#PennedPossibilities 852: Tell us something you’ve always wanted to share about your story with readers.

I've said it all already, but there are two things I would love people to know: a) I yearn for an Asian woman to adapt it and make the lead character the biracial Chinese/white girl she started as before I realized I was not going to be able to pull that off, and b) that all the lead characters are one of my personality traits, cranked up to about an 8.

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#PennedPossibilities 853. Antagonist POV: Which do you prefer, sunrise or sunset?

She looks at you like you must be slow, says, "I have work to do," and walks away.

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#PennedPossibilities 854 — What genres might you try outside of your chosen one(s)? Is there anything specific you would like to work on?

I think I'd like to write a love story; I fear that it would be a self-indulgent fantasy.

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#PennedPossibilities 855 MC POV: Who is one person you would never want to see again? Why?

She sets her jaw, and her eyes start to shine with tears. "Luis," she says, her throat a little hoarse.

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#PennedPossibilities 856 — Tell us about the area where your characters live.

The Vancouver district of the Greater Cascadian Megalopolis, a strip of ultra-dense urbanity that extends from the middle of British Columbia to the tip of California. The backbone of the infrastructure is arcologies, small self-sufficient "towns" housed in single cities, including industrial manufacturing or services in the buildings. They're mostly arcology kids.

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#PennedPossibilities 857.a: One of your characters yells, "Turkey!" What happens next?

They stare for a moment, and look at each other before one of them says, "Ooooookay...?"

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#PennedPossibilities 857 — Does your universe have any autumnal traditions?

It's only 150 years in the future, so I'd say Thanksgiving and Halloween are still around.

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#PennedPossibilities 858: MC POV: Is it easy for you to forgive others? (Truly?)

"Ugh. Do I have to?"

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#PennedPossibilities 859 — Do you have a preference for the age of your characters or do you include characters of all ages in your work? Explain why.

Not really. I think I have a preference from an adult point of view, so even if I'm writing a story about youths right now, it's an adult story.

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#PennedPossibilities 860: What would bring your SC to tears?

Her parents' sadness at how much of her childhood they missed.

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#PennedPossibilities 861 — Has your MC ever committed a crime? If so, what have they done?

Loads of petty theft, some break-and-enter. She was homeless for a few months, but she also was in an anarcho-socialist wonderland, so her victims would have had to walk all of two blocks to get more of what she stole, which was food.

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#PennedPossibilities 862. If your MC hasn't committed a crime, what would motivate them to do so?

They did. It was out of desperation, and also the knowledge that it wasn't actually going to hurt anyone. She's literally never known an existence where everyone couldn't have access to food and shelter and community any time they wanted. In that space, stealing someone's lunch is more of a prank than a crime.

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#PennedPossibilities 863 Has your SC ever quit a job? What were the circumstances?

They're kids in anarcho-socialism, so no jobs to quit.

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#PennedPossibilities 864: What is something your MC is objectively bad at but does, anyway?

Telepathy.

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#PennedPossibilities 865 — How does your antagonist feel about surprises?

She would like to eliminate them from existence.

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#PennedPossibilities 866 Do any of your characters use medical or assistive devices (including glasses)?

No. Part of the premise is that the cult only recruits people it thinks of as "fit," and that does not include anyone with disabilities. I do have one character who's fat by our (fatphobic) standards, and I'm realizing I need to square that with radical ableism. Maybe they see fat as correctable. Hm.

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#PennedPossibilities 867 What does your MC smell like?

Grime and sweat. She's been living pretty rough.

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#PennedPossibilities 868 — Name one of your MC’s happiest memories?

The first time she can remember riding one of the skytrains. She was pressed up against the window, looking at the city below, watching all the other trains crisscrossing each other, up and down the buildings, out in every direction. That's how she pictures Cascadia, when she thinks of it. It looks like flying buses.

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#PennedPossibilities 869 — Choose one of your characters. Who has had the most influence or impact on their life?

In a negative sense, the antagonist. She's a cult leader.

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#PennedPossibilities 870 — Name something your MC fears losing.

Control. She could hurt a LOT of people.

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#PennedPossibilities 871: What is the greatest extravagance your MC lets or would let themselves have?

Everything she possesses is hand-me-down or used. You *do not* throw things away in the anthropocene, and you certainly do not acquire new things if you've already got things that work. But. She won a lot of trophies, and those are lining her bedroom walls.

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#PennedPossibilities 872: How would your SC react to being mocked or made fun of?

They don't know what to do with it. It's so outside of their experience. They're hurt but also confused: "What's happening? I don't understand."

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#PennedPossibilities 873: What is your MC’s favourite meal or drink?

At home, at meals, everyone cooks whatever they're cooking, a half-dozen stoves all covered with pots and pans, and then everyone gathers at various tables, some kids sitting at one and then another and another. It's not the meal she misses. It's the community.

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#PennedPossibilities 874 — What physical feature is your SC the most insecure about?

One of my side characters starts younger than the rest, so he's smaller, and that's part of why he's got a chip on his shoulder. Another is a fat kid (as was I, so don't @ me), and while he has zero fatphobia about other people, he doesn't like his own body.

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#PennedPossibilities 875: Does your SC feel like they fit in with their community or culture?

Yes. All of them are loved and accepted and part of big, multi-family (and also people who aren't in families!) communities. That's why it's so tragic that they were abducted into a paramilitary murder cult in space.

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#PennedPossibilities 876 — Does your MC like being the centre of attention? Why or why not?

She doesn't why, and she kinda thinks she shouldn't, but she also really does.

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#PennedPossibilities 877 — Are any of your characters terrible with time management?

Yeah, Sim's not great at it. He's got other stuff on his mind. The other stuff is ninja fights.

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#PennedPossibilities 878: Do any of your characters have troubles with deadlines?

Sim forgets them. Brant doesn't regard them as deadly serious. River doesn't live in a world with deadlines. Grace hits her deadlines every time because she's an athlete, and you can ask for an extension for a gymnastics meet.

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#PennedPossibilities 879. How would your antagonist locate someone in a crowd?

Dispatch an underling to track them down.

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#PennedPossibilities 880, MC POV: Did you have a childhood sweetheart? Who were they?

"I was in a cult."

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#PennedPossibilities 881: Reveal a fact about your MC that only a few people know.

She ultimately, all's said and done, really likes being someone that other people follow.

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#PennedPossibilities 882: How could someone locate your SC(s) in a crowd?

Their face. The shape of their bodies. They're not exceptional-looking people.

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#PennedPossibilities, Holiday Edition: What gift would your MC genuinely enjoy and cherish?

One of her old toys from home, one that was handed down to her from a cousin, one that she played with so long that she left wear marks from her fingers. That would inspire bittersweet tears.

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#PennedPossibilities 885 — How would your MC react to an unwanted romantic or sexual advance?

Directly turn them down. She's been very strong from an early age, and she was raised in an environment that presumes feminist values, so she feels zero need to deflect. If she's not interested, then she's not interested, and it's your problem if you don't get that.

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#PennedPossibilities 886: What part of the writing process itself is your favourite?

Discovery. I don't know exactly what I'm going to write before I start.

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#PennedPossibilities 887 — As a writer, what is your favourite sort of character to write?

Goofs and assholes!

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#PennedPossibilities 888: What is the worst injury or illness your MC has ever experienced?

She gets banged up across the book a bit, but the one that really hit her was before the events of the plot. She had a rare, and I mean *rare*, misstep at a meet and broke her wrist. She never gets injured, so the pain was bottomless and eternal. It was the entirety of her existence. Until it stopped because painkillers are one of the greatest inventions known to humanity.

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#PennedPossibilities 889 — New Year’s Eve Edition: If your MC had a resolution for the new year, what would it be?

Heal.

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#PennedPossibilities 890 — New Year’s Day Edition: What would your SC have to say about the previous year? Was it good for them, or did they just survive it?

It was a year of pain. But there was healing at the end.

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#PennedPossibilities 891 — Who are the members of your MC’s immediate family?

She has a brother and two parents, but her *family* extends to the whole commune on her floor. They're all cousins, and aunties/uncles, and grandmas and grandpas.

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#PennedPossibilities 892 — Your SC gets three wishes granted. What do they wish for?

Brant: "Get us all out of here. Send us all home."

River: "I want to go home. We all get to go home."

Sim: "I wanna be a big damn hero and get laid."

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#PennedPossibilities 893. What is your MC’s full name? Do other characters know it?

Grace Langley. But she started as Grace Leung before I realized I was not up to the task of writing a biracial teenaged girl. I would have come up with a Chinese name for her, too, but I didn't get that far into it.

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#PennedPossibilities 894. If someone wanted to hurt your MC, what would that person do or say to them?

Hurt someone she cares about, and you've hurt her.

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#PennedPossibilities 895. Tell us about your SC’s most cherished possession.

River, my little hippie girl, was abducted at 11 years old. Her teddy bear fell out of her backpack, and she was separated from it. It's not the most prized thing she possesses, but losing it hurt a lot. She'd burst out crying if she ever got it back.

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#PennedPossibilities 896 — What does your MC worry about the most?

She *worries* about losing control and hurting someone. Again.

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#PennedPossibilities 897 — List five facts about your favourite character(s) in your WIP.

- brash
- funny
- rude
- loyal
- insecure

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#PennedPossibilities 898 — Does your MC prefer to spend time alone, in a small group, or in a larger group?

Big groups! She grew up in a commune. There were *always* people around. It's what she knows.

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#PennedPossibilities 900: Share a piece of lore from your WIP.

Nobody actually knows how or even when, exactly, kids starting manifesting this "power" that drives them psychotic, but there are urban legends of eight-year-olds murdering whole families, and some of them are quite true.

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#PennedPossibilities 901: What is your MC’s profession?

She's 16 and was held by a cult for 2+ years.

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#PennedPossibilities 903 — MC POV: Are you afraid to be alone?

"I'm not 'afraid.' I just don't *like* being alone."

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#PennedPossibilities 904: What does your MC have in common with you, the author?

A big mouth and the inability to shut it strategically. :)

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#PennedPossibilities 905: Is your MC Responsible for anyone other than themselves? How do they feel about that?

She's effectively the leader figure of her little four-person crew, and she feels very responsible for keeping them safe, to the point where it's not good enough that they *are* safe. She needs to be the one who keeps them safe. She thinks only she's able to do that.

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#PennedPossibilities 906: What is your SC’s response to stress?

River: panic
Brant: check out
Sim: tough-guy persona

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#PennedPossibilities 907 Does your MC have any phobias or irrational fears? What is the origin of this?

No irrational ones that I've encountered. Lots of very rational ones, mind you.

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