Monday 25 August 2014

Back // Beautiful People Link-up

WHY HELLO THERE.

I have been away for three weeks, but now I am BACK! Camp was amaaaazing, likewise my holiday, but now real life must kick in again as school starts back on Wednesday. This is my Higher year - ie, the BIG ONE.

...

~runs and hides in corner~

Frankly I am not ready to take exams that will decide whether I get into uni or not and basically the rest of my life. But hey-ho. They're not for a while.

Life is currently pretty frantic: my mum has gastroenteritis, Psycho Puppy is biting everything (and pooing everywhere), the dishwasher is broken ... in general, life in my house has run more smoothly than this. However I am taking a very brief few moments, now that the washing-up is finally done and the puppy is asleep, to grab my laptop and seek internet solace. The marathon of replying to comments and reading all the lovely posts you've written while I've been away will come, but right now I'm going to be participating in the August edition of the Beautiful People link-up!

Thanks to Cait and Skye who host this meme!

I am pleased and proud to say that I have actually written quite a lot this month-- ah dear the puppy just ran off with my sister's underwear in its mouth.

*some time later*

OK I caught it and retrieved said underwear. It's now chewing the stairs with extreme ferocity. Ah, what a happy picture of man's best friend in the peace and tranquility of the home .... not.

Anyway, as I was saying, I've written quite a lot. I decided that after doing two posts on my MC Corrie - find them here and here - I'd introduce you to one of my other characters. Corrie has three best friends, and I decided that this month we'd feature - drumroll please - Freddie! "Hurrah!" I hear you cry. "Who the heck is Freddie??"

Before I tell you, I'll paste in my (mildly pathetic, but basically functional) synopsis-thing, as seen in previous posts:

Every seven years in the country of Ivaria, a process known as the Gleaning takes place. Thirteen to eighteen year olds are able to showcase their skills and talents to a delegation of four Selectors, and three from each village are Selected to be taken to the capital city of Teyvanidan, where they are trained and educated to become members of the royal court. Corrie Thrace is a writer (and totally not a self-insert), and .... I am sure you can guess what happens to her. The story begins with the Gleaning and soon she is off to Teyvanidan to have a host of daring adventures .... or something like that.

As you see, Corrie was Selected from her village, and Freddie was one of the others Selected with her. They had never met before but become friends after they reach the city.

What to say about Freddie? He's sixteen, a gypsy, and has magic, which is why he is Selected. He wasn't even meant to be a character at all, but he strolled into the manuscript a few days after I began le novel (for Camp NaNo last year) and suddenly became one of the main characters. Writers will know that characters have an annoying habit of doing that. But now it is time for the questions.

1) What does your character regret the most in their life?
Freddie has a little sister, Vetch. Now, Vetch has magic, like her brother, but it is strange and uncontrollable. Their mother, Rosa, had no magic herself, but she feared it in her daughter. In the end she forbade her to use it. Vetch still did it, in secret, and Freddie used to help her, but it grew and grew and eventually he too thought it was too dangerous, and told her to stop. She wouldn't - she couldn't - and in the end, that's why she ran away from home. Freddie regrets that he didn't support her more, and stand up to her mother, and that's why he's disgracing his family and going against his wishes by being Selected. He never wanted to be Selected, but he needs to find his sister. 

2) What is your character's happiest memory? Most sorrowful memory?
Happiest memory: playing with Vetch and one of their brothers, Iestyn, when they're little. Freddie remembers playing a game with Vetch when they went swimming in a lake together, bouncing the water back and forth with magic. His most sorrowful memory is of the day he woke up to find Vetch gone; worse even than her disappearance was the look on his mother's face when she said that Vetch could do what she liked, but she would not be welcomed back to their family.


3) What majorly gets on your character’s nerves?
He doesn't like people who are fake or falsely obsequious. He likes people to be frank, like him. Girls being coy/coquettish is something else that annoys him. And he can't stand people breathing loudly/sniffing.


4) Do they act differently when they're around people as opposed to being alone? If so, how?
Freddie is a very open person so he never lies to people to change the way they think of him. However he doesn't like to show or sadness or what he perceives as weakness apart from to his friends.

5) What are their beliefs and superstitions? (Examples: their religion or lack of one, conspiracy theories, throwing salt, fear of black cats.) 
OK, so this is a tricky question. On the one hand, as someone who knows the saving grace of Jesus Christ I want my characters to know it too .... but on the other, in my fantasy alternate universe I'm not about to be like "and then they found a Bible, ooh plot twist!" I suppose I look to CS Lewis for inspiration, as someone who puts religion v. perfectly into the Narnia books.

Anyway, I don't think Freddie is very superstitious but in a world where magic exists I think he believes in a higher power, without having a fully formed sen
se of belief.
  
6) What are their catchphrases, or things they say frequently? 
He doesn't have a catchphrase ... yet. Such things tend to spring up in the writing, in my experience.

7) Would they be more prone to facing fears or running from them?
Facing, I think. Freddie's main fear is that he'll never find his sister, but that's something he's trying his hardest to do.

8) Do they have a good self image?
I guess so. I don't think he thinks about it much. He doesn't have low self-worth, but he doesn't really think about it. 

9) Do they turn to people when they're upset, or do they isolate themselves?
Depends on the people. Freddie is very quick to spot a friend and to put his trust in someone, meaning that he will turn to someone even if he's not known them for long. However he will also isolate himself when he feels like he has no friends in the people around him.

10) If they were standing next to you would it make you laugh or cry?
Laugh, definitely.

Have you participated in Beautiful People? Tell me so that I can find you in the link-up! And don't forget to fill me in on whatever news there is from the past three weeks. Giveaways, blogoversaries, novels, pet alpacas ... I want to hear about them.

Emily x

10 comments:

  1. I like how Freddie has a quest of his own. Sometimes characters are put into books for the protagonist's benefit and don't really evolve as being likeable or real enough for the readers.
    He is a very interesting character.... The more I read about this book the more I want to read it. Please go get it published or at least try! When your finished of course, whenever that may be...
    Do you know how the story will end or the plot twist(s)?
    Welcome back. ^_^ x

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    1. This is very true. Out of Corrie's three best friends, two have definite "quests of their own" (I like that phrase) but the last doesn't really .... which gives me a nasty feeling she might be going to die. BUT I DON'T WANT HER TO I LOVE HER!!! Aah the stresses of novelling ...

      Haha well I'm working on it! :L (I mean I'm clearly not working on it, I'm on Blogger, but I am!)

      I know how it will end - ie with a BIG PLOT TWIST - and I know some of the other twists too, but I'm pretty hazy on the middle section just now .... unfortunate because I'm just getting into writing it. Ah well ... it will work itself out ... right??

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  2. I love his background. And I really like how you say that he "has magic." Like gypsies may or may not be born with this sort of superpower that comes in various forms and degrees that is called, "magic." :) Awesome!

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    1. Aaaah Ashley, you have completely and totally got it!!!!!! EXTRACT:

      "Now, I don't know what rumours you Gulaj [name in my book for non-gypsies] have about us, but let me tell you the truth. Not all travellers are magic, and all families with magic have magic inside all of them. It comes from the blood of the ancients, Corrie, the First Race, but now it's diluted. It only manifests itself here and there. My father has a little magic - not my mother - but it missed his first three children, until me. Then Vetch was born."

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  3. Freddie sounds really awesome! I'm glad he'd make you laugh. ;) I've noticed most of us have answered that question with "cry". Ha! We write meanie characters. Your story premise sounds really cool too!

    Aw, sucks the dishwasher is broken. Honestly, that's the worst. -_- And I hope your exams go well. Sounds nervewracking.

    Thanks for linking up with us!

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    1. Thanks! Haha he might make me cry a lil bit too if we got talking about Vetch .... but for the most part, definitely laugh!!

      It's fixed now, thank goodness. Something about a fuse plug. I have no idea. But whatever, IT'S WORKING!

      Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  4. Wow, that was the first time I've read that synopsis and I'm totally digging it! I would read that book. And I definitely like the sound of Freddie :) Good on you for getting so much writing done lately, even with everything else going on in your life (side note: every dog I've ever owned would also make off with my undies from time to time - WTF?). Anyways, I have a lot of respect for writers and their persistence because I do not have the patience and diligence to be a writer at all. So congrats! And good luck on your exams!

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    1. Really?? THANK YOU!

      Aah this dog, she'll be the death of me ... she's so cute though! I can't deal with it!!

      Thanks! Haha I'm just trying to keep going, one sentence at a time. And thanks for the luck - I will need it!

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  5. Happiest memory.... aw.... just aw..... so many feels....

    And I really, reaaaally like the names Vetch and Freddie! Also, Amy is a great name... if you ever want to y'know, call a character that.... >_<

    Amy // The Blog Hermit

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    1. I HAVE SO MANY FREDDIE FEELS YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!!! D:

      Thanks! :D I love naming characters. And I will look out for someone to name in your honour ;)

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Thanks for commenting! :)