Beautiful People- Demi and Galen

Yay! It's time for Beautiful People once again. Since it's BP's one year anniversary, this month's questions are about two characters- or more accurately, their relationship. I've noticed a lot of people do this in interview format, so I'll be trying that out to let my characters speak for themselves. 

***

Me: Do you believe in anything that most people think is impossible? 

D: Well, that depends on your definition of impossible... 

G: What she means is... I have no idea what she means. I guess since I believe in Demi, and since by your terms her existence is impossible... then yes, I do.

Me: Are you strong, or the "damsel/knight in distress" sort? 

G: I hate to say it, but I'm probably the 'knight in distress', sadly. 

D: Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. *smirks*

G: Really? I believe your solar plexus would beg to differ.... 

Me: Do you have a special place? (e.g. a corner in his/her bedroom, under a tree...)

D: No... not yet. Olympus in general, where we both live, maybe. We spent most of the novel away from there, though. 

Me: What occupation do you have, or plan on having? 

D: Does demigoddess count...?

G: Parents, maybe.

D: *glares* I wasn't completely aware of that.

G: *raises eyebrow* So you... don't want kids. Or kids with me, anyways.

D: What?! I never- grrrr. Galen?

G: Yes?

D: You reserve the right to shut up now. 

Me: Describe your current place of residence. 

D: Oh, very temperate. Lots of flowers, trees and tons of marble. A lot of it has gold, purple or turquoise veins in it, though. Not much marble of that nature on Earth, I believe. 

Me: Explain your last crisis. How had you changed when you came out of it? 

D: Well... a more accurate description would be my crisis, but... I guess I was less smitten with him-

G: What?! Well, I-

D: -in a good way! I mean, I was less... tongue tied. And less shy, definitely.  

G: Less tongue tied alright. Very. 

D: Galen...

Me: If you could drive any kind of car you wanted, what would it be? 

D: Excuse me- but what is a... car exactly?

Me:  How do you deal with change? 

D: We weather through. Most change is for the best, though...

G: Yeah. See if she means that when things are changing for real. 

D: *facepalm* 

Me: If you had to amputate one body part, which one would you choose? 

D: I have had... experience with knives. But if I must answer this, then my hair.

G: And I know that sounds like a loophole, but she considers her hair her only nice feature. I would beg to differ, though. I would have to go with the same, really. Loosing any body part doesn't seem very appealing.

Me: What is your favorite food?

D: Pomegranates.

G:...It depends, really. 

Me: How did you meet? 

D: Oh, we've always known each other- but the earliest memory I have was the time I was upset about... something (I really don't remember what, even though I have an idea of who caused it) and he made me feel better. 

G: Yeah, I think that's right. 

Me:  How do you two deal with conflict? 

G: We don't.

D: What he means is: we don't fight because I saved his life. So he can't disagree with me.

G: *frowns* Righttt....

Me: Do you have a special song, phrase, item, or place? 

G: Demi.

D:  I am not yours. And Galen, do you have anything... else?

G: We need to work on that, I guess. 

Me: What kind of things do you like to do together? 

G: Kis-

D: *blushes* Galen, do not  finish that sentence. Ever.

Me: Describe your relationship as a whole in 3 words, or less.  

D: Always working together.

G: She scares me.

D: What?!

G: Sorry. I was nervous...  

D: *sigh* Thanks for the interview, Annika. I had fun- and I think Galen did too. *smiles* 

***

Well, quite a pair these two are, eh? I was seriously cracking up while writing this. It's so amazing how much characters keep growing even after a novel ends. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, and I'd love to see what you think of this... couple. XDDDD

What's In a Name?

   "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."- Shakespeare 

Hiya! Annika here. Today, we're going to talk about names. Despite the wide range of people a name can cover, certain things come to mind when you hear certain names.

What do you think of when you hear Esmeralda?

Billie Jean?

Colette?

Analiese?

Imogen?

Juliet?

Ivy?

Anne?

Helen?

Madison?

Tess(a)?

See? Different things come to mind. For example, Analiese makes me think of a princess. Billie Jean perhaps a turn of the century cowgirl. Juliet- well, Wizards of Waverly Place, to be frank.
But people's perceptions of names are very different. Did you know that some people dislike the name Lucy because they somehow see it related to the name Lucifer? I find this odd, as Lucy Pevensie, one of the most innocent characters I've ever read about, is named this. So in step, I have come to associate the name with innocence.

Now, when it comes to naming characters, sometimes a name can indicate something they don't realize or keep buried. Oddly enough, my nanowrimo novel's protagonist was named Demi, even though she proves to be anything but by the ending. Her name is Demetria, but for some reason she is always called Demi, even going so far as to prefer it over her true name.

Other times it is because they can't stand their full name. For example, George Fayne from the Nancy Drew Mysteries real name is Georgia, but she prefers George. This is justified, as even when the original books were written, she was shown to have tomboyish tendencies.

Something that has always annoyed me in Fantasy and Sci-Fi is that some writers go over the top with names. Even in fantasy, I'd rather use slightly less common Earth names. Or if I make up one, I make sure to still keep it simple. I'd actually use Ivy or Tess(a) or Ava instead of something crazy like Elfiria or Mcedomen.

Here are some great naming resources:

The Baby Name Wizard
Nameberry
Behind the Name
Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names



But what do you think? Do you have any favorite names or traditions for finding names for your characters?

The Devil's Not In The Details- No, It's In the Characters

Okay, raise your hand if you're ever wanted to just sack your character(s). Yep, that's what I thought. But, lately, I haven't had this problem. I mean:

Marcie/Elle is docile as can be

Zoe is a nice girl when it comes down to it

A fanfiction OC of mine that's on a mission with the main characters has decided to stop bringing Chaos to her and my world. 

Something's up.

I mean, when is the last time writing has just gone perfectly for anyone? Don't bring up Jane Austen... I'm sure Elizabeth Bennet gave her heck...
My characters are playing nice in the sandbox. I can churn out 2K in a couple days with no effort. I know what to blog about. RPing is a lot easier. 

And now I know my characters are coming for me. Where's my fake mustache...
Okay, my vengeful characters aside, I'd like to say thank you to Ashley from The Epic Reader and Cheery-O for posting my anti-SOPA/PIPA button and blogging about :D 

...As you can see, I redesigned my blog. The other design was was a bit... unprofessional, so to speak? Yeah... I also learned how to center my banner, hip-hip-hooray!!!!

Well, Annika Elipton signing off! May the Force be with you :D