Beautiful People #9

Beautiful People is a monthly blogging meme hosted by Paper Fury and Further Up and Further In. It goes live on the 5th of every month, and you can find out more about it here.

So, for this month’s Beautiful People, meet Elin from my not-yet named Supernatural novel. Elin is a monster hunter, someone in charge of making sure that the “Unnaturals” do not cause too many problems.

1. Do they get nightmares? If so, why or what of?

Elin will sometimes get nightmares after a particularly difficult mission. Maybe an innocent person got in the way, maybe the creature refused to go down quietly. Her nightmares tend to be very bloody and violent, heightened experiences of her last mission.

2. What is their biggest guilty pleasure/secret shame?

Her guilty pleasure is fast food. She’s supposed to keep her body in prime condition, ready to run or fight at a moment’s notice, but sometimes, after difficult mission, she’s get something big and greasy and fattening.

3. Are they easily persuaded or do they need more proof?

She needs proof. She grew up with a mystery writer as a dad, a photographer/artist as a mom, and her older sisters are a nurse and a forensic scientist respectively, and her household is very science-y in general, so to believe something, she always needs concrete proof. That can be a bit hard in her particular line of work.

4. Do they suffer from any phobias? Does it affect their life in a big way?

She has aerophobia, or the fear of flying. Luckily she almost never leaves her tiny town, so it doesn’t really affect her life that much.

5. What do they consider their “Achilles heel”?

She’s seriously allergic to bee stings.

6. How do they handle a crisis?

Pretty well. She’s more of a fight than a flight kind of person, but she doesn’t panic.

7. Do they have a temper?

Depends. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If she’s on a mission, she’s learned that she has to keep cool and confident and level-headed. Anywhere else, yes.

8. What are their core values and/or religious beliefs?

Never kill an innocent, protect anyone who might need protecting from the Unnaturals, never look away from something that just doesn’t seem right, because missing something could cause many to be killed.

9. What things do they value most in life?

Her friends and family, her Border Collie, Alaska, her camera (Nikon D3200), and her “case kit”, which holds anything she might need on a mission.

10. What is one major event that helped shape who they are?

When she was eight years old, she saw a Strigoi drink the blood of a childhood friend. No one believed that she actually saw the vampire-like creature, they all said that trauma had come up with an excuse to protect her from what she really saw. But she knew that she had seen it, and that’s what turned her to the path she’s taking now.

So, writing a supernatural novel is super fun. I’ve never actually attempted one before, but I’ve been researching all these obscene supernatural creatures (Like the Black Shuck. A big, shaggy black dog that inspired the Grim from Harry Potter), and that’s fun. I actually need a couple of new ones, because I’ve got twelve or so so far but I need more.

Happy Wednesday,

Testing today. //groans