Great Family Characters: The Melendys

One of my favorite series to write has been the Donna Howard series (which I hope to republish in 2026). I created two families--one of three brothers--one of one sister, Donna, and two brothers. They meet over a case (Coin) and continue to interact. 

It is one of my favorite series because the siblings are so distinct. 

Here's the truth: writers tend to return to the same themes and characters and even, to an extent, plots over and over again (Agatha Christie's Adriane Oliver, her fictional version of herself, makes very funny comments about repeated plots). 

When I am working on a novel, I use the Homer technique to keep my characters distinct. Homer is known for attaching adjectives to characters to remind us of their attributes: gray-eyed Athena, swift-footed Hermes. Although I believe in show-not-tell, I think this descriptive approach is an entirely valid technique, in part because--as a reader--I don't enjoy books where I can't tell the characters apart. 

I also change dialog depending on a character's personality. That is, I ask myself, "Would this character be this blunt? Or this funny? Or this philosophical? Or this whimsical? I like that line--but would my character actually say it?"

The Donna Howard novels were so fun because the characterizations were relatively easy and remained stable over the series: wry, critical thinker Sammy; insouciant "que sera sera" Chester, and practical, everywoman Donna were fun to get talking.

Character stability isn't always so easy! Consequently, I greatly admire writers who can pull it off. Elizabeth Enright's Melendy siblings are a great example. The characterizations and stability of those characterizations appears to be effortless. Randy is dreamy and friendly; Mona is practical and worldly (in a positive sense); Rush is ironic and dramatic with the emotional intuitive leaps of a musical hotshot; Oliver is industrious and quiet in a "become an engineer or biologist someday" way; Mark is cautious and quiet and intense in a "become an army commander beloved by his soldiers someday" way. 

Enright uses the techniques I mention above. She also uses a game that my family played when I was growing up--I don't know if the game was common to my parents' childhood (1940s) or if we got the game from Enright. It is a kind of 20 questions game but the answer is always a person, and the person has to be compared to animals or a piece of furniture. So, regarding Mark...

"Mark turned out to be good Golden Bantam corn, a setter dog, a meadow lark, a maple tree, and many other pleasant reasonable things...Cuffy [the housekeeper and second mother] was like a pigeon...and a pearl...and a big healthy cabbage rose."

Enright KNOWS her characters, and that facility, perhaps, is the best place for a writer to start.