No Stacking the Shelves today, since… I pretty much covered the books I’ve read this week (all of the books in The Selection series and still making my way through Sara’s Key. That one’s gonna take me a while. Meep.) Instead, I’m linking up with Sky @ Further Up and Further In and Cait @ Notebook Sisters  for the Beautiful People meme. The meme is designed to help writers learn more about their characters. The hosts will give you ten questions to answer on my blog every fifth of the month and the meme is open all month. I, for one, definitely need to get to know my characters. (I like to skip to the writing part and totally disregard the planning part.)

SO. This month’s character is going to be Maisie, my newest character for the story (no title yet!) I’m working on for July NaNoWriMo. Without further ado… the questions! (WHOO! GO MAISIE!!) Okay, okay, that’s enough. Settle down now.

1) What is their full name and is there a story behind why they got it? Maisie Rose Reed. I wanted a classic, feminine, sweet sounding name that was still not quite as known as Emma or even Ellie, which were my first choices. Her mother is kind of… crazy. (I’ll leave it at that, lol), and so I also wanted a name that sounded kind of rough around the edges. (Similar sounding to Macy, or something, except you pronounce it with a z, not a c.) Rose is her aunt Eleanor’s name, who ends up raising her and her older sister, Carmine, and Maisie adored aunt Eleanor. Reed is so pretty, I just really fell in love with it when I discovered it.
2) How old are they, and when were they born? So, in the present day, Maisie is 25. There’s no actual year set or anything, it’s just kind of present day, but her birthday is in October. But the chapters take you back to when she was 6, then 7, 8, 9, and so on until she’s 19 and kind of shows you how she ended up with her aunt and then her best friend, Zander, ends up falling in love with her, they get in a fight, break up when she’s 19 and never see each other again. (Something like that, okay? I’m still working out the kinks.) So yeah. In present day, she’s 25.
3) Describe their physical appearance. (Bonus questions: 1. What is their race/nationality/ethnicity? 2. Do you have a picture of them? If so, include it!) I imagine Maisie to have dark brown hair and blue eyes. I imagine her to have some Mexican roots on her father’s side (her father never makes an appearance in the book, but she does have some fatherly influences), but it’s not really said much in the book. I tried to find the best picture possible for Maisie, but this is pretty darn close:

4) Describe your character’s personality first in one word, and then elaborate with a few sentences. Strong. Very strong. Not like, the muscular type (I hope you didn’t assume that, lol), but very strong in the way that in the beginning of the book, she loses her aunt Eleanor, her mother pretty much left her on her aunt’s doorstep when she was six, and she lost her best friend and first love. Plus she and her older sister are growing apart, and that kind of makes her sad, especially because she still loves her nieces. She carries a lot on her shoulders, but she keeps going and works hard in school and at work and everywhere else.
5) What theme song(s) fit their personality and story arc? (Do you want to reword that or does that work? I’m not sure…) Probably All Too Well by Taylor Swift (it actually kind of makes me cry because it reminds me so much of Maisie’s story), and Stronger by Kelly Clarkson.
6) Which one of the seven deadly sins describes your character? Pride.
7) If they were an element (fire, water, earth, air), which one would they be? Air.
8) What is their favourite word? Hmmm… tough one. Get back to you on that one?
9) Who’s one person they really miss? (It could be someone who’s passed away, or someone they’re not close to anymore, or someone who’s moved away.) Her aunt Eleanor. And, at first, when she was younger, her mother. (She eventually lets go.)
10) What sights, sounds, and smells remind them of that person? Well, for her aunt Eleanor, the sweet perfume, Crimson Plum, she wore. And chocolate malt milkshakes. With a cherry on top.

That’s it for this one 🙂 Thanks for reading!!