I Am The Most 3D Character I Know.

Don’t be surprised there’s no Photo of the Week today/yesterday*. I was working on my dissertation; I was in my department since two and only got home at 8. Anyway, I was talking to someone earlier, and with my answers to their questions, I realised that my different motives and personalities would seem to pull me different ways, both the quirky and the serious.

For starters, one would think that I would ‘fangirl’ over characters, ‘ship them mercilessly, and try and pally with them, but I’m actually what I would call a ‘cold reader’. I can empathise, but I rarely feel strongly for them. At least, in books. in films, it’s easier to fall for relationships between characters. One day, I might write a post considering that. (See Miriam Joy’s commentary)

Invite me swimming and I will gush yes, but the sports I’ve been doing are Quidditch and Swing Dance – and, through that, I suppose (at least in part) my interest in vintage fashion has arisen.

Following that, I’m the studious type, but I love dressing up. Sure, I can be found most days in comfy hoodies and black trousers, but give me time and the right weather, and I can be found in a petticoat, a swing dress, a headband. Or, if the mood suits, a corset and a host of accessories. And, to match that, you’ll find me in vintage makeup and/or hair.

I count myself as a performer, with a passion in music. I used to drum and write music and lyrics, but those days… I still weekly spend three hours as a soprano at chamber choir, three hours of taught singing – and if one were to add to that the casual singing and listening to music I do. The surrounding myself with music and life.

And writing. Writing is a BIG (caps for emphasis) part of my life, something I think about every day. Not including my writing of academic papers or non-fiction (could one consider Twitter as a form of writing? For another post, maybe…), I write creative writing and edit just as much. I try and go to the creative writing group at uni every week. When someone asks what do you do? I answer first that I’m a student, and second that I moonlight as a writer. I have to. I am tied to writing and my characters now, having spent so long with them. To let them go would almost be murder.

Don’t forget, though, I also do a lot for my faith. I go to Mass twice a week, I sing in the choir, I try and go to Rosary, I host food and discussion of faith every week. I will definitely say that me, as a character, is defined by my faith for what I do.

There are so many facets, even more than those which I talk about here. I could bore myself alone by going on. My degree is important, too, yet I am also interested in academics beyond my degree, such as Linguistics. I am interested in people (which, one could argue, comes from and/or relates to my creative writing) and thus my studies have nearly always been based this way. I was more language-based for my GCSEs than world-based (eg. history, geography). For my A-Levels, I again looked to essays and people: Psychology, Latin (which included Latin literature comprehension, yes in Latin), Religious Studies, Theatre Studies, Physics (which, agreed, breaks the mould, but one must consider the aliens’ feelings, too 😉 ).

I also write this blog. Sometimes.

All in all, it adds up to me, a complete figure that fiction cannot describe. These interests link and lead to others. Can writers craft characters with so many facets; how can one aptly write a character who had a past interest (for instance of my ice skating years) that in no way matches up with their present self and would not need to be relayed through the story?

*As if in show of how hectic life is, I managed to fail to post this the Mon I planned to.