Beautiful People #27~Clearly I Know My Character Like I Know The Back Of My Hand…

Clearly I don’t know my character at all.

Ha ha! Just kidding… (But am I?)

Ahem. Let’s start over.

Greetings, friends! Today I am linking up with Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In for their monthly Beautiful People meme.

‘Beautiful People’ refers to our characters. Characters we authors create inside our very own heads.

The customary ritual is as follows: We are given a list of questions concerning said characters. We are expected to give answers to these questions in return. Apparently we are supposed to know things about these people.

Today’s victim is named Zindor, the fourteen year old protagonist from my yet untitled fantasy novel. I interrogated him as thoroughly as I could. (Actually, he doesn’t know the answers to half these questions so I had to drug him and dislodge them from deep within his subconscious mind in order to attain them, but you know, that’s just excessive detail.)

Here was the result.

1. What are they addicted to/can’t live without?

Zindor is addicted to storytelling. (No, he’s not based on me at all, now hush.) He has a constant string of stories going on inside his head, and he often has a hard time distinguishing his stories from reality.

2. Name 3 positive and 3 negative qualities about your character.

Positive:

He is fiercely loyal to his parents, especially his mother.

He is fairly patient and does not lose his temper easily…(at least generally?)

He is quite an accomplished poet.

Negative:

Due to his imaginative nature, he gets distracted extremely easily.

He is not very good at reading human emotion (or deriving a motive for it) in others. (This may have something to do with the fact that he has spent the last twelve years of his life on an island where his only human contact was his parents.)

He can sometimes be overly passive, either because he is imagining that he is doing something that he is not, or because he thinks something that is happening is not actually happening.

3. Are they holding onto something they should get rid of?

The terror of a childhood memory.

He is haunted by the image of a frightening beast he saw once as a two year old, and he cannot let go of it.

(I know, it’s a tad melodramatic. Maybe this question was referring to something more like a blanket or a particularly sentimental old jam jar, but ho hum…)

4. If 10 is completely organized and 1 is completely messy, where do they fall on the scale?

Erm… Probably 5? Zindor is sometimes meticulous with his pens and such, and he takes much care with his parents’ things, but he can also forget all about taking care of stuff, and become oblivious to the chaos surrounding him.

5. What most frustrates them about the world they live in?

Zindor’s secluded island home provides little cause for frustration. He is not lonely, (at least he doesn’t think he is) and he doesn’t mind doing his chores (at least not very much) because he can tell himself stories to keep himself from boredom.

However, he does sometimes become frustrated that his father is gone hunting so much. He hardly ever gets to see him.

Later on Zindor will find that what frustrates him most is when people refuse to tell him what is going on, and keep secrets concerning him. This happens quite a bit.

6. How would they dress for a night out? How would they dress for a night in?

The meaning of ‘a night out’ would be totally lost on him. However, if he did understand the concept, and if he owned a suit of armor…

Zindor’s dress is always simple, practical, and comfortable. He wears a tan colored tunic and dark leggings.

7. How many shoes do they own, and what kind?

He owns two shoes, which is also the number of feet he possesses. They (the shoes) are actually a pair of boots, made of leather. They were crafted for him by his father.

8. Do they have any pets? What pet do they WISH they had?

Yes, Zindor has an orange cat by the name of Clarence.

They are good friends, and Zindor often talks aloud to him, but Clarence never talks back.

9. Is there something or someone that they resent? Why and what happened?

Though he pretends not to mind it too much, Zindor resents the fact that his mother is chronically ill. He views the illness as a cognizant entity that is stealing his mother away, and sometimes, in a secret corner of his mind, (hardly known to himself) he resents his mother for letting it.

10. What’s usually in their fridge or pantry?

…Himself.

Ha, ha. No, but really…

Though he can get distracted frequently, Zindor’s stomach always draws him back to reality, and he hardly ever forgets to eat.

The pantry is normally well stocked with sausages and dried wild game, due to his father’s excessive hunting. There is also usually mushrooms, potatoes and cornbread. No cheesecake, though.

In Conclusion

Well, there you have it. I hope that you feel you know a bit about this specimen now.

Thanks buckets to Cait and Sky for hosting this superlative meme! Make sure to check out their blogs, and the other Beautiful People Linkups!

How are your stories going? Do you know your characters? Did you participate in Beautiful People this month? Does Zindor sound like the type of character you would read about? Let me know in the comments!