Hello, blogglings! It is that time of the month again; the time where Cait and Sky put up a link up so that writers can talk about their characters. It is rather fun. You should do it.
This week, I’m talking about Evelyn (Evie), the main character in my urban fantasy about changelings. It’s called A Dance With Monsters, and to sum it up quickly: Evie’s a changeling, and her parents never noticed, because the “real” Evie was taken when she was only two days old. Now she’s figured out she’s a changeling, but she’s not sure if she wants to stay with the normal world and her parents and siblings, or back to her original family and be ~magical~.
There’s lots of food in it.
How often do they smile? Would they smile at a stranger?
Evie smiles pretty often…she’s just a naturally smiley person. And she would smile at a stranger, but in more of the awkward, ‘we-made-eye-contact-accidently-so-now-I-should-smile-to-be-polite” kind of way.
What is the cruelest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?
Spoilers! It happens in the novel, and…uh…Evie doesn’t handle it well.
What is the kindest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?
Also spoilers.
What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?
When Evie was about six, her family went camping. She wandered off, as kids often do, and came charging back to camp saying that she say a person with feathers and a beak instead of hair and a nose and mouth. No one believed her, but she’s positive she saw it.
She did. That was her first time actually seeing a changeling, and it’s stuck with her because she’s a changeling, herself, and her subconscious knows that and so she’s clung onto the memory.
What book (a real actual published book!) do you think your character would benefit from reading?
The giant Julia Child cookbook. Evie is convinced that she’s an awesome cook. She isn’t.
Have they ever been seriously injured? How severely? How did they react?
When she was fifteen, she and her friends decided to take their canoe over the waterfall. The waterfall is pretty short…maybe ten feet, but it flipped when it hit the bottom and Evie hit the rocks that lined the river. She had a broken arm, bruised ribs, and a mild concussion. She was actually the calmest out of everyone, while her friends where freaking out.
She later realizes she was so calm probably because of the concussion, because she remembers her thoughts being kind of all weird and slow.
Do they like and get along with their neighbours?
She gets along well with her neighbors on the right side; she’s best friends with the girl who lives there (Oliver). Her neighbors on the other side, though, are one of those middle-aged couples with a decent amount of money who has an immaculate house, throws barbeques that go late into the night, yells at you if you accidently step on their lawn, and don’t trust teenagers anywhere near their precious house. Evie finds them ridiculous.
On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being easy and 10 being difficult) how easy are they to get along with?
Maybe a 7? Evie is pretty nice, but she’s not really someone who’s happy sitting around for a couple of hours. She needs to be up and moving.
If they could travel anywhere in the world, where would they go?
Evie’s always wanted to go to South America to visit the rainforests.
Who was the last person they held hands with?
Probably one of her friends?
So, how are all your writing projects going? Well, I hope!
And, in other news, Civil War comes out today! I’m going to a showing tonight at seven, which probably means a 3+ hour line but whatever! It’s great!
AND I’M ALSO SLIGHTLY TERRIFIED. BE SAFE, STEVE.
Happy Friday,
Ouchie that canoe incident sounds so painful! I love characters like that; the ones who hold the group together. I also love changelings!
Does Evie want to go to the rainforest as some sort of subconscious connection with her true identity?
I’m excited to read your book – it’s just my kind of thing 🙂
Who inspires you as a writer?
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It’s actually based off of real life; my cousin and I accidently went over a waterfall in a blow-up raft. A short one, yes, but we still ended up wet and scraped up and bruised.
Sort of? She also just really likes the idea of going to South America.
Oh, I don’t know. I actually haven’t put much thought to it. Huh. Now I must muse on that.
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She is very adventurous, I think I can cook too, but I can’t.
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I think that plagues a lot of people. I have a friend like that.
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That canoeing adventure sounds so fun! Well…..up until the falling-over-the-waterfall thing. lmao.
Ellie | On the Other Side of Reality
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My cousin and I actually did that once; we were in a little blow-up raft, and we went over. Completely on accident, but we came back with bruises and cuts, for sure. The raft somehow managed to be completely fine.
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I am totally the kind of person who would make awkward eye contact and smile, because looking away seems even more awkward. (This has happened more times than I can count in my life). Your story sounds so interesting! I love the idea of changelings.
Great post and answers! 🙂
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
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Gaaah it’s so awkward no matter what you do. Especially if the person doesn’t smile back. Then it’s doubly awkward, because you’re doing a weird little smile and they’re just staring back. The most uncomfortable three seconds ever.
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The book sounds really interesting so far, is it in the Young Adult genre? I assume there are incidents with the middle-aged neighbors and their fancy lawn?Keep up the good work 🙂
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Yep, it’s YA. And little, off handed things. You know…Evie cuts across their lawn and they yell out the window, stuff like that.
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I think this is so cute of Evie: “we-made-eye-contact-accidently-so-now-I-should-smile-to-be-polite” 🙂
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Well, Evie’s kind of based off of a super cute friend of mine, so I’m glad you think she’s cute, because I’m writing her to be cute!
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What? Did I hear changelings? Okay, much yes. I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for someone to write about changelings. Because they’re so creepy and weird and mythical, right? This sounds amazing.
“Also, Evie thinks she’s a great cook. She’s not.” This Evie and I need to get together. We are too similar.
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Yes! Although, admittedly I’m tweaking the myth a bit: they’re more human with animal characteristics then fey. But I’m hoping to keep the eerie, half-wild vibes in there that the old stories have.
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Oh, that sounds so cool! Best of luck in fleshing it out. 🙂
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Thank you!
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you had me at “there’s lots of food in it” hahah It’s kind of cute that Evie thinks she a great cook when she actually isn’t. And the changeling is an interesting concept. I’ll admit I don’t know much about it, but it sounds intriguing!
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Changelings always really fascinated me, especially because they tend to be viewed as evil, but in a lot of stories, they’re switched with human babies because changeling mothers can’t feed them. And they never said they kill the human babies or anything.
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Evie sounds like quite an interesting character. The idea of changelings is fascinating, not one I’ve considered working with- though it sounds like you’re handling it well.
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ooo, thanks. Hopefully I’m handling the changeling thing well, especially because I’m messing with the actual myth, and there’s less fey and more humans with animal characteristics.
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