I've discovered, through my single-minded single-author reading of the last few months (I've been on a huge Pratchett kick) that the easiest narrative hook for me is to have strong female characters in traditionally male roles. The Discworld books that feature said characters get read about twice as fast as those that don't. Monstrous Regiment flew by, for example.

I have also discovered that of the Discworld regulars, Angua is by far my fav.

I suspect my hook would work as well be the character pirate or police, so long as said character is a girl.

How traditionally male do the roles have to be? I mean, traditionally male for us, or for the world in which the story is set? Is it a meta-enjoyment you're getting, or are you feeding off a degree of in-context fish-out-of-water?

I mean, traditionally male for us, or for the world in which the story is set?

World in which the story is set. It dates back to childhood, where The Girl Who Pretended to be a Boy was the fairy tale I liked above all others.

It's not so much the fish-out-of-water thing as the "girls CAN TOO do that!" thing, I think.

My favorite Discworld character is Death. Second, Vetinari, third Granny Weatherwax.

What can I say, I like 'em dark.

Plei, did you love The Black Arrow as I did? I ate up girl-dressed-as-boy stuff. Also Heyer's The Masqueraders.

I have not read The Black Arrow. Perhaps I should.

I think my Discworld character order is: Angua, the Death of Rats (SQUEEK.), Polly, Vimes, Carrot, Dorfl. They're followed by Death and Susan in no particular order.

If you include Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching should be inserted right behind Polly.

You have to move back into a really Victorian mindset for The Black Arrow: the hero thinks the heroine-disguised-as-a-boy is an incredible coward, then he realizes that she's a girl and all of a sudden she's a hero.

I loved it when I was a kid, but then again there weren't many girl heroes then.

t marks Plei down as a member of the target market for the book I'ma write when I finish the wip

My favorite Discworld characters: Granny Weatherwax, Tiffany Aching, Agnes, Susan, Vimes.

When my husband and I were first not-dating, he mentioned that The Black Arrow was his favorite childhood book. I was smitten. (Of course, he then listed about 17 other books that were also his favorite, which helped too).

But yeah, on re-read you do have to squint at The Black Arrow a bit.

In other news, I finally made it all the way through Rebecca. Every other run I've taken at it, I've wanted to choke the POV character to death early on...this time I just let the author write her characters and enjoyed it more. Not a lot, but more.

Love Discworld. I think my favorites are Vimes, Vetinari, Nanny Ogg (who is scarily like my Nana), Granny Weatherwax, and Susan. That said, I love almost all of the characters, with the possible exception of Rincewind. He annoys me, but since he's generally accompanied by The Luggage, I'm willing to tolerate him.