16. Are there any blood relatives that your character is particularly close with, besides the immediate ones? Cousins, Uncles, Grandfathers, Aunts, et cetera. Are there any others that your character practically considers a blood relative?
Becky: She’s not particularly close with anyone. Some of her cousins would come over to play Barbies some time ago, but Becky hasn’t really formed strong relationships with them since. She was close enough to consider all of them family, but not favouring anyone in particular.
George: He lived pretty close to some of his cousins, and they would run around and injure themselves a lot. George’ll still keep an eye on them from time to time, but at this point he mostly avoids people he knows since it’s hard to accept he’s no longer in their lives.
17. What’s your character’s desk/workspace look like? Are they neat or messy?
Becky: She’s the kind who organises without actually putting anything where it should be. Her desk at school has a clear area for working and all kinds of junk pushed to the sides.
George: He’s pretty messy. I don’t know if he really has a desk where he worked, and he picked up after himself, but where he actually lived was not safe for females or the more OCD to enter.
18. Is your character a good cook? What’s their favourite recipe, whether they’re good or not? (Microwave mac-and-cheese applies.)
Becky: She doesn’t care much for cooking. She can basically do any kind of simple pasta, and that’s about all she’s put her mind to. Old-fashioned macaroni and cheese is her favourite.
George: He’s actually pretty decent. His favourite would be meatloaf.
19. What’s your character’s preferred means of travel?
Becky: Car. It beats walking, and she does have a license.
George: Walking. It’s a little too much trouble for him to stay focused enough to not just phase through a moving vehicle. He was fine with driving while alive, though (although he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be in a car for a while if his accident weren’t quite so fatal).
20. Does your character have any irrational fears?
Becky: Who doesn’t? She’s afraid of snakes. Regardless of toxicity, if its bigger around than her index finger, it’s too much for her.
George: When basically nothing can actually touch him, most fears would be irrational. He is afraid of needles and sometimes doctor’s offices in general. Not sure if it's a phobia, but he's a bit paranoid about spies, too.
21. What would your character’s cutie mark be? [I've only seen a few episodes of MLP, so I really have no idea what I'm doing with this one.]
Becky: She’s intelligent and sciencey, so a classical atom or something?
George: If he has any special talents it would be his attitude, so smiley-face? Or maybe a leaf or something for his landscaping, er, skills.
22. If your character could time travel, where would they go?
Becky: Again, she wouldn’t go for it if it had a chance of messing up space-time somehow. If there were some guarantee it wouldn’t… She’s not a huge history buff and she's pretty much afraid of the future, so there wouldn’t be any particular events she’d want to watch unfold. She might check out an original Shakespeare play or something.
George: He might just want to relive his three years with Elise. Otherwise, as much as he likes his growing up in the eighties, he’s a bit of a fifties fanboy, so he’d probably run around in that time frame for a while.
23. Is your character superstitious?
Becky: To a normal degree. And then she can actually see ghosts, so I don’t know if that counts as superstitious.
George: He is a ghost, so I don’t think it can be called superstition there, either. He’s pretty big on gambler’s fallacies, if that’s superstition.
24.) What might your character’s ideal romantic partner be?
Becky: She’s not that interested in general, but I guess someone very supportive, and low-key. Maybe a bit of a daredevil.
George: Before he met Elise, he’d probably give some dumb answer concerning physical attractiveness and big hair. After he met Elise, he would say Elise. And these days, he’s kind of dead, so he’s not really chasing anybody else.
25.) Describe your character’s hands. Are they small, long, calloused, smooth, stubby?
Becky: She has good piano-player hands (although the only lessons she’s had were with her grandmother). Her fingernails are kind of stubby, though. Her hands will get dried out in allergy season, but otherwise they’re pretty smooth. She hasn’t done much repetitive activity that would cause calluses.
George: His hands are freaking huge. Not that excessively, but enough that he's self-conscious about them. Probably a few calloused areas from his job.
26. Second day of favourites! Favourite comfort food, favourite vice, favourite outfit, favourite hot drink, favourite time of year, and favourite holiday.
Becky: Fried things drowning in gravy, sloth, blouse and slacks (skirts make her uncomfortable), apple cider, spring, Christmas (being a break from school helps).
George: Meatloaf (this already came up), beer, jeans and a rock T-shirt (preferably Bon Jovi), coffee (only reasonably distant from black), fall, Thanksgiving.
27. Pick two songs that describe your character at two different points of their life, and explain why you chose them.
Becky: Around the time the story starts, “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence would be pretty good. Even though how she’s “brought to life” is by dying, it describes her pretty well. For a second one… “Land of Confusion” by Genesis for after the story. Because she still thinks the world more or less sucks, but she’s more willing to do something about it rather than whine and try to escape it altogether.
George: The stages of his life are pretty much “0-18: Loser” and “18-21: Loser with a girlfriend” so… Probably have to go with “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel for the latter with the whole “how the heck did a guy like me end up with a girl like you” thing. For the first part, I have no idea. “I’m Alright” by Kenny Loggins.
28. If your character’s life was a genre, what would it be?
Becky: Supernatural would probably be a good choice because she can see ghosts and later become one. Otherwise, there’s not much interesting going on, so I’d be hesitant to say YA or something.
George: His life, specifically? Not Supernatural then. Slapstick comedy, with a touch of rom-com.
29. How does your character smell? Do they wear perfume or cologne?
Becky: She doesn’t do perfume or scented lotions because she’s allergic. She has some scented hand sanitiser, so her hands sometimes smell like cherry blossoms. Otherwise she just smells like a human.
George: As a ghost, he doesn’t have a smell. When he was alive, he probably wore some cologne that didn’t actually smell as pleasant as he thought.
30. And finally: Write a letter to your character, from yourself. [I'm terrible at this as well.]
Becky: Um, you’re cool. We should study for the MCAT together. And watch a dumb ripoff movie to make fun of it.
George: Hey, you should come to that one upcoming classic rock concert with me. It’s not Bon Jovi, but hey. It’ll be cool and remind you of the good old days and such.
"George’ll still keep an eye on them from time to time, but at this point he mostly avoids people he knows since it’s hard to accept he’s no longer in their lives." Aww, that's really sad. :( The living can't see ghosts, right? Except for Becky?
ReplyDelete"Her desk at school has a clear area for working and all kinds of junk pushed to the sides." Sounds like my desk at home until I cleaned it yesterday. XD
Haha, don't worry, I've never watched MLP so I have no idea either. What you chose sounds about right.
Aww, George's relationship with Elise is making me sad! Stop it, Journey!
I liked the letters. XD
It's relatively rare for the living to see ghosts, and it's sort of on a spectrum. Becky has especially good "vision," though.
DeleteYes, this is why I only keep up letters/emails with two people I know.