Getting to Know You Tag

By now y’all know I’m a sucker for tags, so when Kendra posted this one (hosted by fellow scribbler "Anne-girl"), I couldn’t resist! There’s a clever twist on the usual “quiz” (as we called it in my early blogging days)—namely, my characters get to sound off and answer the questions. And considering that, thanks to Kendra’s Character Encounters, I’ve been in “interacting with the people in my head” mode…well, it seemed too good to pass up. :-P So without further ado, I’ll turn the keyboard over to my characters…(with a few Author’s Intrusions in purple text).

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*Peeks round doorway shyly*

Come on in, dear. They won’t bite, I promise.

*Enters room*

*Bows awkwardly* Hail—hail and well-met…er…. *Looks frantically at Author*

Honey, just be your charming self. Never mind the high-falutin’ language.

*Nods*

*Gulp*

*Deep breath….* 

Hello, everyone—er—*Bows* Your servant, Ciára† Littlefoot. I’m a Midget—well, after a fashion. My father’s a Midget—what you Big Folk would call a Halfling—and Mam, she’s a Daughter of Eve. I do hope you-all won’t think less of me because I’m a half-breed….

†(Pronounced kee-AH-ra)

And I am Tempest Thunderhoof. I am a Centauress warrior, a studier of the stars, healing herbs and the Holy Word, and a devout servant of El-Elyon. My spear is against all His enemies!

OK, just imagine a "Robin Hood"-type outfit on this fellow.
I haven't made a PaintShop image of Gil, obviously. :-P
[source]

>Bows stiffly< Gilbert Sherwyn—otherwise known as Gil the Green—at your service, O friends of our Author. I’m a Son of Adam who lives in a great forest (which Tom hasn’t yet chosen a name for), helping those in need and taking on dangerous missions for the king of Dunsmüir that require stealth and expert tracking skills.

1.      Describe your author in one word.
Clever.
Imaginative.
Cruel.
For shame, sirrah! Dare you call the wench who brought us into being cruel? Elyon forgive your ingratitude!
>Stony silence<
Please, Lady Tempest, don’t scold Master Sherwyn—he’s just still upset about my mother.
Gil, don’t make me regret convincing you to participate in this interview. Pardon us, folks; he’s really not this sulky. He’s just ticked off at me because he thinks I took away his “true love” and haven’t brought anyone to replace her.
No one could ever replace Beofreda!
*Snort* Really, Gil, you’re worse than Pádma for skronkiness at this stage of your development. (Between ourselves, Gentle Readers, I actually do have someone in mind for him, but I haven’t told him yet.)
Enough! This is a poor beginning. It is only the first question, and already the interview has plummeted into chaos. Let us keep to the subject.

2.      If your author had a theme song what would it be?
I have never heard any songs that tell of our Author’s deeds, for apart from giving us being, Tom has never done aught worthy of song or story.
She really likes “Be Thou My Vision.”

3.      If you could pick an actor to play your author who would it be?
Tom had to acquaint ourselves with the theater-folk of your world for this question. She says she looks like Susanna Harker or Gwynneth Paltrow.
However, both these ladies would now be too old to play a maiden nearly thirty who is still thought by some to be a lass of eighteen.
Personally, I think that lass who played the blind ice-skater—Holly Something—looks very much like Tom—dragon’s teeth, what was her name?
Holly-Lynn Johnson. Thank you, Gil; she looks the way I fancy I would with a less pronounced nose and a clean complexion. :-P That was really very sweet of you, considering.
You’re welcome. I didn’t want your friends to think me an ill-mannered old grump.
 You forget, Master Sherwyn, that this Holly-lass must be at least forty by this time.
It would seem we don’t know any contemporary actresses who would resemble our author sufficiently to portray her in the theater.
Oh, gracious! They’d have to find someone with moles all over her face. :-P
Not all over—
We are wandering from the subject again. Let us please attempt to keep our comments in order and not air any more dirty linen, as the Halfling would say.

4.      What are your author's strengths?
She has a deep-founded desire to write only what would please and glorify Elyon, and she cares for us her characters as though we were Flesh-and-Blood.
She has a witty way of putting things!
Tom takes our world very seriously. She thinks and prays over every detail of our lives—the people and Creatures we meet, the events in our histories…even down to the garb we wear.

5.      Weaknesses?
She tends to think more than she writes.
She has much fear in her—fear of failure and ridicule.
Another fear is that her work—which is so close to her heart—will look the same as everyone else’s, or worse, what she calls a “rip-off” of some well-known and –loved work that inspired her.
Take me for example. She’s afraid Professor Tolkien’s people will be riled at her for having Halflings in her book, when everyone knows the Professor invented them first.
(Not to mention the oddity of such a mixed union as a Daughter of Eve and a Halfling, and the stigma of them bearing a child.)
(Bigot.)

6.      What type of laugh does he or she have?
Tom rarely laughs—genuinely laughs. Most of the time, it’s a forced little snort or chuckle.
…or a rather unladylike sound made by blowing through pursed lips. *Shudder*
When she does laugh, though, it’s what I’d call a gasping laugh—she goes hahahaha! and then inhales deep and loud. See, when once she gets going, she can’t stop laughing till she runs out of air, so she has to take these big gasping breaths.

7.      Any strange hobbies?
She used to come home from her volunteering job at the second-hand store with all manner of clothes that she picked out of the rubbish-bins.
Her penchant for half-breed characters.
Master Sherwyn, that is not only rude and ungentlemanly, but it is unbecoming in a man of your position. Supposing sundry of your yeomen were to emulate your attitude. You set a poor example, sirrah.
Now who’s wandering from the subject?
*Dignified silence*

8.      What was the weirdest thing she did for his/her writing?
She often talks out loud—in our voices. Sometimes she even acts out the scene she’s reciting…but only when she’s all alone.
Well, I don’t know if it was for her writing, but she used to try and dress like her alter ego—in Real Life.
She eventually outgrew the habit, if not the desire.

9.      If you could make him/her do one thing differently what would it be?
Oh, go ahead, Gil—spit it out. I can take it. But no spoilers! Just in case your book ever gets published. ;-)
Very well, since you give me permission. I’d have her let me find Beofreda when she’s lost in the forest, and make Beofreda so glad to see me after her fright that, eventually, she’d learn to love me, and we’d be married.
*Teary eyes*
You realize, of course, that if I did that, Ciára would never be born.
Yes, she would! Only she’d be my daughter.
But she wouldn’t be Ciára. Anyway, my decision is made, so you’ll just have to trust me.

10. What is your favorite thing about his/her writing?
I can’t say, exactly—she’s done so little of late.
Her underlying devotion to Elyon, and her desire to write truly Godly works that other Believers would enjoy reading, without feeling they had compromised their convictions.

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Well, that was fun! :-D

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~