those siblings whose life mission is to annoy their siblings. Then... that's a different story.) Owain from The Second Brother actually annoys me a lot, probably because he gets a lot from his writerly mama. It is an ongoing thing that I cannot stand any of my characters who act like me in any way, intentionally written so, or unintentionally. Because of this, I find Owain incredibly irritating at times. As for annoying to other characters... Feo might win that prize. 

Name the most caring sibling character in any of your stories

That one's fairly easy. Blakely from The Clarion Call/Alagna is, despite his frequent eye-rolling and scolding, extremely fond of his brothers, Francis and Edmond, and cares for them probably better than he does for himself. Heaven knows what kind of trouble they would get into if he weren't around to keep a check on them... and how bored they'd be if he didn't fall into their pranks all the time.

Name the most entertaining sibling character in any of your stories

Well, I sort-of already mentioned the Almost Twins (Francis and Edmond), but they'd probably get this award. Through thick and thin, the twosome find their greatest pleasure in the simple things in life... especially giving Blakely a hard time and, in their younger days (mostly), giving their mother gray hairs with their various escapades and misdemeanors. They have won particular infamy for a certain episode involving stew...

Name a sibling character who was inspired in some way by an actual sibling

Intentionally, I try to steer clear of basing characters off of siblings, as it can create too much trouble (what if I wanted to kill off the character...?). However, a couple characters became a reflection of real life without my permission, particularly Feo from The Second Brother. He was never meant to be based off of anybody, but is, in his present state, my first younger sister to a 't.' Just as Owain unwittingly soaked in my own personality, Feo seemed to become ZZ (my sister's nickname) out of sheer fatedness to be so. The only particularly great difference between them is that Feo is, obviously, a guy.

Name the largest character family (talking family, not family tree) in any of your stories

Well, there are a few competitors. Celeise from Alomina has four younger siblings, a boy and three girls (I think? I keep changing it...). Alejandro from A Broadway Waltz has five younger brothers (and an unofficial older one). Freddie Mayne from The Top-Hat Gang has seven sisters, either all younger, or all but one younger. The winner, though, I believe, is Vic Vance (from In Greater Hands), who has eleven siblings (three boys, eight girls). The catch there is that he is adopted, as well as a fair few of his siblings, so none of them are his biological family. (But then, nobody said that this tag had to be for biological family, right...?)

Provide one to three excerpts from your sibling characters' dialogue from any of your stories

Alrighty... Let's have Francis and Edmond, since it's been a long time since they've gotten any spotlight on the old blog...

***

            "Welcome to our humble abode, my lady." Francis did a little half-bow to her, playing along with her masquerade, as usual.

            Then all pretentions dropped. Alagna relaxed her form a little, smiling teasingly at the both of them. "Surely that's not your best bow?"

            "Of course it is," interjected Edmond grinningly. "He's just never learned as well as I, even for being the elder one." Edmond bowed with a flourish fitting for a king's crier.

***

             Confusion only grew in Blakely's eyes at Alagna's behavior. "Alagna    ," he began, but was cut off by a different voice.

            "Ah, Blakely?" Francis and Edmond came up behind him all of the sudden. Alagna might have laughed at their uncanny knack for it if it had been any other situation.

            Blakely half-turned from Alagna. "Yes? What is it, Francis?"

            Edmond's expression turned from a rather more serious one to a rather sly smile upon taking in Blakely and Alagna's close proximity. "And, ah, what might you be doing now, Blakely?"

            "Or, ah, saying?," joined Francis hintingly.

            "And to whom?"

            "And whatever about?"

            Blakely looked both of them over. "Nothing more than Alagna's name, I'm afraid, because     "

            "Because you were interrupted?" Francis laughed. "I wonder who did that..."

***

Name three published books which have an amazing portrayal of siblings and family

Well, Outlaws of Ravenhurst had a pretty awesome family in it, even if it was small. The mother, Lady Margeret Douglass was a great character - a Scottish lady and an accomplice to her outlawed priest brother. The family seemed so close, it was awesome (especially considering the protagonist hadn't met the other three members in nearly ten years). 

As tortured as the siblinghood was sometimes, the Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale had a good portrayal of siblings. Personally, I would only recommend the first one (as I thought the others were slightly stupid, plus, the second one had some content issues), but the first and last both had pretty good sibling characters and relatively low content caution. In the first one, the protagonist, Ani, barely knows her five siblings, and is distraught because she may never know them (she is sent away to be married off near the beginning). It really hits hard for anyone who grew up close to their siblings to think of never knowing them, and never seeing them again. Then, for a closer sibling relationship, Razo and Rinna in the fourth book were very close, constantly teasing each other and giving each other a  hard time, just like real siblings, and it was adorable. I think, despite the other issues of the middling books, the series as a whole has a believable pluck for large families. The happiest families are the Forest-Born ones, which range from a couple kids to eleven or twelve (mostly on the larger end, including Rinna and Razo's), and the least happy ones always seem to be those that are not close or don't have many siblings (like Ani's, where she wasn't allowed to know her siblings, or Selia's, as an only child). 

And what talk of siblings and family would be complete without Louisa May Alcott's Little Women? The story of four sisters and their way in the wayward world, always finding their way back to Marmee (their mother) and their beloved home. Need I say more?

Name another author's character family that you wouldn't mind jumping into

Hey! I thought we weren't allowed to use anybody else's characters...! Well, anyhow, I'd like to be in Peter Wimsey's family - seems like some smashing good fun, even though it's just him, his brother, and his mother (as far as I've read).

Provide an excerpt/quote of sibling drama or camaraderie from any title (though be sure to credit it)

Oh dear. I'm afraid I'm far too lazy to get books out at the moment, and this post has already been waiting too long. I believe I shall direct you to Little Women and sit back for the rest of this question.

Name two characters from two unrelated books that you feel would make for great literary siblings (whether in terms of getting along, or being a constant head-to-head combat)

Hmm. I think that Taran from The Chronicles of Prydain and Finn from The Goose Girl would have been good siblings. Finn, quiet as he is, would be balanced by Taran's outgoing nature, and Taran's slight hotheadedness would be tempered by Finn's common sense. Their skills and interests are also very similar - both grew up on a small farm but desire knighthood and the life of a warrior. It would be a siblinghood I'd like to see. 

***
As for tagging other bloggers, if you aren't tagged, consider yourself so. Particularly, I suppose I shall recognize Catherine Hawthorn, Sarah Seele, and Lia, at their leisure and capabilities, of course.
***

And there are all the questions for now. If' you'd like them in a list, here you are.

•  Name the most annoying sibling character in any of your stories (Either annoying to you as the author or to any other characters)
• Name the most caring sibling character in any of your stories 
• Name the most entertaining sibling character in any of your stories  
• Name a sibling character who was inspired in some way by an actual sibling
• Name the largest character family (talking family, not family tree) in any of your stories 
• Provide one to three excerpts from your sibling characters' dialog from any of your stories 
• Name three published books which have an amazing portrayal of siblings or family
• Name another author's character family that you wouldn't mind jumping into 
• Provide an excerpt of sibling drama or camaraderie from any title (though be sure to credit it)
• Name two characters from two unrelated books that you feel would make for great literary siblings (whether in terms of getting along, or being a constant head-to-head combat)

And I shall add this, per the terms of the tag:

Name sibling characters at odds with each other in any of your stories

And I believe that just concludes the tag, but for one last salutation.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam