Beautiful People #21 (More Rambling About My WIP)

I tried to publish this post on Friday, as I was supposed to, but we had a slight GIF issue ... in that there weren't any. And that just wouldn't do.

So ... it's the beginning of September. The beginning of a month. BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE TIME, YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

*ahem* Sorry. I'm just really excited.

Beautiful People is a meme created by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In that allows writers to get to know their characters better by asking them questions every single month (or less, if you fancy skipping I guess - but why?). I'm such a fan of the whole thing that I'd give up chocolate to do it.

Maybe not marzipan. But I'd definitely give up chocolate ... for a bit. Click on my fancy little hyperlinked picture for more information.

This month, it's all about Grace from the horribly (and thankfully temporarily) titled Harrow, which is a goofy romance involving posh boys and poker (more info here). You're probably getting a bit bored of her now, but she's still being a bit tricksy, so I need all the help getting to know her I can

How did you come up with this character?

Well ... she just kind of popped into my head, to be honest. I'd been watching this TV show called Harrow: A Very British School, and I'd been wondering what happens when a housemaster (who lives with his family along with the seventy or so boys he looks after) has a daughter. Does she get sent away to boarding school or something? What happens if she doesn't want to go?

Grace kind of rose from those questions (but if I compared her to a phoenix, she'd look at me really funny) - a snarky teen who has absolutely no idea what to do about romance, so she just kind of beats the boys at poker until they go away. This can lead to some pretty hilarious happenings when she takes advice from her best friend Lorna, who means well, but doesn't exactly know much more.

Have they ever been starving? Why? And what did they eat to break the fast?

Starving? Grace? She grew up in a pretty rough area in London, but only because her Dad refused to move: they always had the money for food, and she knew how lucky she was. She's always just thought it was kind of illogical to let yourself - and then everyone around you - go hungry when you had the resources to eat. 

Or maybe she just likes food.

Do they have a talent or skill that they’re proud of?

Grace is a poker player. She is infinitely proud of this because it allows her to beat people at things. Her only other skill (that she admits to, anyway) is a knack for French.

List 3 things that would make them lose their temper.

Oooh, Grace loses her temper a lot. At least, inwardly. It's kind of pointless to yell and strop when your Dad either sort of tries to use the awkward Sheldon Cooper 'there there' technique (see above) or starts to panic because you're mad at him. Lorna ends up placating her a lot.

And I really mean a lot. Give me a couple of hours, and I could probably list thirty things.

1. Her Dad taking on a big responsibility, assuring her he won't end up panicking about it, and then panicking. (I know this sounds weirdly specific, but it happens a lot.)
2. People assuming that since she's a girl, she mustn't be any good at poker. This can be a problem, because if she gets too mad the emotion clouds her judgement, and she basically proves them right.
3. Anyone who picks on Lorna. Only Grace can pick on Lorna.

What is their favourite type of weather? Least favourite?

This is a lovely GIF - and it does have snow in it.

Snow! Grace loves snow even more than she loves food - and that's almost impossible to do without exploding from the excitement. She plays in it like a little kid, and has now created an admittedly very dangerous technique for moving Lorna's wheelchair through it. If a medical professional ever saw, they'd probably have a heart attack. 

No, I'm not even using hyperbole here. No-one's been significantly injured yet, so I guess that's a good thing.

Her least favourite type of weather is rain bad enough to stop outdoor sports at Harrow. Cooped up schoolboys are unpredictable schoolboys, and it's all Grace can do to hide in her room until it's over sometimes.

What is their Hogwarts house and/or MBTI personality?

Hmm ... she'd tell you she was a Gryffindor, probably. But honestly? I think she's a tiny little Slytherin snake. And I really, really don't mean that in a bad way - it's just that she is cunning, she is tactical, and she would use any means to achieve her gains. That's just what Grace is like.

Are they more likely to worry about present problems, or freak out about the unknown future?

Definitely present problems, because the future is kind of an escape for her. However rubbish stuff can get at Harrow, there's always the day when she can leave home, run away to Monaco, and make her fortune in the poker World Series. She doesn't worry about where she's going to find the entry fee. She just dreams.

Present problems are also pretty problematic in the world of Grace Hawke. What with a super-strict Dad, GCSEs and the amount of stuff that goes on in the book (no, you can't know what. Spoilers, people) she'd be stupid not to worry.

I do like to torture her, you see.

What is their favourite thing to drink?

Lemonade. There's this whole scene in the book that involves Grace trying to find lemonade at her first real house party. The whole thing just goes very very wrong.

What is their favourite colour? Least favourite?

Grace doesn't know why she doesn't like blue. I don't really know either, to be honest - but it can't be a coincidence that blue is a Harrow colour, can it? Her favourite colour's red, like hearts and diamonds.

And DANGER.

What is a book that changed their life?

I'm utterly ashamed to say it, but I've written a main character who doesn't really read anything other than poker theory books. Soz guys.

***

In the comments: Who did Beautiful People this month? GIVE ME ALL YOUR LINKS! What do you think of Grace?

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Labels: Writing Life