Character Interview Challenge: Stella Heke

Ashley Lorelle, of Lucious Letters, says:

In order to write a character, sometimes you must BECOME that character. I would go full days dressed and disguised as one of my characters and testing them against the real world. I think this constant practice of making my characters this vivid was the reason I always had serious identity issues. Who I was and how I dressed and what I believed in always depended on which character was possessing me that day.

Do you have the power to make your characters this vivid and real? Here is your weekly challenge: Make your characters real! Create a character and fill out this Character Interview form. Post the filled out form in the comments here. Tomorrow I will post mine. Remember you are conducting an interview, so make sure you address all these questions to your character.

What fun! Here's this week's interview, with Stella Heke, the brains of the expedition in the comic my friend Krista and I are working on, tentatively titled What Exit?

(P.S.: She also did the character art to the left.)

What is the first thing you remember?

My first memory is of playing with my mother's medical textbooks with the colorful plastic overleafs. I didn't know they were supposed to be grotesque; I thought they were beautiful.

What is your favorite childhood memory?

I always liked hanging out with the ghost of a little-known local children's author, who owned the house before my family bought it. She was glad of the company, and is probably the reason I'm an English/women's studies major.

Building my dollhouse with mum and dad was really nice too. I keep a family of little plastic lizards in it; they're much more realistic looking than silly dollhouse dolls.

What is one thing that no one knows about you?

Sometimes, I read books just because I like how the main character dresses. Also, I like girls.

(Editor's note: Everybody knows.)

What are your regrets?

I should have punched Brett right in the kisser when I had the chance.

(Editor's note: Brett is one of her greatest admirers, a rockabilly theater major in a Pagan rock band. He'd be totally awesome if he wasn't utterly obnoxious.)

What makes you feel proud?

Pulling an all-nighter where most of the theory came from Ye Old Archive De Butte and getting an A on the paper anyway.

What do you want to change about yourself?

I wish I made friends as easily as Taylor does. He can talk about anything and everything and when people meet him, they can't help loving him because he's so friendly and full of life.

Who do you love? And why do you love them?

I love logic, fact, and reason. I love the power of the written word. I love solidarity. I love the smell of certain old paperbacks. I love abandoned amusement parks, poet's graves, and the haunted schoolhouse two towns over. I love the unseen. I love the night.

Do you fear dying?

No. I know what comes next.

What kind of person do you want to become?

I want to be well-educated and self-sufficient. As for the rest, I am satisfied being surprised with the directions that life takes me.

Are you able to love easily?

I fall in love a hundred times a day, but not with people.

Who has betrayed you?

Her name is Viola and I don't want to talk about it.

Tell me about your mother (hehe, couldn’t resist).

Her patients call her Dr. Alice, and she took her mother's maiden name to honor her. She is tall and slim with a fall of red hair, like a coppery weeping willow. She has a tank of tropical fish in her office, all shades of blue and purple, because it has been scientifically proven that watching fish soothes the nerves. For breakfast, she eats granola out of the box standing up, and a peach or a persimmon or a pomegranate, whatever is in season. Her houseplants always look peaky until Dad starts taking care of them. She has a tattoo of the "Twittering Machine" on her left shoulder and her favorite movie is Mirrormask.

What do you want people to remember about you fifty years after you’re gone? Do you want them to remember you at all?

I would like to fade like a pressed leaf in an old text: a mere whisp of a memory, crumbling away but leaving faint traces of my presence to seep through the pages surrounding me.

What are your fashion staples?

My favorite shoes! Also, a black fedora, little birds to stick on my hat, and interesting ties, and jewelry made out of watch parts and chandelier crystals, and I like clothes. I like clothes an awful lot.