Tag Archives: Characters

Black Stone Cherry

Posted in Music by

I can’t remember how I heard about them, but I love them.  They only have a couple albums out but both are 2 of my favorites. I can listen to them without skipping any songs…and for me, that is a rare feat because I tend to skip ahead to random songs. It’s why I never put my iPod on shuffle. So when I can listen to someone straight through, it’s a sign they’re good.    

I like Folklore and Superstition better than their self-titled album.  I can’t remember how I heard about them- it was either Pandora, which I’ve mentioned so many times you’re probably tired of hearing about it, or they popped up in the recommendations thingy on iTunes. For some reason, iTunes seems much more likely.  

Some of my favorite songs include Blind Man, Please Come In, and Soul Creek from their Folklore and Superstition album.  Some other good songs are Lonely Train, Big City Lights, and Hell and High Water from their self-titled album. 

They do have a cd coming out sometime this year, and I’m excited, mostly because their last cd came out a few years ago.  I only found out about them a few months ago, so it’s not like I had to wait a really long time or anything, but it’ll be nice to see what they come up with for their new cd.

I listened to them quite a bit during November, because they are one of Kiora’s favorite bands.  I never mentioned it in her profile, but I can see her listening to them, since their music has a country feel to it, and Kiora does love country music.

I think they’re a great band, and definitely one that has been some inspiration for writing.

Chad Greene

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

Chad Greene is the president!  In Turning Point, anyway.  What’s interesting about Chad is that in my original notes, from a year or so ago, is that he was going to be Kiora’s uncle, and she was going to be living with him.  I ended up changing it, because I thought it was too boring. 

Chad has a wife, 2 daughters, and 1 son.  I have no clue what he did before being president, so for now, I’m going to be all cliché and assume he was either a Senator or a representative.  Before that, I have no clue.  He does want his children to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and is always trying to get them to do community service.

He likes baseball, and pretty much every water sport known to mankind.  He likes dogs and bears, green is his favorite color, and he likes comfort food.  And his favorite games are poker and cranium. 

He does see himself as a fairly reasonable person, and loves a good debate.  He’s also a tech geek, according to my notes. 

His profile isn’t well-developed, partly because I didn’t have enough time to work on it, but mostly because I ended up shoving him to the background.  Plus, I assumed that I wouldn’t need to have detailed info on him, since I figured he wouldn’t make a whole lot of appearances. 

I’m not sure if I’ll go back and develop him more.  I think any revisions I do will determine that, since there’s no point in filling

Blake Jackson

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

Blake Kyle Jackson is Kiora’s dad.  Even though he doesn’t show up too often, he still plays an important role.

He’s the Secretary of Education, studied Politcal Science in college, and taught at a community college.  I still need to fill in some background info on Blake being an educator, because I feel like if you’re going to be the Secretary of Education, you would need to have experience as a superintendent and such. 

Anyway, he was married to Charlotte, until she committed suicide.  He lied to Kiora about it, telling her that her mom died in a car accident because he wanted to protect her from the fact that her mom had some issues.

He’s pretty calm and quiet, but also very protective of friends and family, especially his daughter.

His favorite colors are green and blue, he likes cats and horses, and his favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  He likes football and basketball, golfing, and watching CNN.  He likes listening to jazz.  He hates stretching, candy and rollercoasters.  

He does have a tendency to want to fix things and make sure everything is okay.  And he wants Kiora to have what he never had. 

I unfortunately don’t have a detailed profile on Blake, which is something I need to do.  Plus, he’s not really in the novel enough, which I need to change.  I can still write him in, I just need to go back to what I’ve already written and get him in there.  After all, he is why they had to move to D.C., so it would make sense for me to write about his job, and actually show him there.

Mike Adams

Posted in Character Spotlight, Wildflower by

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about one of my characters, so this post has been long overdue.

Mike Adams is from Wildflower, and made his 1st appearance in my 2006 NaNo.

He’s 31, and has brown hair and brown eyes. He plays 3rd base for the Ashton Bears, and is an only child. He has a daughter (cassie, I still don’t have an age for her, but I feel like she’s around 4 or 5). He used to be married, but his wife died while they were in the process of getting divorced. In fact, the only reason why they got married was because of Cassie.

Everything he does is for Cassie, and he, at times, wishes that he had never pressured Cassie’s mom into getting married. He does want to get married again, but he’s going to be more cautious about it because of his 1st wife, and because of Cassie.

My favorite thing about him is that he’s very giving, thoughtful and generous, but he’s also a little too giving.  He wasn’t afraid to help Chloe out when she needed it, and would do anything for her.

I definitely set things up so that they’d end up together in the end, which is cliché.  He comes in and saves her, and after a while, they realize that the person they were looking for was in front of them all along.  Although, why not use clichés in November?  It’s not like I have the time to come up with something original or different.

But his concern for Chloe, and his appreciation for Chloe helping out with Cassie is sweet.  Anyone who dates him is going to have to be okay with his job (and not care about his money, despite what my handwritten notes say).  Liking kids is a must, and furthermore, if Cassie doesn’t like who he’s with, she’s probably not going to be in the picture for long.  And of course, all of the baggage from his 1st marriage.  She’s going to have to be okay with the fact that he has some regrets about that.

Luna Lovegood

Posted in Character Spotlight, HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken by

She is hands down one of my favorite Harry Potter characters ever!  In fact, she’s tied with Hermione, along with Hagrid, as my three favorite characters in the series.  What’s interesting about Luna and Hermione is that they are opposites, and complement each other quite nicely.    

She’s really random and quirky, which is completely awesome, and she doesn’t care about what others think of her.  And even though she knows people steal her things and make fun of her, she still cares about them.  Plus, her house looks totally cool- like a giant rook, and it would be pretty awesome to live in a house shaped like a giant rook.

Luna’s pretty open-minded, and has some pretty unusual beliefs, as well as some unusual habits and an unusual way of dressing.  All of this makes her a fairly easy target, and she’s ridiculed a lot, but she also overlooks it, and is, in my estimation, an optimistic person.  

I do see some similarities between Luna and myself- the open-mindedness, and patience and acceptance of others.  I wish I could be as serene and calm as she is- while I can be calm and serene, I’m not anywhere near as calm and serene as Luna.

Dustin Ellis Sullivan

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

So, Dustin is one of Kiora’s secret service agents.  I don’t have an exact age for him, but he’s in his late 20’s (at the youngest).  Estimating his age was such a pain that I gave up, especially since there were a lot of different variables that frustrated me. 

So Dustin is around 6’4″ making him pretty tall (at least, compared to my height, which is 4’10).  His hometown is Austin, Texas, and has a degree is psychology.  His major is something that I definitely want to change, as psychology is a little too cliche for my tastes.  He tends to be pretty extroverted, and is pretty judgemental of others.  He can be pretty emotional but he also tends to be stoic- it just depends on what’s going on.  He’s really self-confident. 

His favorite colors are blue and brown, he likes Italian food, dogs, darts and Christmas.  He hats cats, board games, apple cider, hair products, and pudding.  He’s scared of needles and heights.  And according to my notes, minored in math, which is weird because I distinctly remember him making some comment about how Kiora’s weird because she likes math.

Chloe Douglas

Posted in Character Spotlight, Wildflower by

Chloe is definitely one of my favorite characters, and one that is very near and dear to my heart.  She was the main character in my 2006 (and very first!) NaNo. 

She definitely has a lot in common with me, and she was partly based off me.  I made up a lot of stuff about her life, but there are also a lot of things that happened to me that I ended up writing in.

So she’s an only child, lived with her grandparents and mom until they died, and never knew her dad.  She tends to bottle things up, tends to cry a lot, and avoids dealing with things.  She hates conflict, and only deals with it when she has to. 

Her deepest, darkest secret is that by the time she’s no longer taking of anyone, and is fully on her own, she’ll be too old to care that she can finally live her own life.  She’s definitely motivated by fear, and is scared of change and being alone.  She has more family issues than she knows what to do with.

I never did a fun facts sheet for her, mostly because I didn’t have time, but she is a writer and wants to be a best-selling author.

Why I Love Hermione Granger

Posted in Character Spotlight, HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken by

Hermione is definitely one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series, which is why I think the focus on the Giant Prehistoric Chicken shifted over to Hermione. 

There are a lot of similarities I see between myself and Hermione.  She’s book-smart and loves learning, there’s a fear of failure, and there’s a sense of compassion for others.  We’re both only children, and while my hair isn’t bushy like hermione’s, it can get pretty frizzy.  Plus we both have brown hair.  And I do love the smell of books, especially new books, while Hermione loves the smell of new parchment.

Hermione’s also a very strong female character in the series, and shows that she is just as deserving of an education of Hogwarts as anyone else.  She’s not ashamed to be a muggle-born witch- and she’s actually very proud of being a muggle-born witch.  She definitely proves that with hard work, and some serious studying, you can be a very powerful witch (or wizard) no matter what your background is. 

One of my other favorite things about Hermione is wanting to free the house-elves, and fighting for those who are oppressed.  She also helps those in need (like all the times she helped Neville in potions), which makes her pretty awesome in my book.

So last month, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One, and one of the scenes that was memorable (besides both Hedwig and Dobby dying), was the opening scene, where Hermione modifies her parents’ memories.  I can’t even imagine having to modify someone’s memory, but it takes someone’s who pretty strong to do something like that.  And as a random side note, I downloaded the Deathly Hallows soundtrack today, and I’ve listened to the song that’s played when Hermione modifies her parents’ memories a good 5 or 10 times already.

Kiora Mackenzie Jackson

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

This is my first character spotlight.  The format for it may change, depending on the characters.

Kiora’s around 5’4″, green eyes, auburn hair, and is fairly petite.  She’s an only child, wears glasses most of the time, but will wear contacts every once in a while.

She loves arts and crafts, so it’s one the ways she copes with everything going on around her.  Making mosaics, collages and scrapbooks, knitting and crocheting, and sewing are some of her favorite things to do.

I originally thought her to be more introverted and shy, but she definitely came across as more extroverted.  She definitely sees herself as quiet and artsy.  The whole artsy part is somewhat funny to me since she loves math and science, but she’s trying to be a well-rounded person.

The thing that strikes me the most is the relationship with her dad.  Her grandma’s been pretty involved with Kiora’s life- up until her death anyway, and Blake seems to be a workaholic.  She’s had a hard time adjusting to being in Washington D.C., and being the daughter of a cabinet member.  I still have no idea what being the kid of a cabinet member is like, but I’m assuming that she has to go to…stuff.  Like dinner parties and that kind of thing- at least a few a year.  For that matter, what exactly is a “typical” day like for the cabinet?  Meetings, phone calls, that sort of thing I guess.  I have a very vague idea, and I didn’t really focus on Blake at all, but if I can ever get my lazy behind to edit/revise, then I have to figure it out/make it up. 

Random Facts: Loves! Disney movies (the little mermaid is her favorite movie, along with Finding Nemo).  She loves daisies, softball, and brussel sprouts (which is funny because I hate brussel sprouts).  Hates hand sanitizer, wearing shoes, and bingo.  Loves headbands, teatherball, and bowling.Would like a pet aardvark or a pet badger.

The Secret Service Novel

Posted in Post-NaNo Wrap Up, Turning Point by

This one went really well year, which was a big surprise.  Maybe it was the fact that I did a little more planning for this one than I did the others.  Maybe it was because I had conflict and tension in oodles.  I’m not quite sure what was going on with this one, but I’m definitely going to keep working on this one!  I wrote around 800 words or so yesterday, which I’m proud of because it’s something I’ve never done before.  Also impressive is that I wrote 51,045 words without wordpadding at all!

At the beginning of the month, I didn’t really have a clear plan of what Kiora’s life was like, or how Secret Service protection would affect her life.  As the story unfolded though, it’s been hard for her to adjust to being the Secretary of Education’s daughter, and it’s been hard for her to fit in with her classmates, who are much more used to being the child (and in some cases, grandchildren) of important politicians, etc.  She, for the most part, seems like she’s kind of gotten used to secret service protection, but she’s not really the type to say so. 

Also taking me by surprise was Kiora and Dustin.  I orignally decided it would be a one-sided thing, with Kiora having this huge crush on him because she thinks he’s cute.  Out of nowhere, he kisses her, it causes issues because he’s feeling guilty, and she thinks it means something.  I was leaning towards the idea of them dating for a day or two, but found I couldn’t write it.  However, I came up with the brilliant idea of replacing Dustin and Kiora with Sienna (a classmate of Kiora’s) and a secret service agent.  I’m still not sure how everything will play out, but Kiora and Dustin are definitely realizing and coming to terms with the gravity of what they’ve done. 

Victory Song: Use Somebody by Kings of Leon. 

I know I briefly mentioned it before, but I thought I’d have a victory song for each novel.  I’m not quite sure why I picked this particular song as the victory song, but somehow it seemed appropriate. 

I won’t be working on it frantically like I was last month, but I plan on writing 1000 words or so everytime I work on it.  The rules of just writing, and ignoring my inner editor still apply, of course, at least until it’s finished.  Whenever that is.  I’ll be posting how it’s going, plus I’ll be talking about each character in-depth.  I’ll also post the weird stuff I’ve written.

Title: Turning Point.

I know I’ve mentioned the title before, but I’ll be referring to the title from here on out.