I started a new story several weeks ago. As an aside, I'm really going to finish a story someday, and not just get 75% done and run out of steam.
Anyway, the current #WIP deals with reincarnation. I haven't taken part in any of the writing games, like #WritingWonders because I couldn't figure out how to answer any of the questions. My MC is literally dozens of people spread across millennia.
How do I answer a question like "Is MC good at flirting?" Are we talking about the cavewoman, or the six year old girl in Detroit, or the rice farmer in medieval Japan who became a young widower? All of them are the MC.
Or a question about nice areas to visit. Should I be answering that question for the paleolithic Fertile Crescent or the colony ship to Alpha Centauri?
So, I decided I'm going to start taking part next month again (or, maybe I'll just jump in in the middle), and just pick a character and setting for each question. It might even give me some ideas for additional settings and incarnations.
Is your MC good at relationships in general?
No. Not really.
She had a very good, loving relationship with her mother. Her father died when she was very little, so her mom raised her on her own.
But her mom died when she was ten. And then four years bouncing around the foster system, mostly with pretty crappy foster families got her a bit jaded on relationships with others.
Her aunt and uncle took her in when she was fourteen. They were nice, but she never really got close to them.
When she got her dog when she was fifteen, that became the first relationship she'd really had since her mother's death.
A lot of the story is about her learning to build relationships with others, and overcoming her fear of getting close to people.
Is your MC good at romantic relationships?
It's not really a thing she's ever prioritized in her life. She's been on a few dates, but she's never really had a boy- or girlfriend.
She's always had other things in her life that were more important to her.
Day 7
What does your MC look like?
The second picture is an AI-generated photo that's pretty close to how she looks.
In my mind, she mostly looks like my wife (third picture), with a bit of Marvel's Ironheart, Riri Williams (first picture).
Caption
Comic of Marvel's Ironheart. She is a young black woman with curly hair. She is wearing Iron-Man type armor.
Caption
Photograph from the chest up. Biracial woman in her early twenties. She has curly hair, thick lips. She is wearing a plain white T-shirt under overalls.
Caption
Photograph from the chest up. Biracial woman in her mid twenties. She has curly hair, which is pulled back. She is wearing a purple hoodie.
If your opening scene had a theme song, what would it be?
The first three lines are actually the lyrics to Stand By Me.
Our hero's mother sang it to her as a child, and it comforts her when she's worried.
It's particularly appropriate because much of the theme of the story is about standing by your family, whether that family is biological, your found/chosen family, or your time clones.
#WritingWonders #DayThirteen #AmWriting #WIP
How physically fit is your MC?
She's very fit. She eats healthy and runs, with Toto, most days.
#WritingWonders #DayTwelve #AmWriting
Does your MC have a healthy lifestyle?
Mostly.
She eats pretty well, and keeps fit.
But she can sometimes hyperfocus on a thing, and then kind of lose track of everything else. She might stay awake for 36 hours straight, and eat nothing but cheese balls and coke while working on a thing that really interests her. That's maybe not the healthiest thing to do.
She also guards herself against forming relationships. Since her mom died, the only real relationship that she's had has been with her dog, so she doesn't like to spend too much time around people. She tries to blame her loneliness on others. They're intimidated by her intelligence, she tells herself, or they don't like her because of her rough upbringing. But, in reality, she keeps people away. So, not a very healthy social or emotional lifestyle.
Secondary character POV: What annoys you the most about the MC?
Told from the perspective of the Western Witch
Dorothy Gale! Of course it had to be her who killed my partner.
She's so young, and optimistic. Why is she even that way?!
Well, I don't know what makes her different, but she won't stay this way. Even with all she's lost, the Land of Oz will take more.
And if it won't, I will.
Name one unusual thing in your MC’s home.
Her home is very understated. She's never been able to settle down in one place very long.
The one thing that most people don't have is her go bag. She's always ready to leave. So, in one corner, she has a plain duffel bag, filled with enough to keep her and Toto going for a few weeks on their own.
She's lived in her current apartment for over four years now, but she's still ready to leave at a moment's notice.
Catching up on #WritingWonders #DayNine
Describe your MC’s style as if in a fashion magazine.
Dorothy is sporting a simple, yet chic ensemble. She exudes a confident aura the complements her understated outfit perfectly.
Her plain white T-shirt hangs loosely, while the crew neckline elongates her neck, drawing attention gentle jawline.
Completing the outfit is a pair of sleek overalls, its denim material adding a touch of texture to her look.
She pairs her ensemble with a pair of comfortable, yet sturdy sneakers. She is ready for anything that may come her way.
#WritingWonders #DayEight : MC POV: What is something you never leave home without?
Maybe not never, but very rarely do I go anywhere without Toto.
He's been with me since I was fifteen, and he was the first real family I've had since my mom died when I was ten.
Sure, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry had been taking care of me for almost a year by then, but they took me in out of a sense of obligation, not because of any actual affection. They were nice, and treated me well, but they didn't really feel like family.
So, I take Toto with me wherever I can. I don't like being away from him.
It took a while to train him, but he's gotten pretty good at staying quiet when he needs to. I can take him to the lab, or a class, and he sits under a desk and nobody notices.
#WritingWonders #DaySeven : Name one sound and one scent that occurs in your MC's worst nightmare.
At thirteen, Dorothy was briefly sent to a new foster family: the Von Liebermans.
One evening, about a week after she was sent there, Mr. Von Lieberman stumbled into her room, drunk.
She could smell his breath a foot from her bed.
"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?"
Before he had a chance to actually touch her, she kneed him in the groin, grabbed her bag, and left. She was picked up a couple days later and sent to a group home.
But sometimes, when she lets herself feel weak, she hears the shuffling of his feet, and smells the alcohol wafting through the air.
#WritingWonders #DaySix : What is your MC's morning routine like?
Dorothy starts off the day with breakfast, while reading the latest issue of Quantum Magazine, or Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong.
She'll then go for a run with Toto. She's always tried to keep herself fit. When you're thirteen years old and might need to run away from an abusive step-parent, being physically fit can help you get away faster.
After a quick shower, and dressing in whatever clean (or at least not smelly) thing she can find, she catches the red line to campus.
During her travels in the future, however, her mornings are a bit different.
They usually have to find some breakfast first. Leo is pretty good at hunting down some small animals or something.
Sometimes, she might be lucky enough to find someplace to bathe.
But really, it's a different thing every day.
#WritingWonders #DayFive : On a typical day, what sounds does your MC hear after they wake up?
Most days, after her alarm clock goes off, she'll hear her Boston terrier, Toto, yawn, and stretch.
Some days, she'll hear the garbage truck rumble past her apartment building.
During our story, however, the sounds of the distant future are very different, and vary depending on what part of her journey she's on.
#WritingWonders #DayFour : MC POV: If you could teach one subject, what would it be?
Well, physics, obviously. I'm already teaching undergrad physics classes.
That can get a little awkward sometimes, to be honest. Since I'm so much younger than the other grad students. It's happened on more than one occasion when a professor will walk into a class I'm teaching, and ask where the teacher is. 
I guess, if I could teach one subject, to be honest, it would just be nothing. But my program requires it of me.
#WritingWonders #DayThree : If your MC had a wanted poster, what info would be on it?
Here's the poster.
Note: the photo was generated by Dall-E. I put together the poster with Adobe Express.
Caption
Poster: "Wanted. For the murder of the Warlord of East Oz. Reward on return to the Wester Witch. Dead or Alive. Dorothy Gale. In the company of a small dog." The photograph is a biracial woman with curly hair, staring straigh forward, wearing overalls over a plain white t-shirt.
#WritingWonders #DayTwo : What's the education system like in your world?
The story starts out in the present day, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
So, that's a pretty good education.
But, Dorothy is brilliant, and managed to get a full-ride scholarship. Most people are not that lucky. Even many people as brilliant as her can't manage to afford an education as good as hers.
Dorothy actually doesn't realize this, but she has kind of a guardian angel who has been helping her by making sure the right people know about her. Without this person secretly looking out for her, she wouldn't have had nearly the same opportunities. She would have eventually done okay, but it would've taken longer, and she would've missed out on some opportunities.
In the future world, to which she travels, education is much less formal. Some people are lucky to meet teachers and gain an education. Many just eek out an existence best they can.
I haven't really written in a few months. I've been kind of out of it.
But I've had an idea rattling around in my brain for a while, and decided to finally start some work on it, even if just a little bit.
So, I'll be doing #WritingWonders again in April with this short story/novella (not sure how long it'll be yet).
It's untitled as of yet, but it's a retelling of Wizard of Oz, in which Dorothy is a time traveler.
Day 1. Intro Tell two truths and one lie about your story.
- Scarecrow will be an AI who wants real human intelligence.
- Toto will be a Samoyed.
- Dorothy will be a PhD student at MIT researching quantum wormholes.