Beautiful People: Learning Your Characters

Taylor Lynn told me about a really neat bi-monthly blogging event called Beautiful People over at Further Up and Further In. The idea is that the characters you create are beautiful people, and this is an event to help you get to know and understand your characters better. It might sound rather vague and hopelessly artsy, but it's really quite simple. Sky lists a chunk of questions that you get to answer about your own character. So I think I'm going to do it for Cora Lesley, since she is my newest character and I don't "know" her extremely well yet. Ready?
Here we go:

1. What type of laugh does he/she have?
Hmmm......I think she has a low, sweet, dreamy laugh with a shade of wistfulness in it.

2. Who is his/her best friend?
Her much older sister, Maggie, or her nephew Tucker. He may only be six, but he's the one who understands her best.

3. What is his/her family like?
A fairly young family, as Cora lives with her sister Maggie, Maggie's husband Frank, and their children, Tucker and Dot. (Dorothy) They are strong Christians, but since they are a young family, Frank and Maggie are not quite so wise as we may wish. Frank is rather a spur-of-the-moment fellow, which is how they move to Puddleby Lane in the first place. :)

4. Is he/she a Christian, or will he/she eventually find Jesus?
Yes. Cora is a Christian, and her faith in Jesus grows throughout the story as she experiences God's provision.

5. Does he/she believe in fairies?
No. No fairies, but she is a hopeless romantic and loves storybook style tales. I think Cora would wish she could believe in fairies.

6. Does he/she like hedgehogs?
Hedgehogs?! Well, since Cora is, in a way, like me, than I'd say yes. Hmmm....actually, I may have to write a hedgehog in...haha!

7. Favorite kind of weather?
She is not particular as to weather as much as to the time of day. Twilight is her favorite, or moonlight, or a soft May morning. But Cora enjoys a rip-roaring thunderstorm now and then too.

8. Does he/she have a good sense of humor? If so what kind? (Slapstick, wit, sarcasm, etc.?)
Cora does have a good sense of humor, but she is not terribly witty or clever in her style. She depends on Maggie for providing the zing while she provides the echoing laughter.

9. How did he/she do in school, or any kind of education they might have had.
Cora's formal education was cut rather short by the death of her parents. She moved in with Frank and Maggie and has been teaching herself several years now. English is her strongest subject, as she is a writer and reader.

10. Any strange hobbies?
Hmm....She hoards illustrations of her favorite books to paper her trunk with....she hopes to become a world-famous novelist someday....she can dance? Yes. She can dance. Though no many people know it. She prefers dancing on the seashore once they move to Puddleby Lane, or practicing a hornpipe with Captain Boniface. :)

There you go! An interesting exercise indeed! :) I think that I love Cora more than ever! :) She's much like me: motherly, thoughtful, a romantic, a novelist, a dreamer, but I think she has a more serious side to her. She has had quite a bit of tragedy in her life and it has aged her soul beyond her fourteen years. She is the dependable member of the family and often feels responsible for keeping morale high and anxiety low.
So does anyone have any more questions for me to answer about Cora? :) Let me know! -Rachel