Beautiful People: Mark Elijah Rochester

"The public? Ha.  The public.  You sound like a snooty princess or something.  Maybe we had better say Francie’s public, huh?  The unwashed masses, the madding crowd, the populace we scatter coins to..."

~Mark Rochester

Okay, so there's a bit of a story behind the picture of Mark up here at the top... for the longest time the ONLY image I had of Mark was this one, which I'd found on Pinterest, but there was no name with it and so I had no idea who the boy in the picture was and therefore couldn't go looking for any more images of him.  And I really did want some more pictures because a) the more, the better when you're character casting and b) Mark doesn't generally run around in a medieval tunic.  So the other day I was going by while my sister Molly was on the computer, and she was looking for character pictures for one of HER books, and long story short she demonstrated to me how you can search Google with an image by right-clicking on it.  MIND.  BLOWN.  I had no idea you could do that. Go ahead and laugh, but I've got my Mark pictures now and I know who Charlie Rowe is.  YESSSSSS. 

~What kind of music does he like?

Mark isn't especially musical, but he enjoys singing in the car with his family, generally very loudly and not exactly on-key.  Mindless repetition of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," each verse varying slightly in Level of Ridiculousness, is a particular favorite.

~Does he like to go outside?

Absolutely.  Mark is definitely an outdoors person.  He's also an indoors person, too, and like all his siblings has an innate love of reading.

~Is he naturally curious?

Is Sir Percy the Scarlet Pimpernel?

~Right, or left handed?

Right-handed.

~Favorite color?

Well, his favorite shirt (the one he wears four or five days out of the week in summer until it is forcibly removed by a sister and put in the washing machine) happens to be red (or at least it used to be red) so we'll go with red.

~Where is he from?

Born and bred in Cedar Lake, Michigan and has lived there all his life.

~Any enemies?

Mark doesn't really have enemies, per se, though there are a few people he really doesn't like.  Frank Whittaker currently tops the list.

“Who wants to make a good impression on a humanoid magazine cover like that,” Mark snorted, and Sylvia choked back a snort of her own.  “I bet he spends his whole day practicing how to ask girls out in front of his bathroom mirror.  When he’s not applying an entire bottle of hair oil, that is.  I bet he wears aftershave just so he’ll smell older.”

~What are his quirks?

He's argumentative but good-natured, enjoys doing things he's been expressly told not to do (sisters aren't parents, after all, and Celia isn't the boss of him) but is generally trustworthy, has never broken a bone in any of the times he's taken a plunge off his bike and has memorized all the kings of Judah both in chronological order and in a personal list ranking them from Most Wicked to Least Wicked.

~What kinds of things get on his nerves?

People nagging him or telling him what to do, wearing a tie, wearing a suit, wearing a carnation in his buttonhole and being a groomsman.

~Is he independent, or needs others to help out?

I'm gonna let you decide that one for yourself, based on the other answers. :D

Beautiful People: Frances Katharine Rochester

"The words ‘beard’ and ‘good-looking’ should never appear in the same sentence unless there is a ‘not’ between them."

~Francie Rochester

~What is her favorite type of shoes?

Oh, high heels, most indubitably.  Preferably sophisticated black ones.

~Does she journal?

She kept one when she was about eleven for about two days.

~What’s her favorite animal?

To eat or to pet?  For the former, fish-- the latter, dogs.

~What does her average day look like?

During the school year Francie's away at nursing school but this story takes place in the summer, so her day often includes... making oatmeal for eight people unless Alice does it first, working on dress orders from her various clients, going to people's houses for fittings (she's the only dressmaker around who still makes house calls, Celia often points out), doing up the lunch dishes, playing kickball in the backyard, folding laundry, going grocery shopping if it's her week (she and Alice take turns), playing Monopoly with her younger siblings and staying up too late reading Pride and Prejudice.

~Night owl or morning person? (Optional: What time does she usually wake up? Go to bed?)

Night owl for all intents and purposes-- she can be a morning person now and then, usually around the twenty-fifth of December or thereabouts.  What time she wakes up and goes to bed is not being disclosed to the general public.

~Does she have a sweet tooth?

Is the Popemobile Catholic?  Chocolate, please.

~What colors are in her bedroom?

Off-white on the walls and pink curtains at the windows (as opposed to Celia and Patsy's--and Sylvia's--room which is pink on three walls and white on one because they ran out of pink paint).

~Can she cook?

Heh.  Heh, heh, heh.  Um... yes.  Some things, she can cook very well.  Some things, she cannot.

Alice took a spatula and gave a dubious poke to a pan of yellow gook on the stove.  “Francie, if you don’t mind my asking, what is this supposed to be?”
“It’s not supposed to be any thing.  It is an omelet.”  Francie whisked the spatula out of Alice’s hand.  “You don’t have to eat it.”

~What is her favorite household chore?

Scrubbing the bathtub, believe it or not.  You get to run the water really loud and sing Que Sera, Sera at the top of your lungs and if other people yell at you to hush up you can blithely ignore them because of course you can't hear them over the sound of your industrious cleaning.

~Favorite kind of tea?

Earl Grey-- it's classy and kind of romantic and very English, which is just the kind of thing Francie likes.

{{I did Sylvia and Celia's Beautiful People tags quite some time ago, but neither has really changed since then so do go check them out when you get a chance.  :D Mark will be up next.}}

Beautiful People: Alice Cassandra Rochester

"Patsy, you know better than to scream in the kitchen.  If you want to scream, go down cellar where you won’t bother anyone."

~Alice Rochester

I've decided to make this week a Get to Know the Rochesters Better week, as I'm in the last throes of finishing the story (WE HOPE) and instead of apologizing and excuse-ing and going off on irrelevant tangerines that you're not interested in, I'm doing a series of Beautiful People, one each day.  We're starting with Alice and going down the line in age order.

~What is her biggest accomplishment?

Becoming a fourth-grade teacher, definitely.  And marrying her fiance would probably go on the list too, except that at the start of the story it hasn't happened yet.

~What is one of her strongest childhood memories?

Reading everything she could get her hands on and being read to by her father.  Her mother read to her, too, but she and her father had a special book routine every night before bed (a practice that's continued on with all the other kids in the family).

~What is her favorite food?

Uhhhhh... pumpkin pie.

~Does she believe in love at first sight?

Nope, she believes in being friends with someone through high school and liking them from the start and then falling in love with them a little bit more each day until one day you both realize that you were meant for each other and you get engaged and then you get married.  This is because she's had experience in that regard.

~What kind of home does she live in?

A loud, noisy, hilarious, exuberant, close-knit, old-fashioned one.

~What does she like to wear?

Alice isn't as clothes-conscious as, say, Francie is-- she likes to look nice but she's not too picky about what she has on.  A sweater (long or short-sleeved, depending on the weather) and a skirt in solid colors or maybe a flowered print is her go-to attire.

~What would she do if she discovered she was dying?

Tell her family she loved them and make out Patsy and Timmy's bath schedule for the next twenty years to avoid bickering when she's not around.

~What kind of holidays, or traditions do they celebrate?

Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Father's Day, and The Day We Got Pumblechook (which is February 26th, 1950 in case anyone was wondering).

~What do your other characters have to say about them?

This is a great question. :D

“What kind of games do you play?” asked Sylvia, choosing to sedately attend to the cutlery drawer.  

“Oh, all kinds.  Sometimes board games, sometimes party games.  Mark almost always picks Monopoly and Francie picks charades. Nobody likes it when it’s Timmy’s turn because he always picks Uncle Wiggily, which gets old really fast, and Alice has a reputation for picking Find The Grammatical Error In This Sentence.”

Sylvia snorted.

“No, I’m not kidding.  We really did play that one time.  Mark and I did a pretty good job of faking snores by the fourth round.  I don’t think we fooled Daddy, but Alice gave up and chose What’s My Line instead.”

~If they could change one thing in their world, what would it be?

I'm not sure Alice would want to change anything in her world.  She likes it just the way it is.  I mean, I'm sure she'd love to see poverty and war and ungodliness eradicated from the planet, but as far as her own little domain in Cedar Lake... I think she'd tell you that it's got its own particular brand of perfection.

It's too early for that game {Beautiful People: Celia Rochester}

 
Celia Jane Rochester, take your nose out of your book and meet Beautiful People.  Beautiful People from June 2011, this is Celia.

Enough with the introductions and polite chit-chat, I'm on a Half NaNo schedule here.  Let's cut to the chase.

What kind of music does she like?

Celia's not the kind of person who will turn on the Victrola of her own accord, but she doesn't mind listening when another member of the family has a record blaring.  By proxy, she enjoys classical music (particularly Beethoven) and Broadway showtunes (except when Francie is singing them in the shower).

Does she like to go outside?

Of course.  Reading in trees is great fun.  Oh, you meant doing outside things like running around?  Well, sure, she likes all that too, but though the pleasures of kickball have some charms for her, she should infinitely prefer a book.

Is she naturally curious?

Very.  Sometimes too much for her own good.  She tends to ask too many questions of perfect strangers and get Looks from Certain Older Sisters. 

Right, or left handed?

Right handed.  And she's thirteen-and-three-quarters.  That was not part of the question, I know, but I felt the need to stick her age in somewhere--knowing how old people are is important, she'll tell you--and this seemed as good a place as any.

Favorite color?

Pink, in all its shades and forms.

Where is she from?

Cedar Lake, Michigan, a tiny lake town (do tell!) which can hardly be called a town--it's more of a village. Its extremely boring and commonplace name is one of Celia's pet peeves.  She has never been to Kalamazoo in the same state, but she has always held that that name is far more of a sit-up-and-take-notice kind.

Any enemies?

There are certain people she dislikes, but she doesn't have any enemies to speak of.  She and her cousin Sylvia have some real spats during the course of the story, however.

What are her quirks?

She likes peanut butter and jelly.  On pumpernickel bread.  With lettuce.  It's her favorite sandwich, partly because she likes the taste, but partly because she gets intense enjoyment out of making the rest of her family gag.  Oh, and she's good at playing practical jokes. Very good indeed.  

What kinds of things get on her nerves?

Getting up too early.  Oh, she hates that.  And being asked to read picture books out loud at the breakfast table when it's all she can do to keep her face out of her cereal.  

Arguing with a four-year-old, Sylvia decided, was something best not done before breakfast.  “How about we make some oatmeal together?”
Patsy’s head popped up and an impish smirk popped out.  “How about not?”
Sylvia sighed.  “Don’t you like oatmeal?”
“How about not?”  Patsy repeated.
Celia stumbled into the kitchen and then into a chair, huffing sleepily.  “She’s playing the ‘how about’ game again.  It’s too early, Patsycakes.”  

~The Rochesters 

Is she independent, or does she need others to help out?  

Celia would tell you that she's an independent person, but in reality she needs a hand now and then.  Now and then a lot.  Don't we all?

Beautiful People {Archive Edition}: Philippe

 Every time I write a story, I tell myself that I'm not going to play favorites on this go-round.  And every time, I find myself inexpressibly drawn to a certain character (or two).  Rodney and Lavinia tied in Only a Novel, Francie is becoming my new best friend in The Rochesters, Deirdre fascinates me no end in The Butterwick Boardinghouse Detectives, and now I'm beginning to favor Philippe over any other character in The Color of the Sky.  So I've fished another Beautiful People questionnaire out of the archives, and you're all probably tired of hearing me gush about how helpful these are, so I'll skip the advertisement and get to the Real Thing.

How old is he?

Philippe's about twenty-two or twenty-three.  I'm not exactly sure.

What does he do with his spare time?

This question bugs me.  I'm not quite sure Philippe has what you'd call spare time.  The fact is that at the beginning he's trying his hardest to fill his deceased father's shoes by running the manor house and bossing the laborers and arranging his sisters' futures.  Then SOMETHING happens and he's notably absent for a good part of the book, and while he's missing in action (cough, cough-- literally--cough) he's basically trying to stay alive.  So yeah... spare time?  What's that?

Does he see the big picture or live in the moment?

Philippe wants desperately to see the big picture, but he's not yet sure what that is.  He's stuck in the moment right now and though he'd never admit it to anyone, he has a gnawing fear that there's nothing beyond the moment. (Pardon my speaking in riddles... all will be revealed in good time.)

Is he a perfectionist?

You better believe it.


What does his handwriting look like? (round, slanted, curly, skinny, sloppy, neat, decorative, etc.)

Philippe doesn't write much.  I'm not sure if he even knows how.  I have to do a little more research about 13th-century literacy levels.

Ignore the suit, okay? It's hard finding medieval-
style photos that don't include armor, people.

Favorite animal?

Sometimes he's convinced all men are merely animals.

Does he/she have any pets?

Um, he has a horse.  Which he pets.  Occasionally.

Does he have any siblings? How many? Where does he fit in?

Philippe has two younger sisters, Margot and Fina.  He had three brothers and another sister, as well, but three of them died as infants and one as a toddler.  As for fitting in-- he doesn't.  Margot and Fina have a special relationship into which he's not invited, and just between you and me, that hurts him a little.  Not that he has time for that kind of nonsense of course, but still... he'd probably kill me if he knew I was telling you this, so I'll stop.  And I realize that I probably interpreted the last question a little differently than I was supposed to, but what are rules for if you can't bend them occasionally?  (Don't let Philippe hear me say that either, or I'd be the one getting booted off to a convent.)

Does he have a 'life verse' and if so what is it?

That.  Would be telling.  So I won't.


Favorite writing utensil?

Can we change this to "favorite eating utensil" so that I can respond with "his fingers"?  Yay for medieval table manners.

Beautiful People, June {Archive} Edition: Christine Pelham

 There aren't any new Beautiful People questions for this month's edition, so I delved into the archives at Skye's blog and came up with some old questions to use for my newest heroine.  Christine Pelham is the MC of my contemporary mystery novel (not a genre I ever thought I'd write, but it's been swellissimus so far) and since I don't know too much about her yet, this was a great way to find out more.

(Special thanks to Kiri Liz of Lianne Taimenlore, who unwittingly provided me with the face I needed for Christine.  I'd never heard of Miranda Otto before I saw Kiri's profile picture, but when I saw the picture of Eowyn from LOTR on Kiri's profile last week, I knew I'd found the actress I was looking for.  Yay for character casting!  Oh, and some of these pictures are of Miranda Otto when she was in her early 30's-- Christine's actually only 20.  So, um, pretend she's younger, 'kay? Thanks.)


What kind of music does she like?

Classical and a lot of Broadway.  Songs from Les Miserables especially.  Can't imagine where she gets THAT...

Does she like to go outside?

Ye-esssss... but she's so fair-skinned, she gets sunburned really easily.  So she has to be careful.  And now that she's spending a week at the Outer Banks in preparation for her friend's wedding, she's wearing about six coats of sunblock so she won't look like a boiled lobster in a bridesmaid dress when the Big Day arrives.

Is she naturally curious?

Indubitably.  But she's also cautious.  She's the kind of girl who'll say, "No, you ask," when she wants to know something.  She doesn't leap before she looks.   When a house mysteriously burns to the ground during the Beach Week, it's Christine's best friend Laura who wants to go all Tuppence Beresford and find out what happened.  Christine's more inclined to let the police sort it out... until the police arrest the wrong person.  DUHN DUHN DUHN.

Right, or left handed?

Right-handed.

Favorite color?

Powder blue, which is fortunate because that's the color of her bridesmaid dress.  Since her favorite color tends to change every few weeks, the powder blue thing may or may not actually be a result of the dress. :)

Where is he/she from?

You would have to ask that.  Um.  Ohio.  A little town in Ohio.  It's not important because her whole story takes place away from home anyways.

Any enemies?

Not a one.  Not a one that she knows of, that is. Christine tends to get along with people.

What are her quirks?

Her left ring finger is crooked. Is that a quirk?  Sure it is-- it's a quirk in her finger.  Most people wouldn't notice it unless they're staring at her hands, but it bothers her because she'd like to wear a diamond on that finger someday, and she's afraid it will look funny.  Also, she always unties her shoes before putting them on.  No sliding into pre-tied sneakers for Christine.

What kinds of things get on her nerves?

She can't stand it when someone scrapes their fingernails against one of those upholstered chairs they have in hotels and whatnot.  It makes a horrible sound.  She also hates it when people talk with their mouths full.

Is she independent, or needs others to help out?

Definitely needs others to help her out, but in a crisis she can be depended upon.

Wow, I love Beautiful People.  That took me less than ten minutes and now I know much more about my MC than I did ten minutes ago.  *happy sigh*

Dramatis Personae: Elizabeth Sophia Markette

I didn't get started on Beautiful People until March 2012, so unfortunately I missed a year's worth of lovely questionnaires.  But when I was looking through the archives the other day, I thought "well, why should I miss out?"  So I've decided to slowly but surely work my way through the Beautiful People archives, featuring a different character each time.  Today, I'll be exploring the protagonist of Only a Novel, with the BP questions from March 2011.

First of all, I should give all y'all some background on my protagonist.  Her name is Elizabeth, and on the surface she's boring as all get-out.  I honestly don't blame you if you find her dull.  Because sometimes she is.  But that's part of the manifold and complicated reasons why I like her, and I'm hoping that after reading a little more about her, you'll start to like her too.

Born in June of 1860, Elizabeth grew up in a wealthy home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, cared for by her grandparents after her parents died when she was very small.  Her grandfather passed away when she was thirteen, and she led a quiet life with her grandmother--going to school at Miss Raleigh's Academy for Young Ladies and reading everything she could lay her hands on--until her grandmother's illness and death when Elizabeth was twenty-one.  With her grandmother's death came the unsettling news that the family fortune was all gone, and Elizabeth was left to make her own way in the world.  Not being the kind of person to sit down and acquire a case of the doldrums when things take a turn for the worse, Elizabeth packed her bags and set off for England  to seek a position as a governess.  Because, you know, everything's better in England.  All of Jane Austen's stories take place there, after all! (Thank you, my dear, I think we had all apprehended that much.)  On the voyage, she met an extremely fashionable and slightly eccentric young socialite, Lavinia Solange Vivian Bancroft, who was determined that they should be Best Friends... that is, until Lavinia learned more about Elizabeth's plans to be a governess.  Nevertheless, Elizabeth stuck to her guns, obtained a position with the Crimp family, and began her new job as caregiver for Jonathan and Isabelle (who aren't exactly angels and aren't exactly holy terrors, but are somewhere in between).  But of course, she was quite sure that this was all only temporary--sooner or later Mr. Darcy would come galloping up on a white horse and sweep her off to Pemberley to live happily ever after.  Heh.  That's what she thought.

And if I continue to ramble about the entire plot of the story, I'll give it all away and nobody will ever want to read it, so I'll stop now and get to Beautiful People.

~What is her full name?
Elizabeth Sophia Markette.

~Does her name have a special meaning?
*hastily rushes to a baby names website to look this up* Elizabeth is the Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning "my God is an oath".  Sophia means "wisdom".  Heh.  Ironic, that.
I suspect this question might have been asking if I had a special meaning in mind when I named my character... the answer is no.  I named Elizabeth after Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (a fact that comes into play in the story), made up Markette out of mine own little head (stop red-underlining it, Chrome) and then stuck Sophia in the middle after asking bloggy friends for suggestions.

~Does she have a methodical or disorganized personality?
Definitely methodical--or at least, that's what she'd like to think.  Elizabeth prides herself on being logical and not heedless, but the truth is that she gets flustered quite easily.  NO SHE IS NOT AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTER.

~Does she think inside herself more than she talks out loud to her friends? (more importantly, does she actually have friends?)
Elizabeth is a thinker.  Much of the book's narrative is told from her perspective, as if the reader is inside her mind.  (I'm not a huge fan of the italicized words followed by "she thought", as if the character were speaking aloud.  Thought processes are much less structured than that--at least, in my mind. :P)  Anyway, Elizabeth is most certainly more of the type to think things out privately rather than "spill" to her friends.  Though, if she's talking to the right person, she can be inveigled into sharing her thoughts.  And yes, she has friends.  She is quite offended that you would suggest otherwise. She does INDEED have friends.  Three of them, in fact.  No, four. Er, five.  Wait, is it permissible for a young lady (even if she be a governess) to count an upstairs maid as one of her friends?

~Is there something she is afraid of?
Heehee.  Pardon me while I attempt to make the answer to this question less than eight paragraphs long.  Yes, there are quite a few things Elizabeth is afraid of, and since I am a mean author, several of those things pop up to scare her silly in the course of the novel.  The things Elizabeth is afraid of include heights, large birds, embarrassment, nippy-yippy-dogs (you know the type--the Fifi kind who yap and squeal and run at you and try to bite) and the Bubonic Plague.  Thankfully the Bubonic Plague does not figure in the novel.  Or does it....?  *scribbles down ideas*

~Does she write, dream, dance, sing, or photograph?
I suppose I should answer each one of these separately.  Writing-- Elizabeth writes letters and that's about it.  Dreaming-- science has declared that everybody dreams every time they sleep at night, whether they remember the dreams the next morning or not.  So yes, Elizabeth dreams.  Dancing-- she took lessons in school, and can hold her own in a waltz, but it's not her favorite thing to do in the whole wide world.  Singing-- hmmm.  I really don't know.  She hasn't yet had any occasion to do so.  I'm inclined to think she isn't much of a singer.  Photograph-- personal cameras weren't around yet in 1882, so far as I know.


~What is her favorite book? (or genre of books)
Funny you should ask this.  Let me think very, very hard.  I'm sure I'll come up with something... oh! Yes, of course! Elizabeth's favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, an author of whom she is rather inordinately fond.

~Who is her favorite author and/or someone that inspires her?
Heh.  See above.

~Favorite flavor of ice cream?
Vanilla.  I'm afraid Elizabeth's a bit boring in that respect, but hey, vanilla ice cream is good! Besides, ice cream's ice cream.  Who passes up ice cream?  Crazy people.  Or lactose intolerant people.  (No offense, lactose intolerant people...)

~Favorite season of the year?
Mmm... spring, I think. It's romantical and pretty, and the weather is nice, and she likes to daydream about strawberrying at Donwell Abbey. :D

Beautiful People: Annette Pickering

This month's Beautiful People centers on villains, and I leaped at the chance to get to know my villain a little better.  Ladeeeeeez and gentlemen, may I present Miss Annette Florence Pickering, a lovely, accomplished and selfish young woman with an ego the size of something really, really big.  

Tiny bit o' background: Annette is the oldest child in a fabulously wealthy English Victorian family, with everything she could ever want at her disposal.  And believe me, she likes it that way.  She likes nothing better than to be the best at everything-- to be the prettiest girl in the room, the most popular young lady at a ball, the most fashionably dressed woman in her circle of friends... yeah, you get the idea.  Her younger brother Wilfred (whom I covered in another BP) lives pretty much under her thumb, and Annette likes things that way, too.  

1. What is her motive?

Excellent, excellent question-- and one I hadn't really considered until about a month ago, when my sister and I were up way too late one night talking about villains (and many other things related to writing).  They DO have to have a motive, and I'm afraid Annette didn't have one when I first created her.  So I hastily went back in the story and altered a few events... and everything slid into place, and now Annette has a motive and one aspect of the story is in far better shape than it was before.  Yay!

Oh, but I didn't yet tell you what Annette's motive is.  Right.  Okay, so Annette has always thought herself better than everybody, right?  She always associates with the most upper-crust people, and it is to her advantage to be "friends" (yes, the quotation marks are necessary) with Lavinia Solange Vivian Bancroft, another extremely wealthy and influential young woman.  That is, until one day when Annette and Lavinia go for a walk in Kensington Gardens.  They're strolling along talking about nothing (typical) when they run (literally) into Elizabeth Markette, a friend of Lavinia's who is a...wait for it... governess.  GET THE FLY SPRAY, because ewwww.  A governess is of the working class, you know.  *shudder*  Elizabeth is in the act of chasing down an errant child, and needless to say, it's a bit of an awkward meeting.  From that moment on, Annette ceases to associate with Lavinia.  Why?  Well, read the previous few sentences.  People who associate with servants (or nearly-servants) are not people who associate with Annette Pickering.  Therefore, Annette Pickering shuns Lavinia from that moment on.  Figuratively, of course.  They still are obligated to speak to each other in Polite Society, but their conversations are... interesting.  (And quite fun to write, I might add.)

Also, Annette makes things pretty doggone uncomfortable when her brother falls in love with Lavinia. *dramatic music*

2. What is she prepared to do to get what she wants?

Pretty much anything, as long as it won't soil her Parisian gloves.

3. Is she evil to the core, or simply misunderstood?

Evil to the core.  Ehh... well... she's mean to the core.  Not really evil.

4. What was her past like? What about her childhood? Was there one defining moment that made her embrace her evil ways?

It was never any one defining moment-- just a childhood spent in being spoiled rotten and given her own way in everything and brought up to believe that she was a little princess.  Unfortunately, her parents forgot to teach her about the whole noblesse oblige business.  It was more of a "might makes right" thing.

5. Now that she's evil, has she turned her back on everyone, or is there still someone in their life that she cares for? (Brother? Daughter? Love interest? Mother? Someone who is just as evil as she is?)

Annette really doesn't care for anyone but herself-- though it's not a question of turning her back on loved ones.  She never truly loved anyone in her family, because she's consumed with herself.  Deep down, however, I think she really is yearning for a friend.  Her insecurity and fear of not being accepted is what makes her so selfish and gives her such a drive to be the best.

6. Does she like hugs?

Is the pope a Muslim?

7. Is she plagued by something? (Nightmares, terrible thoughts?)

Annette doesn't allow herself to be plagued by anything.  (Eeep, I'm seeing some rather eerie similarities between her and another character, Lavinia--who is a good guy.  Er, a good girl.  She's a good girl, she is.  Aowwwww.)

8. Who is she more similar to: Gollum or Maleficent?

Since I'm not familiar with either character, having never seen Lord of the Rings or Sleeping Beauty (though I know the story of the latter) I'm going to substitute Chauvelin and the evil stepmother from Cinderella for that question.  And the answer is that Annette is more like the evil stepmother.  "Me, me, me--what's in it for me?"

9. If your villain could have her choice of transportation what would it be?

A carriage better than the Queen's. :P

10. If you met your villain in the street, how afraid would you be? Is she evil enough to kill their creator?

Good gracious, Annette would never kill anybody.  What a messy business that would be.  Besides, one might get in trouble with the law, and Society would certainly frown on a murderess.  No indeed, I would have nothing to fear from Annette in that regard... and actually, it might be quite interesting to meet her on the street.  She's so dreadfully snooty that she's actually funny at times, and I'd probably have a good laugh afterwards.

Does the dark side really have cookies?

I have no idea, having never been there.  I would imagine that they do, but I'd advise you to ask the Phantom.

P.S.  Apologies to any and all Keira Knightley fans... it isn't because I hate KK that I cast her as Annette.  It's simply that she looks exactly like the mental image I have of the character.  It is not my own fault. 

Beautiful People: Wilfred Pickering

Use your imagination and pretend he's wearing
period-correct 1880's clothes, please. ;)

Taking my cue from an authoress I greatly admire, I'm using this month's Beautiful People to familiarize myself with a character I don't know too well.  (For those of you who aren't familiar with Beautiful People: it's a monthly questionnaire designed to help writers get to know their characters better.  You can read more here.)

This month, I decided to tackle Wilfred Alfred Pickering, a secondary character in Only a Novel, my current WIP.  (Don't hold the poor chap responsible for his middle name-- he can't help the fact that it rhymes with his first.  His parents, I'm afraid, were remarkably short-sighted.)  Wilfred lives in London, England in 1881-1882 (presumably he lived for at least twenty-some years before that time, and hopefully for many years after, but 1881-1882 is when the story takes place.  Don't be so technical), the over-privileged son of wealthy parents who isn't quite sure of what he wants to do with his life.  My little sister Laura, if she were reading this, would immediately ask "is he a good guy?" (because she asks that about everyone) and my reply would be, "Well, read the following and see for yourself... I'll let you make your own decision."

1. What is his favourite type of shoes?

Quite frankly, I don't believe Wilfred puts much thought into footwear.  His shoes are black, in all likelihood.  Sturdy and sensible, yet fashionable--but not dandified.  Selected by his Esteemed Mother and paid for by his Honored Father.  He doesn't take much notice of them-- just wears whatever the valet puts out for him in the mornings.  He's not a sloppy fellow, mind you-- he likes to be neat.  But he doesn't much care what he's wearing, as long as it's presentable.

2. Does he journal?

Not nowadays, but he used to.  When he was younger and away at boarding school, he'd fill pages of tablet paper (paper that was supposed to be used for letter-writing) with the day's events.  Only of course the events were completely made up, because nothing much interesting happened to him while he was at school (unless you count being punished for using all his tablet paper and his roommate's besides for "scribbling nonsense" instead of writing letters home).

3. What’s his favorite animal?

Wilfred likes dogs, but his mother and sister do not, because dogs tend to shed and slobber.  Therefore, Wilfred does not possess a dog.

4. What does his average day look like?

That depends on whether he's at home in London or abroad with his family.  When he's abroad, he spends the forenoon and afternoon trudging from Fashionable Meeting Place to Fashionable Meeting Place with his mother and sister, and his evening at some party or other, being polite and making rather awkward small talk.  When he's at home, he spends the day at the office with his father, conducting Business (at which he is rather adept, but does not particularly enjoy) and his evening reading at home.

5. Night owl or morning person? (Optional: What time does he usually wake up? Go to bed?)

Wilfred generally gets up about seven, so that he can have breakfast with the family at eight and be at the office by nine-- he wouldn't exactly be described as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning, but neither is he a grump at the breakfast table.  He's not precisely a night owl, but he does enjoy his evenings, because evening means that he can relax in the library with a good book.   (Undisturbed, because the rest of his family never ventures into the library--it's too dusty and dull for the ladies of the house, and the gentleman of the house hasn't picked up anything but the newspaper since Oxford.)  Wilfred goes to bed between ten-thirty and eleven--earlier than his mother and sister, later than his father.

6. Does he have a sweet tooth?

Wilfred likes sweets in moderation, but he doesn't like the kind of cake with sugar dusted all over it-- he generally manages to smear it across the front of his coat, which is most embarrassing.   He prefers plain buns or muffins.

7. What colors are in his bedroom?

Colors?  There are colors in his bedroom?  Why, to be sure, there are.  He'd never taken much notice of them before.

8. Can he cook?

Not at all-- that is, he never tried.  Or had to try.  But if he were hard put to it, he might be able to scramble an egg.  It can't be that hard of an operation, after all, and if one approaches it logically and methodically, it can surely be done.

9. What is his favorite household chore?

Wilfred doesn't have to do chores.  The servants take care of that.  He wouldn't mind trying his hand at washing the windows, however-- he was never allowed to as a child, and always thought it looked like fun.  The butler would have let him help to polish the silver, and he would have liked to be of use in that way, but his Mamma said No and that's the end of that.

10. Favorite kind of tea?

India tea, the kind with a slightly musky, smoky flavor, very exotic.  It's not fashionable, but it tastes good and makes one think of foreign lands waiting to be explored.  Not that Wilfred could ever go exploring in India or South Africa, of course-- his mother would have a conniption at the very idea!

EDIT: I had a quote from Only a Novel picked out and ready for the the end of this post, and then of course I forgot about it.  Miss Scatterbrain speaking... anyways, here it is.

Elizabeth stopped listening and focused on minutely examining Mr. Pickering’s appearance. So this was the young man whom Lady Fagles was so keen on attaching to Lavinia. He did not seem at all unpleasant—on the contrary, his face bore the marks of good humor and frequent smiling. His hair was a handsome red—Lavinia’s prejudice against it was quite ridiculous—though a bit rumpled, but of course that was due to his running his hand through it a moment ago. His eyes—fixed immovably on Lavinia, regardless of the other young ladies to whom he was being introduced—were a pleasant brown and seemed to be quite friendly indeed.

He held his teacup with the ease of one who was accustomed to elegant parlors, but his precarious perch on the edge of the sofa belied any carelessness in his manner. It was obvious that Mr. Pickering was not feeling comfortable in this company, but then who could with a sister such as his seated beside him? With the skirt of her satin afternoon dress drawn carefully away in case her brother might soil it, no less?

“I was drive—driving by,” Mr. Pickering explained, stuttering just a bit, “and—and I thought I’d come by and—and bring you home with me, Annette, and then you wouldn’t have to call a—a cab.”

~Only a Novel, chapter 24