Beautiful People: The Farewell Edition ft. Radha O'Connor & Keyan Baudin

HELLO MY AWESOME DRAGON-NINJAS 💖💖💖

// link-up info.

For the past few years, Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up & Further In have hosted Beautiful People, a monthly series of questions designed to better acquaint authors with their characters. Last Thursday, they announced this April as Beautiful People's final chapter (TEARSSSS 😭😭😭), with the possibility of epilogues in the distant future (PLEASE 😍😍😍).

I'm so sad to see Beautiful People go, but I also totally understand the need to let something go as a result of a busy life. 💝 And there's always the archives, when the need for new questions arises!

Today, I'll be tackling Beautiful People: the Farewell Edition for Radha O'Connor, the MC of When the Sky Cries (a story I REALLY MISS RN 💔... but Camp NaNoWriMo must come first), along with the March 2015 edition for Keyan, the MC of The Scent of the Stars (my Camp NaNo novella). With no further comments, let's dive in!

THE FAREWELL EDITION // RADHA O'CONNOR

WHEN THE SKY CRIES

{Source.}

1. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE GENRE TO WRITE IN?

Non-magic, medieval high fantasy (very specific, I know 😂) will always have my heart. 💕

2. WHAT BOOK (A REAL, ACTUAL, PUBLISHED BOOK!) DO YOU THINK YOUR CHARACTER WOULD BENEFIT FROM READING?

This is a crazy hard question, bc I can't think of a book that tackles the issues Radha does! Maybe Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl???

3. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF DIALOGUE (THAT YOU'VE WRITTEN)?

Well (*laughs awkwardly*), dialogue isn't my favorite thing ever, so I'm a little hesitant to share, but... because I love you guys 😉, here's a snippet from a scene I stored away for When the Sky Cries's sequel:

The helmet was lifted off her face, and Radha stared, eyes small and tired.

“Archduchess? Oh, thank God!”

Radha blinked; a scrawny, fair-haired young man who resembled a trembling puppy stood over her, grinning.

Radha scowled. “What’s your name?”

The puppy’s eyes widened. “You do not remember my name, Your Majesty?”

She slowly shook her head, but a series of letters hurled themselves at her. “...Kettle’s Birth?”

“Caddlesworth, Your Majesty.”

“Caddlesworth?” A portion of the haze disintegrated. “Oh, titanium wolves in the stars -- Caddlesworth!”

Caddlesworth grinned once more, but his nose was small, something Radha took to mean he was worried.

“I’m fine, Kettle’s Birth.”

“Caddlesworth, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Caddlesworth.”

4. WHAT DID YOUR CHARACTER WANT TO BE WHEN THEY GREW UP, AND WHAT DID THEY ACTUALLY BECOME?

Radha wants to be a knight! And while it's a bit of a spoiler to reveal what she does become (since the story is centered around her life as a teenager, and she doesn't become what she becomes until later on, in the books to follow*), I will say that it's better than she's ever dreamed. 😉

*Wow, great wording, Liv. 😂😂😂

5. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER NAMES?

Almost all my favorite character names come from this story! Hyla, Maelor, and Falconer are some of my tops, though. 😍 (Hyla's an apprentice-physician, Maelor's the castle treasurer, and Falconer's Radha's lady-in-waiting.)

6. WHAT MAKES YOUR CHARACTER FEEL LOVED, AND WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE THEM FEEL THAT WAY?

HUGS. 💕 Since the next draft of When the Sky Cries has been put on hold, there's no definite person to hug Radha, but the two people who hug her the most would probably be Gilmore (the knights' commander) and Blackwood (a neighboring king + one of Maelor's besties).*

*For the sake of potential concern, I would like to note that Gilmore and Blackwood are not creeps... hugs are just their love language, too. 😉😊

7. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER (THAT YOU'VE WRITTEN)?

Definitely Radha! She's just so human, and probably the most relatable character I've ever written (idk if that's saying much 😜, but I love her 😊).

8. IF YOUR CHARACTER WERE PERMANENTLY LEAVING TOWN, WHAT WOULD SHE EASILY THROW OUT? WHAT WOULD SHE REFUSE TO PART WITH? WHY?

She'd probably throw out most of her dresses (bc if she were leaving town, she'd need britches to conquer all the tiresome walking/travel), but she'd keep her sword! Her view of sensibility is primarily what comes into play, here. 😉

9. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE TROPES TO WRITE?

I don't have many favorite tropes -- most of them feel pretty overused to me (🙈), but one I will always love is THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE TROPE. The escape from (a) the creep, (b) the romantic, (c) the dude the heroine actually ends up falling for... ARRANGED MARRIAGES (in fiction) ARE JUST THE BEST. 😍

10. WHICH STORY HAS YOUR HEART AND WON'T LET GO?

This one, without a doubt! I wrote a teensy, very poorly written novella back when I was about eleven or twelve, and then it morphed into an unfinished 100k second draft a couple months later, and now it's a third-draft-waiting-to-happen with three sequels I expect to write afterwards. (I'd say it's grown a little. 😂)

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP?

Aaaagh, HOW DO I CHOOSE?! In When the Sky Cries, alone? Without taking any of the sequels into account? Maaaaybe Radha's relationship with her father, King Firman? She looks up to him a lot and wants to follow in his footsteps, but isn't sure how.

12. TONI MORRISON ONCE SAID, "IF THERE'S A BOOK YOU WANT TO READ, BUT IT HASN'T BEEN WRITTEN YET, THEN YOU MUST WRITE IT." WHAT ARE THE BOOKS THAT YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF, AND WHAT "HOLES" DO YOU THINK NEED FILLING IN THE LITERARY WORLD?

Non-magic, medieval, Christian fantasy with intense worldbuilding + little/no romance! (That's... surprisingly specific. I think I just scared myself a little. 😛)

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD / AESTHETIC FOR A BOOK?

My board for this story (When the Sky Cries is just MY FAVORITE THING EVER, okay?! 😍😍😍).

PINTEREST BOARD: WHEN THE SKY CRIES

14. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TIME PERIODS / SETTINGS TO WORK WITH?

The middle ages, in Repel, where When the Sky Cries takes place. I'd say medieval Europe, too, but... I prefer Repel bc I don't have to worry about how historically accurate everything is. 😂

15. WHEN PEOPLE ARE DONE READING YOUR BOOK, WHAT FEELING DO YOU WANT THEM TO COME AWAY WITH?

Hope. Tears of happiness. The feeling they're not alone. 💗

MARCH 2015 EDITION // KEYAN BAUDIN

THE SCENT OF THE STARS

{Source.}

1. WHAT IS HER SECRET DESIRE?

To have a family! Ultimately, Keyan's dream is to be an engineer/mathematician... but she'd love to have someone to help individually. 💕

2. DURING THE STORY, WHAT IS HER BEST AND BRIGHTEST MOMENT?

Well, that's a bit of a spoiler! 😉 I will say that she has a moment during which she can choose her own path, or sacrifice her dreams for the sake of someone she's never met. And she chooses the latter. (She's amazing like that. 😏)

3. WHAT EMOTIONAL PLACES IS SHE AFRAID TO GO TO?

She's afraid to get too attached. The story opens with the death of someone Keyan has just been getting to know -- and that hurts her. Keyan has to learn to open up and explore the world around her, even if that involves meeting new people and making new friends.

4. IS THERE A PLACE/ROOM/CITY SHE WILL NEVER GO? WHERE? WHY?

Every night, from 9PM to 4AM, Keyan's home planet undergoes acid rain. Like, burning acid. Parliament-issued structures (like Keyan's parents' mansion) are protected, and the jungle has adapted to survive, but... nah. Keyan would prefer not to be caught in acid rain, thank you very much. 😜

5. IF YOUR CHARACTER WERE PERMANENTLY LEAVING TOWN, WHAT WOULD SHE EASILY THROW OUT? WHAT WOULD SHE REFUSE TO PART WITH? WHY?

HELLO, QUESTION! You look familiar. 😉

Keyan would probably throw out her filled matrix books (the equivalent to coloring books... for math nerds 😜), but she would definitely keep her shoebox of files on her birth/history.

6. WHAT DOES SHE WANT (CONSCIOUSLY AND TANGIBLY)?

Security. To know she's safe and not alone. 💙

7. ON THE OTHER HAND, WHAT DOES SHE NEED (ON THE EMOTIONAL, SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL)?

Someone to tell her she's safe. Her needs/wants match up pretty well! 😉

8. IF SHE COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT HERSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

She would be an artist instead of a mathematician. In a world where everyone's mechanically minded, her gifts aren't of much importance -- to quote another character, "The Unity Axis needs more artists, not mathematicians."

9. WHAT WAS THE MOST HUMILIATING EVENT IN HER LIFE?

Around the time a certain event happens in the story, a logger's sister calls Keyan a "slut"* (RUDE), and on a totally unfounded basis! Although it's a private encounter, Keyan is still, naturally, humiliated.

*This is a clean story, I promise!

10. WHAT DOES SHE TURN TO WHEN SHE NEEDS A BIT OF HOPE?

That's the thing -- Keyan doesn't have a lot of hope. She finds motivation in her birthrecords and desire for security, but she doesn't find hope for a long time... when she learns about God. 💗

Well, THOSE WERE QUITE A FEW QUESTIONS. #ispooped

HAVE YOU DONE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, THIS MONTH? OR IN PREVIOUS MONTHS? FEEL FREE TO DROP A LINK BELOW!

❤,