An article from The Guardian on...guess what? New Year's resolutions in fiction!

New year's resolutions in fiction

Has a novel ever changed the way you see things, or a character shown you the way to go?

Reading resolutions. A scene from the 1994 film version of Little Women. Photograph: Kobal

Ellie Lewis

Monday 31 December 2012 

It's that time again when we examine what went wrong in the old year and try to put it all right in the new. Yes, it's the season of resolutions. And like asparagus or strawberry seasons of summer, it usually doesn't last very long.

One year, under the influence of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series, I decided to take up jogging. 

It was Georgia's fault for setting off on a health jag in Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing. 

I bought myself some jogging bottoms and ran up and down my street twice but the visions of the new, improved, healthier version of myself soon faded - unlike the flush of shame as I walked home in defeat.

I have not jogged since. 

It set me thinking about what impact other fictional characters have had on my decision-making.

Bridget Jones is a prime example of someone who carries the flag for New Year's resolutions, but her willpower is almost as feeble as my jogging. 

Perhaps her purpose is to reassure us all that we're not alone.

I'm not talking about the how-to scoldings of the self-help industry but the less pushy influence of a good novel. 

One person on the children's books team recalls being spurred on by Jane Austen's Emma to be less bossy around her friends. 

But sometimes they can have the opposite effect, especially the really angelic ones. 

Beth, in Little Women, for example inspired another to be more rebellious than saintly.

Have any fictional characters influenced the way you live your life? 

Your (reader's) comments:

Dylanwolf
Mole in Wind In the Willows showed me that even for shy and timid people there is a world out there that is worth exploring where you can find true and lasting friendships with people who aren't in the least bit like you at all.

Yvonne:
Of all the books I've read, it was What Katy Did that inspired me to be kind to others and keep a clean house (room) even when unhappy and hurting inside.