September’s Beautiful People coincides nicely with my beginning a new project, so I thought it would be both fun and useful in helping me develop my main female character a little better. As always, if you’re not familiar with the exercise, Beautiful People is a monthly blog link-up hosted by Sky of Further Up and Further In and Cait of Paper Fury, in which writers answer a set of questions about the personalities and habits of their characters. Taking a cue from Jenny, I bent this set slightly by swapping out a few questions that just didn’t seem to have any bearing on my story, and substituting a couple from the Beautiful People archive. Hope that doesn’t disqualify me? Anyhow, my chosen character this month is the heroine of my Jazz Age novella Lost Lake House, Dorothy Perkins, who’s about sixteen years old, I think.
She’s in a crisis: who would she really like to see right now?
That’s rather the unfortunate thing with Dorothy: she doesn’t know. With no mother and a busy and distracted father, she doesn’t really have one person she can lean on or run to when she’s in trouble.
Is she easy to get along with?
Most of the time, yes. She’s a generally sweet-tempered girl—but she does know how to be quite stiff-necked if you cross her the wrong way!
Does she see the big picture or live in the moment?
In the moment. She’s prone to making impulsive decisions based on the moment, and then feeling rather dismayed as she gradually becomes aware of the big picture later on.
Is she naturally curious?
Indeed. With Dorothy, curiosity occasionally overcomes such other natural sensations as doubt or fear…which isn’t always the best thing.
She’s in the middle of a huge crowd of people: how does she feel?
Dorothy likes people, and likes a bit of sound and color and excitement; so as long as it isn’t a positively hostile kind of crowd or one containing some element that makes her uncomfortable, she can hold her own quite well.
Does she believe in luck or miracles?
She had rather hoped such a thing might get her out of the sticky situation she’s in at the outset of the story, but by this time she’s just about given up hoping.
If she could travel anywhere in the world, where would she go?
At this stage in her life, I think she would probably choose a place with a tradition of glitter and excitement, like New York City, perhaps.
How does she feel about her appearance?
She finds it satisfactory for the most part, but she does occasionally feel exasperated that no matter how she tries, she can’t quite look as grown-up and sophisticated as she would like to. Her youthful features and curly hair simply don’t lend themselves to what she sees as grown-up elegance.
Hanne-col says
Ahh, I can't wait to hear more about "Lost Lake House" as you develop it. Dorothy sounds like she's going to be an interesting character to read about.
Cait @ Paper Fury says
Ha, no it doesn't disqualify you! 😀 Some of the questions are tricky to bend for certain books, right?!? We're all flexible with the rules around here. xD
I enjoyed reading about Dorothy! Although the first question is so sad since she doesn't even have someone who will help her in a crisis. POOR DOROTHY.
Thanks for joining in! 😀
Rebekah Hendrian says
Jazz Age! That picture! I'm already interested. I would love to be able to visit New York during the Jazz Age (even though it's still cool now), and I never tire of that era. Dorothy sounds like an interesting character, and I'd like to read more about her and her adventures 🙂
Some BP questions do tend to be harder than others, don't they! Sometimes the strangest questions give me the best character insight though. I'm glad you're joining up, and I hope we'll see more.
Victoria Grace Howell says
Dorothy sounds interesting. ^ ^ I normally like curious characters. They find lots of intriguing trouble to get into haha. What's her story about and what genre is it?
I did BP as well! http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2015/09/beautiful-people-13-caleb.html
Elisabeth Grace Foley says
Victoria, it's going to be a fairytale-retelling novella based on "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." I write historical fiction, and I had so much fun with a Cinderella retelling that I decided to try it again.
Emily says
Jazz Age?! Sign me up! I love love love Fitzgerald so to be honest any whiff of the Jazz Age and I'm all over it …
I love these answers; they're so elegantly written. May I ask about the sticky situation, or is it a secret? 😉
Also, what a great title!
Emily @ Emily Etc.
Elisabeth Grace Foley says
Emily, thanks so much! As for the sticky situation…per the original fairytale, she's been sneaking out at night to go dancing against her father's will, and is afraid of being found out, as well as beginning to have second thoughts about the whole escapade…
Becky says
This is great, Elisabeth! I can't wait to read more about Dorothy. She sounds like a sweet girl.