How well do you know your character(s)?

Flicka said:

What is your character's secret Achilles' heel?

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He takes honor seriously, even when it's not in his own best interests. He assumes others feel the same way and is taken unawares when they don't.

What is your character's first memory?

Yay I love this kind of thing!

MC's first memory is sitting on his dad's lap while his dad drew bunny rabbits for him on the back of an envelope (it's also his only memory of his dad, who died shortly afterwards, when MC was 3).

What's your character's dream job?

flapperphilosopher said:

What's your character's dream job?

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No dream job for him – he's struggling to stay alive. (Being biracial, male, and poor in 1887 Tokyo is tough.) He's currently a servant in a brothel and thinks he's hit the jackpot. Is going to screw up miserably, of course.

What is your character's most prized possession?

Her Brownie camera. It was purchased by her fiance before she left Virginia for Harlem to be trained as a photographer. It's also her only possession after she's swindled out of her tuition the day she arrives in New York.

Who does your character hate the most?

I only have one particularly hateful character, and what he hates most is his cousin Everett and Everett's friend. If you want to go deeper, you could say that what he really hates is being made to look inferior, and those two make him feel inferior.

Where would your character most like to visit or live?

I knew someone here had a character called Everett, couldn't remember who! My MC's name is also Everett.

My Everett would love to visit the Alps.

What is your character's favourite way to relax?

flapperphilosopher said:

What is your character's favourite way to relax?

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Well, my character who is a former slave needs to learn how to relax. Reading is probably her favorite - and it's often aloud, to others who can't (yet).


What is your character's favorite curse word?

flapperphilosopher said:

I knew someone here had a character called Everett, couldn't remember who! My MC's name is also Everett.

My Everett would love to visit the Alps.

What is your character's favourite way to relax?

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I may be partial, but I think Everett is a wonderful name.

CWatts said:

Well, my character who is a former slave needs to learn how to relax. Reading is probably her favorite - and it's often aloud, to others who can't (yet).


What is your character's favorite curse word?

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For Augustine (and Archie in another story): all of them, in one sentence if possible.

Where does your character consider to be their home?

angeliz2k said:

I may be partial, but I think Everett is a wonderful name.

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Isn't it? Though I'm not exactly impartial either, I adore mine.

angeliz2k said:

Where does your character consider to be their home?

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Hmm, good question. He's lived in three cities but for various reasons he wouldn't really consider any of them home. So I'm going to have to give the slightly cheesy answer of "where his brother is." He'd go absolutely anywhere not to be parted from him.

Who's the first person your character ever kissed?

Flicka said:

My MC hasn't actually kissed anyone yet, but I have a feeling it'll be either her husband-to-be or Wadsworth.

What was the last thing your character thought of before going to sleep last night?

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Whether she'd caught anything from her visit to the slums. She couldn't stop itching even after a good soak in lavender scented water.

What does your character have on their feet?

Usher said:

What does your character have on their feet?

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Usually straw sandals, sometimes wooden geta clogs (they are expensive).

How many people are there in your character's immediate family?

Tocotin said:

Usually straw sandals, sometimes wooden geta clogs (they are expensive).

How many people are there in your character's immediate family?

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Four. Two moms and a younger sister.

What's one thing your character believes to be true, but isn't?

That actually cuts right to the heart of my story. My character believes he is worthless, weak, and a failure, and that if anyone knew that about him, they'd abandon him in a second (even his bestest friend nearly-twin brother). None of those things are at all true. Sad.

What would your character name their pet? (or if they do have a pet, what is its name?)

Medieval middle-class persons didn't tend to have pets according to all I can discover, but if he did have a house-dog, it'd be a small, scrappy, working-type dog, and he'd call it Brun.

Of what is your character most afraid?

Deb Kinnard said:

Of what is your character most afraid?

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Of hunger. He's hungry all the time anyway, but at least he's alive. He is thinking about food constantly. If you give him food, he'll love you forever. He's dreading the day when he's told: "We don't need you anymore".

What is your character's favorite pastime?

My character has a huge amount of admiration for his adoptive father (his uncle by birth), who took him in for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. Character eventually learns there were other reasons as well, but they were also admirable.

What aspect of your character's appearance is he/she least happy with?

P.S. Flicka, I never heard "besserwisser" before--I like it!

flapperphilosopher said:

What aspect of your character's appearance is he/she least happy with?

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Let's see. Harry dislikes pretty much everything about his appearance (tall, skinny, red-headed); by the end of the novel, Everett hates his crooked nose (it gets broken) because it reminds him of mistakes he's made. In the prequel, Archie and Charlie couldn't care less about what they look like. They've got the money and the temperament to plow through life heedless of their physical attractiveness.

In my novella, Hamilton would definitely like to have his arm back (otherwise, he's an old farmer and doesn't care what he looks like) and Missy would surely like to not have a scarred back.

What is your character's favorite thing to read?

Greta loves fairy tales, and is particularly taken with The Hobbit (story set in late 1930s). Patrick reads more generally - perhaps I'll have to think of a favorite book for him.

What is your character's favorite food/drink?

CathleenT said:

Greta loves fairy tales, and is particularly taken with The Hobbit (story set in late 1930s). Patrick reads more generally - perhaps I'll have to think of a favorite book for him.

What is your character's favorite food/drink?

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Grilled eel in sweet sauce, a popular summer delicacy in Tokyo. He's only had it a couple of times in his life, but considers it the food of the gods.

What is the worst physical pain your character has ever experienced?

Tocotin said:

What is the worst physical pain your character has ever experienced?

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For Nicole it's being shot - but a lot of that's because it's inseparable from a lot of emotional pain, losing almost everyone she cared about and feeling responsible somehow. It was a fairly superficial wound (long, deep graze to the upper arm) but she could no longer fire her rifle and as her husband said, if they got within pistol range of the barricade all was lost. But it already was. After he and her comrades were slaughtered, there were days of fevered delirium in hiding while she could hear the firing squads and smell the unburied bodies, and the flies, oh god the flies... (144 years ago this week, by the way)

How did your character lose his or her virginity?

That is heartbreaking.

Well.... he's firmly resolved never to lose it (he has reasons to have overwhelmingly negative views of sex), to the point of telling someone he's in love with it will never happen... then (at 20) he has his first manic episode, with hypersexuality and recklessness as strong symptoms, and ends up going to bed with a total stranger who just thinks he's hot. Mental illness is a bitch.

When your character was a kid, what did he/she want to be when he/she grew up?

Grace dreamed of being a dancer, until her father decided he had the new-ballet female version of little Herr Mozart in his hands. A decade of being pushed to one's limits and beyond in service of your parent's fantasy of fame will destroy any dream. Now she intends to stay as far away from dancing as possible. (hint: it's not going to work out that way.)

What does your character do when it rains?