Birth Order and Books
Thanks, Sid Love, for hosting me today! I’m excited to be here, and eager to discuss birth order and character development. I really enjoy romances where the main character has a big and interesting family, and sibling relationships are some of my favorites. If you grew up with siblings, are any of these thoughts familiar:
How can I be related to him?
She’s so bossy.
He’s so spoiled.
When it comes to families, birth order forms some of our opinions of each other. At least it did in mine. I’m the baby. I think my parents were pretty tired by the time I arrived. Would I be a different sort of person if I’d been the oldest? I have no doubt. My sister and I remember vastly different childhoods and, for better or worse, these memories shaped us.
If birth order matters in real life, then it might be a factor when writing about a fictional family too. In The Guy from Glamour, I did give some thought to birth order, and I knew from the start that Anthony needed to be the youngest sibling.
He has three older sisters. They spend a good part of the novel teasing him and giving him love advice. All of this makes Anthony resilient as well as sweet-natured—he’d have to be tolerant to have grown up in the shadow of three strong sisters, after all. But perhaps being the youngest and the only boy, it also made him a little over-indulged. In the novel, Anthony struggles with breaking away from his family. Had he been the eldest and the big brother, I think he’d have been more assertive or left the nest earlier. I also think he’d be more goal-orientated. The fact that he is the youngest did play into my imagination for who this character is and I wrote Anthony accordingly.
Where are you in your family’s birth order? Do you think it impacted on your personality? I’d love to hear about it!
Here is an excerpt from the novel. In this scene, Anthony’s sisters, Gina and Mia, are interrogating him about Dean.
EXCERPT:
With a nod, Gina cracked another egg into the pan. Mia handed him a steaming mug of coffee.
“So, where were you last night?”
“With Pete and Bradley at a club.”
“And you came home when? I stayed up until two reading a novel. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“He must have gotten lucky,” Gina said.
“You didn’t go to some stranger’s home, did you?”
Anthony gave her a wry look. “What am I? Some afterschool special?”
“No. But you do need to be careful. I mean, have sex if you want to, but keep it at the club, in the bathroom or somewhere.”
“Jesus!” Anthony shook his head at them. “Contrary to what you guys have seen on cable, not all gay men have torrid, anonymous sex in bathroom stalls.”
“Really? Too bad,” Mia said.
“Yeah, bummer.”
“All those cable shows we watched had it wrong.”
Ignoring their jokes, Anthony glared at them. “For your information, I didn’t even stay at the club too late. Dean called me from his motel and—”
“Ooh! I knew it! Dean’s gay! We knew it!” Mia clasped her hands together.
“What?” Anthony looked back and forth at them. “No.” Even though Dean had rejected him last night, Anthony felt strangely protective of him.
“Come on! He totally checked out your ass,” Gina said.
“Yep.”
“Really?” Anthony asked, heat coming to his cheeks at the thought, and then he shook his head. “Shut up, he wouldn’t be so obviously doing that!”
“Okay, maybe not,” Mia admitted, giggling. “I didn’t actually see him do that, but he most definitely wasn’t checking out our asses. Was he, Gina?”
“Most definitely not.”
“And he was giving you some hot looks. You saw it too, right? Confess.”
“He’s… maybe, okay. But he’s not out, at all, so keep it quiet.”
“Damn.” Mia snapped her fingers. “And we could have had some beautiful fights over him too, Gina.”
“We wouldn’t have fought,” Gina declared. “We’d have split Dean evenly.”
Thanks again for hosting me today!
Giveaway:
Win a copy of The Guy From Glamour eBook!
Blurb:
Anthony Carrino loves his big, gregarious Italian-American family, even if his sisters are interfering, and his dad, the local sheriff, knows everything going on in town. He’s happy as a middle school guidance counselor. Despite helping kids and their parents fix their problems, Anthony can’t manage to get his own love life right. If only everyone would stop calling him the “nice” guy.
Dean Pierce doesn’t do relationships. A tough-minded military man, he is dedicated to his job as a Night Stalker, flying Chinook helicopters and not speaking much to anybody. He certainly doesn’t want to deal with a mess of emotions. But when tragedy strikes, Dean finds his hands full with his troubled niece, her irresistible guidance counselor, and a meddlesome family, which includes a rather large puppy.
LINKS:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4557
http://skylarmcates.wordpress.com
You can also find me on Goodreads and Facebook
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Skylar M. Cates loves a good romance. She is quite happy to drink some coffee, curl up with a good book, and not move all day. Most days, however, Skylar is chasing after her husband, her kids, and her giant dog, Wasabi. Skylar dreams about spending her days writing her novels, walking along the beach, and making more time for her good friends. On a shoestring budget, Skylar has traveled all over in her early years. Although, lately, the laundry room is the farthest place she has visited, Skylar still loves to chat with people from all around the globe.
Thanks for the blog and giveaway! The Guy from Glamour sounds good.
I was the oldest of five and it definitely affected the person I became. As a kid, I often had to take care of my younger siblings and help solve their problems. And, I am still doing that as an adult both at home with my own family and at work with my work team.
Did my birth order impact my personality? Definitely. I am the baby too but my brother is 20 years older than me so it was more like growing up as an only child with a very close Uncle or cousin. Plus my parents were in a very different place when I was born compared to when my brother was born in basically every way. Great question! Thank you for the giveaway.
I’m the youngest, but I think it’s birth timing that affected me more–my brother’s nearly ten years older. My mom always calls us “her two only children.” My brother is very paternal at times!
I’m the oldest in the family but I don’t know if just that fact influenced my personality. There was a lot more going on that I’m not comfortable talking about.
What a fun, fun excerpt! I can’t wait to read this book. 🙂
Oh, birth order. Great topic! As the oldest, I was often caretaker and helper. Where my sibling was able to get away with things more easily, my parents expected me to be the responsible one, the one to know better. I’d say I had a more serious upbringing than my sibling. Also with first born kids, there’s a lot of experimentation, and by the second and third child, parents have “perfected” their method (or just more able to let things slide!).
I’m the oldest, and I don’t think that has directly affected my personality, but it definitely affects the way others in the family treat me. There is a different dynamic between my parents and my younger sister and my parents and me. But sometimes that’s a good thing! 😉
Youngest of 5 daughters here, but in ways I feel like the older of the two closest to me. The book sounds amazing, thank you for the chance to win.
I’m the youngest of two, myself. My sister and I were very close growing up, and I don’t know if this has to do with birth order or not, but I am definitely a follower, not a leader. Show me what to do, and I’ll do it! Otherwise… I’ll sit in the back of the class and observe, thank you.
I come from a small family. I only have one sibling, and after my parents divorced the families divorced per se…. But I am very different from my parents and brother. I think part of it was how i grew up and then leaving home for college made me grow up differently. I am always curious about big families since its so different. Thanks for the giveaway 🙂
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It is only my older sister and I, and we are 18 months apart. We are complete opposites in personality and i think this helped growing up. We didn’t seem to fight over everything as much. My sister was in boys and make-up and I was a gamer.
Thanks for the chance to win!!
Ahh, family. Gotta love them, right?
I’m the youngest of four AND only girl, so I’ve been spoiled a bit (only a bit. Swear) AND had the pleasure of three additional rearers! It has definitely had an impact on me as a person. My oldest brother’s memory of our childhood doesn’t quite match mine, for whatever reason.
I was born a middle child, and birth order did have an impact on me. I remember trying to find a special role or spot that was just for me. I really like your posting about birth order and the excerpt. Thanks for the contest!
I’m the second oldest of four, but the oldest girl in the family. Not exactly sure what is supposed to make me, since I’m kind of in the middle, but not really. I did tend to be the peace maker in the family–conflict just makes me squirm–and I guess I’ve taken on a bit of a caretaker role as I grew up–is it odd that cleaning actually calms me down?–though I am not sure how much of this is just me and how much of it was because of birth order.
I really liked this book (review will be up Saturday!) Anthony’s family was just great and Dean…well he just stole my heart. And Rick…well I don’t condone violence (except, apparently, on fiction characters), but buddy-boy got what he deserved.
I’m the youngest of 3, all girls. I’ve never spent much time thinking of birth order, but I do know that I’m happy to observe/follow most of the time.
This book sounds wonderful! 🙂
Coming from a large Italian family I can relate to your excerpt – poor Anthony 🙂 I am the middle of 3 kids and was always the peacemaker of the three of us as well as the nurturer. I do think birth order matters in sibling dynamics. Thanks for the giveway – I have this on my wish list in case I don’t win a copy 🙂
I am the youngest of three. Never easy. The book sounds amazing.
I am an only child so I am learning all about sibling relationships from my two daughters…..It is challenging at times!
Thanks for the giveaway! jasdarts at hotmail dot com
I have a pretty big family and I’m the second youngest. My family tends to be overly protective of me and I’ve found it’s a nice feeling although a bit stifling when I was younger. It was hardto do things without them constantly calling me.
I really love books with nice family atmospheres so this really appeals to me. Thank you for the giveaway =)
I’m the oldest of 2 girls, though my sister is only 15 months younger, so we were dfinitley sibling rivals during the teenage years and probably think of each other as equals, without that big age gap.
I do always remember in primary school suddenly realising some of my friends weren’t in the same family relationship I was – they had older siblings or were in the middle – I’d gone for a few years, not really thinking about it but, assuming they were all the eldest too.
I love when authors pay attention to dynamics like birth order. Even if we don’t see it playing out on the page, it does impact character traits, just like in real life. I’m the youngest with 2 older brothers closer in age to each other than to me. Obviously not only those facts, but my brothers being who they were affected how I am. I think if you have a first born, no matter what, they’re going to be a certain way because the parents are usually new at the whole raising a kid thing and that’s the only child to pay attention to, and with the last, they are usually over many of the hang-ups they may have had in the beginning but then that child seems so much younger than the oldest in comparison. How can your place in the family not affect you? Thanks so much for sharing more about The Guy From Glamour and also a copy to win!
I am the next to the youngest of five siblings. It didn’t affect my personality that much because you would think that being one of the younger siblings I would be spoiled but it was the other way around.
i’m an only child and I think it did affect my personality, maybe it makes me more shy ( or maybe it’s just me I don’t know)…
good question skylar I need to think more about this…
Winner selected congrats Barbra