Donald Duck and I, by Phaedra Weldon:

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Donald Fauntelroy Duck turns 75 this year.

Wow.

That feathered treasure from my youth has aged a lot better then myself. Looking at the picture that graces the inside back cover of my books-I realize I'm out of date.

But Donald isn't.

What attracted me most to Donald in my younger years were two things: his voice (oh how I wished as a child I could mimic that voice!) and his differences to Mickey Mouse.

It's not that I didn't like Mickey-I just didn't like Mickey.

His voice caused my spine to cringe on many occasions-sounding more like the adolescent squeak of a child to a man during those cautionary pubescent years. And Mickey never seemed to get angry.

Whereas Donald? He had-and has-a temper and a personality all to his own.

I read that Donald was created to act as the opposite to Mickey-a counterweight to Mickey's goody-two-shoes personality (of which I just didn't believe. Not one bit.). He's the rogue. He's the one that meets life's challenges with a truer to life exasperation than Mickey.

He's the Everyday Man.

He's the reader character, the one that people most identify with. And for a while, Donald's popularity soared higher than Mickey's. That is until Fantasia, but that was just all magic and pomp. I still think given the opportunity, Donald could have made that movie better.  ;)

For me today, Donald symbolizes solid characterization. He has good days, and bad days. He's charming, witty, and often times a little silly. He also carries a temper, and his frustrations, as well as his dislikes, can sometimes trigger that temper to often-monumental blowouts. He doesn't always react well to circumstances, and sometimes he can be rude.

But then-who isn't in these times? We all have short tempers.

So does Donald.  

DONALD AS CHARACTER MASCOT.

The straight character, with the Type A personality, in my opinion, is boring.

I want a Donald character when I read. I want to see that character react to life, to the challenges that are set before him, whether those challenges are outside of his control, or they're self induced (we all know about those sorts of challenges, often inflicted by wrong decision making).

But I always felt that Donald learned from the mistakes, more often than Mickey. Basically because Mickey lived in a bubble away from life's curve balls.

Or either he was throwing them at Donald.

Characters-again in my opinion-are why we read. As a young child, watching these cartoons, I often walked away from any that contained just Mickey Mouse. Those were boring, and not as popular.

Now add in Donald, and the drama and interest goes to a whole new level.

I'm not talking about villains as heroes, but about simple, protagonists who are not black and white. Ones who are filled with shades of gray. We are characters, in our own stories. We don't consider ourselves evil. We don't consider ourselves protagonists or antagonists. But we all have good points and bad points.

A villain doesn't think they're the villain-the one with the black cape and the waxed mustaches. They too have their own good days and bad, and they have their own justifications on why they react as they do.

But that's another post for another day.

DONALD AS CHARACTER INVESTMENT.

Donald was the first character I cared about. Going to Disney, I wanted a Donald hat, not those Mickey Mouse ears. I wanted a Donald doll. Donald had it going on, IMHO.

Donald-was me.

Picking out books as a tweener-yes, I call them tweeners now-I always looked at the back for a hint of the protagonist. The main character. Being a male or female didn't matter. And what the story was about wasn't as crucial (though I did tend to head to the fantasy and science fictions section). What I looked for was a hint of this character. Were they having a personal struggle? Was there something in their past? Did they have a disability, or even a secret power?

I didn't want to read about Mickey, that life was grand and the universe reboots.

I wanted a deep character that had issues.

I wanted Donald grown up.

Characters. We grow to love them, care for them, worry about them, and we have this insatiable curiosity about how they live their lives. How do they fight today's wrongs? How do they deal with a cheating husband or wife? How do they react to that betrayal? Do they finally find love and happiness?

And if they do, can we?

Often for me, and for other writers I know, I sometimes work through my personal tragedies in my character's lives. I base their reactions to the situations on their pasts, their experiences. I think if he did this, what would happen? Or if she handled it like this, how would others react?

Sometimes the answers are clearer just by having submerged myself into their world. As a reader, I've had characters live with me in my head for weeks after reading a book. It's not different when you're writing them.

You just feel closer to Donald, that's all.

And you know he feels your pain.

So Happy 75^th, Donald Duck!

I hope I can build characters that will be remembered as long as you have.

Donald, know that you were my first inspiration when it came to character. That I thought of you in my youth when I thought of getting through those terrible years before 10. And even now, I often keep my Donald Duck figurine by my desk and wonder what Donald's reaction would be to whatever is going through my life.

Would he dance in the rain? Would he be able to make all these deadlines even while keeping his nephews in line? And would he be able to get past the kitchen without opening that box of Danish Wedding Cookies?

 Phaedra Weldon, Phantasm, urban fantasy, Penguin Books