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Joy Nash | Birth Order and Writing
May 26, 2009
Oldest? Middle? Youngest? Only? Does your position in your birth family determine aspects of your personality?
May psychologists believe that it does. A glance around my own birth family (6
siblings), as well as the family I gave birth to (3 kids), tells me there’s a
nugget of truth in birth-order/personality theories. An added bonus: yet another character-creation aid for writers. When I dreamed
up the various members of the Santangelo family in A Little Light Magic
(Leisure Books, May 26), I kept birth order personality traits in mind. Here’s
a quick rundown: Nick Santangelo (hero of A Little Light Magic): The classic oldest child. Conservative,
responsible, workaholic, protector, doesn’t like to take risks. Nick’s a
business owner, which is not unusual for an oldest child. He’s used to making
decisions and giving orders (having practiced in childhood on his younger
brothers). He doesn’t often let loose and just have fun – everything’s tied up
in work and responsibility for Nick. Alex Santangelo: The middle brother of the Santangelo family. Middle
children tend to find themselves in the role of family negotiator and
peacemaker, often keeping things cool between various siblings as well as
between kids and parents. Middle children are hard to ruffle—they seem to take
everything in stride. In A
Little Light Magic, Alex runs interference between Nick and their youngest
brother, Johnny. Johnny Santangelo has all the hallmarks of a youngest sibling. He’s
gregarious, good-natured, and not afraid to go out on a limb in regards to
life, love, and his dreams. He’s also constantly trying to define himself as
something other than the baby of the family. Johnny works at Nick’s contracting
company by day and does stand-up comedy by night. (“Do you ever sleep?” Nick
asks him.) Johnny’s dream is to break into daytime TV, so when the opportunity
to audition for a soap opera comes up, he thinks nothing of skipping work in
favor of auditions. He’s also unapologetic about getting under Nick’s skin by
befriending Nick’s latest love interest. Tori Morgan (heroine of A Little Light Magic), and Leigh Santangelo (Nick’s
teenage daughter), are only children. Independent and creative, onlies are
determined to be true to themselves and their dreams. For Leigh, that means
rebelling against her father’s narrow, overprotective view of what her life
should be. As for Tori, she comes to realize her deepening relationship with
Nick is taking her farther away from her life goal of having a baby of her own.
She has a decision to make: Give up her heart’s desire? Or risk losing the man
she’s unexpectedly come to love? All the summer’s best, Joy Nash
www.joynash.com
Comments
13 comments posted.
Re: Joy Nash | Birth Order and Writing
'm the baby of three siblings; but there is a large gap between my sister and brother who are close in age and then me down the road, it's like having the oldest child a second time around; responsible, taking care of everyone, remembering all the birthdays and anniversaries.
(Diane Sadler 9:35am May 26, 2009)
Diane, you sound a lot like me! I'm the youngest of six, with a twenty year spread between oldest and youngest, and six years between my nearest sister and me. I have a lot of oldest and only child traits - including thh birthday thing. I have everyone's birthdays listed on birthday.com!
(Joy Nash 1:40pm May 26, 2009)
I'm an only, and I've always been a typical only. I can't wait to read this book!
(Kelli Jo Calvert 3:36pm May 26, 2009)
I am the baby in my family, but there was a seven year gap between my sister and me. We were too far apart to ever do many things together. When she was dating, I was considered a pest. Ha!
(Gladys Paradowski 6:52pm May 26, 2009)
I was not only the oldest in our family - all of our cousins lived within walking distance and since I was the oldest I was always being told to 'take care of' the others or 'watch out for' the others. Even at my advanced age I take care of and watch out for the others!
(Karin Tillotson 8:32pm May 26, 2009)
Gladys, I'm hearing you with that "pest" nickname. My sister called me that so much that I shudder even now when I hear it. I guess it wasn't *completely* undeserved - When she was 15 and I was 9, I used to like to see if I could get away with listening in on the phone extension when she was talking to her boyfriend!
(Joy Nash 9:22pm May 26, 2009)
Hey I'm a middle kid and of course, the peacemaker. I'm always brokering deals to get people talking and agree on something.
(Alyson Widen 9:23pm May 26, 2009)
Hi Joy!! I'm having so much fun hearing more about your book and thrilled I have it to read! SOON! Doing some catching up!
I'm exactly in the middle and there was 7 of us. I remember my mom calling us for dinner and would call out each of our names! And not our short ones! LOL. My dad had a nickname for us all.
(Cathie Morton 10:47pm May 26, 2009)
There is a lot to be said about birth
order. I am the oldest of 6 and have 3
children. My husband is also an oldest
- of 2. I tried not to have the birth
order thing happen with our children,
but no luck. My poor oldest one is way
too much like her parents.
Your book will be a big hit, I'm sure.
Good luck and keep those good
stories coming!
(Patricia Barraclough 11:12pm May 26, 2009)
I'm the eldest of two however my baby brother(he's always going to be my "baby" brother) is 7 years my junior so for a good while, I considered him a pest. It didn't help that he was born on Mother's day and I had to go to the hospital to give mum her present which didn't get the amount of attention I thought it deserved. Bwa ha!
(Jacqueline Lam 12:43pm May 27, 2009)
I'm the oldest of 3. I do think that birth order has alot to do with it. Not only your own but also your parents. My parents felt their older siblings had it easy and kept bringing that up as an excuse for not letting me do something. For example their oldest siblings each played and intrument but dropped it. So their parents didn't allow them to. In turn I had to prove myself by playing the instrument they chose but my younger siblings didn't.
The book sounds like so much fun!
(Lynda Smith 12:48pm May 27, 2009)
My mother was a middle child and she always felt it affected her life in a big way.
(LuAnn Morgan 12:59pm May 27, 2009)
I'm the oldest and only girl in my family... Which wasn't that much fun because my brothers got away with far more stuff than I ever could.
(Rachel Flesher 6:50pm May 28, 2009)
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