Translate

Monday, May 9, 2011

Why my MC is way cooler than me...

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I'm feeling like a new girl after ridding myself of the ol' half-life gallbladder. And to make my weekend even better, I come back to the blogasphere to find I've been bequeathed the Stylish Blogger Award again, this time by Jessica LeSaicherre, Kaya Koban, and Mandie Baxter. Thank you, lovely and generous ladies!




Along with this award comes a few responsibilities.

1. Thank and link to the person(s) who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to five blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

I'll get to steps 3 and 4 later. First, number 2. As fate would have it, I was planning to join in Ashley Graham's fun game of: 7 things you might find interesting about my MC, so I'm changing the rules just a bit. After all, my MC is sooo much more eccentric and intriguing than me.

So here are 7 random facts about Alyssa Gardner, my heroine from SPLINTERED. And, taking a cue from Ashley, I'm adding some visual aids. ;)

1. Alyssa's been blessed, or cursed, with the power to talk to bugs and hear their whispers, the very thing that sent her mother to the asylum. So to keep herself from going crazy, she does the only thing she can to silence them: capture and smother them in bug traps. But, being a frugal and artistic gal, she doesn't waste the corpses ... she preserves them and uses them in her mosaics. Needless to say, the girl's not squeamish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/3097134746/


2. Since Alyssa can hear bugs, she can also hear them scream when captured by a cat or dog and chomped to death. So, in place of a traditional domestic pet, she opts for eels. In her words:  "They’re elegant and mystical, and use a shock organ to stun their prey. It’s a quiet and dignified death, like the bugs dying by asphyxiation in my traps." Oh, and their names are  Aphrodite and Adonis. Romantic, right? *shudder*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nufkin/4835170670/


3. Alyssa's father is frugal, too. He bought her a used Gremlin for her sixteenth birthday and named it Gizmo after the cute little creature from the eighties movie (which he took Al's mother to on their first date).




4. For exercise, Alyssa likes to skateboard, but she has a deathly fear of heights. She's always trying to get up the nerve for stunts, but her phobia keeps holding her back.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skateimpulse/2423981473/

 5. Speaking of phobias, Alyssa has another debilitating one: the fear of being constrained. This formed early in her childhood, after seeing her mother bound in straitjackets and drugged out of her mind.




6. Alyssa won't leave the house without wearing a pair of fingerless gloves. It's more than a fashion statement. She has scars on her palms that she wants to keep hidden. The way they came about is too weird and humiliating to share with anyone, especially her friends.



7. Though Alyssa's heart belongs to her best friend and secret crush Jebediah, she is inexplicably drawn to the hero from the 90's movie The Crow. Sometimes when she's looking at the poster, the hero seems familiar somehow, like he's the only one who really understands her. Her words: "The emo guy looks back at me, his eyes bleeding black tears like he knows my pain, intimately. Something about him comforts me and I have a weird longing to be in his arms—wrapped up in leather." Well, you know what they say about being careful what you wish for, Luv. 
  


Okay, so that's some of what makes Alyssa tick (thank you Ashley for the excellent idea!).

Moving on to steps 3 and 4 ...

I bequeath the Stylish Blogger Award to four of my pals from LiveJournal, ye old blogging haunt, and to one of our fellow bloggers here on blogspot:


Congrats, nominees! By now I've contacted you. I hope you enjoy the award. You earned it! 

And to everyone else, have a wonderful Monday. :)

Award winners: In case you're techno-challenged like me, you can post your award on your blog, just right click on the picture here and "save picture as." If you're on blogger, from your dashboard go into 'design' and 'add a gadget' and download the picture. I'm not sure what the process is for LJ; might take some investigating. ;)

46 comments:

  1. These are great facts and very intriguing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved this post! Your MC definetly has me intrigued.

    BTW, who doesn't love "The Crow?" Brandon Lee was HOT! ;-)

    Can't wait till this puppy is on the bookshelves! ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. awesome! I can't wait to read this one--and I LOVE Brandon Lee :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey there DU! Thanks, I had fun writing this character. She's very unique. :)

    Hi Angela! Thanks! About the Crow, I know, right? Cool thing is, there's a reason he looks familiar to Alyssa, and she finds out why once she's in Wonderland. I can't wait either. From your keyboard to the publishing gods ears! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there, Rachel! Brandon Lee was incredible. It was so sad the way he died so young. Thanks for stopping by! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, Alyssa's a cool disturbed chick. Can't wait to read this. Plus, you write so beautifully, i. e. Wrapped in leather. Fantastic voice!

    Congrats on your award. Speaking of awards, you have one back in my blog haven. Can't remember if I already told you. Hopefully, you don't have this one yet. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, Alyssa's one seriously cool chick. Disturbing too. You write so beautifully, i. e. wrapped in leather. Fantastic voice!

    Congrats on your award. Speaking of awards, I've got one for you. Can't remember if I've already told you. Come get it before Phresh devours it all. She's a hungry pony. ;D

    Glad to hear you're doing well. Have a lovely Monday. Oh, btw, you don't need to do the whole 7 random facts since you just posted this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congrats, Anita on the award. You DO have a stylish blog. And congrats on the nominees.

    Oh. My. Heavens. I LOVE these 7 things about Alyssa. She's fantastic, Anita. Truly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Okay, blogspot's messing with me. First they send me an error message when my first comment got gobbled up, now I've got two similar comments above. I'm really not obnoxious, sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for the award! Okay it may just be the kick in the butt I need to start cross posting to blogger.

    Alyssa sounds wonderful. But now I really want a bug mosaic! And I have to know about the scars.

    I'll let you know when I link to you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. HI Cherie, my dear! No need to apologize. You could leave me umpteen dozen comments and I'd never think you were a pest. I'd just smile bigger with each one. Don't you know that? ;) Thanks for the compliments on my writing, you nicey. I'll be over to your blog in just a bit, and thanks for the seven reprieve. As you can see, I've run out of intresting facts about me. Heh. Hold back Jenny P as long as you can! She can be a wily one. LOL

    Thank you, Mary b. :) You're so nice. And yay, I'm glad Alyssa intrigues you! She was so fun to write.

    You're welcome, Pat! Come on over here. It's a great community on blogger. And yeah, bug mosaics rock. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow...she's a complex little thing. My MC looks like Elmo compared to her.

    If I haven't told you lately, I cannot wait to read this book!

    ReplyDelete
  13. LOL, Bethany! You always crack me up. xD

    I can't wait for you to read it, either. Why don't you shake the trees of those pokey publishers? Let's get this show on the road!

    Unless you plan Deutsch zu lernen. Deutschland liebt Splintered! heehee

    ReplyDelete
  14. Congrats on the award! Your MC sounds awesome!

    Thanks so much for passing this award to me as well! It's my first blog award and I'm honored to have it come from you!

    Have a wonderful week!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Tina! I'm so glad you like your award. Enjoy it! And thanks for the kind words, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Welcome back! I was definitely thinking about you this weekend, so I'm glad to hear everything went well with your surgery! I'm also so intrigued with the depth of Alyssa's character development that I think I need to go back and "fatten up" some of my characters! :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Eek. Nothing will keep you from going crazy better than killing bugs and harvesting their corpses.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lisa~ Hi girl! Thanks for the well wishes. I really am doing super. And as for Alyssa, I'm a huge charcterization buff, so that's usually where I start building my stories. I'm thrilled if I helped you in any way. ;)

    Haha, Taryn! So true, right? ICK. THanks for stopping by. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your MC sounds awesome, Anita! I can already tell she's very three-dimensional. And I love, love, love your writing voice. I can't wait for this book to hit the shelves! SO glad you decided to play! =)

    ReplyDelete
  20. We will trinken und lesen very soon, my friend.
    Sehr bald in der Tat.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Loved hearing about your MC. She's one interesting gal. And I LOVED the Crow, so I definitely felt her wavelength there :D

    And so glad you're free of that difficult gallbladder!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bethany~ Mmm. Are you providing the wine, or am I? Danke, meine Liebe. Sie sind awesomesauce. Oh, and I got your email and will answer in short duress.

    Ashley~ Thanks for the compliments! And a super thanks for the great idea. It kept me from boring my readers with any more of my own plebian details. LOL

    Hi Lori! I'm not surprised you're a Crow fan. I think that kind of goes hand in hand with liking all of those sexy anime dudes. He was sort of anime incarnate in that movie. Graphic novel hero come to life. ;) Thanks for the well wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Can I party with your MC? Does she drink martinis?

    ReplyDelete
  24. *BONUS POINTS FOR ANITA*

    Plebian is one of my all-time favorite words!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jenny~ Al's drink of choice is hot cocoa w/whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, but I won't tell if you want to slip some kahlua in there. LOL. She is underage though, so you'll have to answer to her dad.

    Bethany~ YAY! Bonus points! That gets me this much closer to the prize! Er, what was it that I win again?

    ReplyDelete
  26. I OBJECT to this post on the grounds that it is a LIAR who LIES. Your MC in not cooler than you, and thus nothing that followed that erroneous opening statement can be construed as true, factual or in any way, shape or form credible!

    That said, your MC sounds absolutely awesomesauce. I can't wait to read about her.

    And this is the problem with making friends with cool people who write awesome intriguing books! The pub industry moves so sloooooooooooow. So monolithic. So paleontogical. Okay, now I'm just naming words that SOUND like they have something to do with the slow passing of time so I shall shut me mouth, me thinks. But still. The point stands.

    WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Haha, Kalen. You Da Best! Thank you for your unrequited longing for my book, and for wagging your finger at the lackadaisical, laggard, and lethargic world of publishing.

    See, I know big words, too. *Please ignore the not so subtle flash of alliteration and vain attempt to make myself look more literary*

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wow...she seems like one heck of a girl! I can't wait to read her story!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks Mandie! I kinda like her. :) I hope you can soon! Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Just finished reading your awesome post! Your main character sounds very cool and eccentric. I love that she skateboards but is afraid of heights!

    Thank you for the stylish blogger award! I'm going to make my post as soon as I finish eating and cleaning up the kitchen. Writing 7 facts will be fun!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi Stephanie! Yep, both of her fears are things she has to overcome once she's in Wonderland. So glad you like your award! I'll be by to read your 7 details in a bit. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  32. I have never doubted your word-knowingness! I simply thought you had better taste than to flash your flashy Big Multisyllabic Words at anyone who passed! Now I do not!

    ReplyDelete
  33. O.M.G. She hears BUGS??? eeee!!! :D That is the coolest sounding premise, though. And wow. The Crow. Now I'm thinking I might go back and watch that one. Fun stuff, Anita! Glad you're feeling better. And yes, you are very stylish~ <3

    ReplyDelete
  34. Kalen~ you thought I had taste? Whatever gave you such a barbarously jocular idea? Hee

    Hi Leigh! *big smiles* Thanks for your wonderful reactions! I know ... I'm thinking I'm up for a Crow revival myself. Need to rent that DVD. Better yet, buy it. Have you heard they're remaking the movie? A little nervous about that one. How can they find anyone who'll fit into Brandon's shoes??

    ReplyDelete
  35. Congrats!!
    And I totally love Alyssa!! I love her name because that's my adopted nieces name, lol. I'm definitely buying your book!!

    I love The Crow!! Such good movies.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Thanks Ashley. :) Alyssa was a fun gal to hang out with. So cool about your niece! And yay! I hope you get the chance to buy it soon. Thanks for stopping by and congrats on your awards, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Yeah, I like to give my MC's things I don't have... like abs. Or rather, things I used to have.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Bug mosaics, eels, dignified bug deaths, skateboarding, seeing her mom in a straitjacket, suspicious palm scars and fingerless gloves? Don't feel bad, I think your MC is cooler than most people. Talk about a quirky and memorable character.
    - Sophia.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hey there Mindy. Here here on diverse MCs! That makes them so much more fun since we live vicariously through them.

    Haha. Thanks Sophia. She's pretty cool. ;)I kinda wanted to be her just a little when I was writing it.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Wow, thanks! Now I need to think about who to pass the award along to... hrm.

    ReplyDelete
  41. You're welcome, celestialgldfsh! Have fun passing out the goods. :)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Awesome! I love learning about your MC. I feel silly for not knowing this, but do you have a publisher yet? I'm eager to get my hands on your book!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Thanks Keriann! And no; believe me, the minute I have a publisher I'll be announcing it all over the airwaves. LOL. I'm out on sub as we speak ... a tedious and slooooow process. Much like querying for an agent. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  44. She really sounds more and more like my kind of girl <3

    ReplyDelete
  45. Haha. Thanks Katey. She's kind of my hero... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  46. informative post! I really like and appreciate your work, thank you for sharing such a useful facts and information about international scene hrm strategies, keep updating the blog, hear i prefer some more information about jobs for your career hr jobs near me .

    ReplyDelete