Petra.
Where do I start with this girl?
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She
and I have been through a lot together, she bearing the brunt of some of the
most painful periods of my life – it was into her story I poured my grief after
I lost my Grandmother, when I nearly lost my mom and two youngest siblings just
a few months later.
I’ve
been writing about her for ten years, and she’s understandably gone through
quite a few changes. Since I’ve established that her book was inspired by
Narnia, and given her own name, it should come as no surprised that she was
originally based upon High King Peter. She’s kept his noble, take-charge personality,
but there’s a brokenness to her that Peter doesn’t have.
Petra
has an older brother, Tyler, and claims to have two identical triplets, Sarah
and Sylvia, both of whom disappeared mysteriously, one when they were four, the
other when they were fourteen, and no one besides her and her best friend,
Reuben, can remember them. She also has an adopted sister – Ashley, whom she
resents because she was adopted the same day Sarah “disappeared.”
Originally,
Petra was supposed to be a ENFP, like me. However, she has morphed over the
years into a INTJ. As such, she’s not a people person, nor is she overly
emotional (there are a few situations involving family, but for the most part,
she’s a cold cucumber). Not your typical heroine, but then, she is expected to
kill the Lady Dragon. That requires a certain level of heartlessness.
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Since
I was going to play her when this book was a script, I feel a close connection
to her, and it has been difficult indeed to learn to step back and let her be
her own person. The change from an ENFP to an INTJ has helped immensely. Similarly,
changing her from an oldest to a possibly middle child allowed her to stand on
her own and show some of her fallibilities. I won’t hesitate to say that she
was rather a Mary Sue in previous drafts.
After
all, she was basically a rolled up mess of both my and Peter’s best qualities, filling
a mixture of Lucy and Peter’s roles. (Leaving nothing but cute kid for the
actual Lulu…)
She’s
a very different heroine from Clara, though my beta readers tell me that they
share a similar spirit. She has not grown up with the training Clara has, and I
wouldn’t exactly call physical activity her forte, unless it be hiking in the
woods.
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However,
what she lacks in brawn, she makes up for in heart and brains. She loves strategy,
even though this is her first actual chance to use it, and she’s a passionate
soul that throws herself into whatever task she takes upon herself, though she
is picky about what she throws herself into.
You’ll
be seeing a lot more of Laura in book two than you did in book one, partly
because of Laura’s relationship with Amber, but mostly because of Laura’s
relationship with Petra. Petra used to babysit Laura, so she cares about the
girl in a sort of big-sisterly way, even though she’s a bit weirded out by the
world traveling skills that the girl is suddenly displaying.
Petra’s
relationship with Reuben is interesting. He’s her best friend, almost two years
her elder, they spend almost all of their free time together. Do they always
get along? Certainly not, but they’re only human. He, perhaps, feels a bit more
than friendship for her, and she knows it well, but they’ve both agreed that at
sixteen and eighteen, they can afford to wait to explore romantic entanglement.
First, they need to finish school, and he, at least, needs a stable job.
Via Pinterest |
He
amuses her, a lot, and she trusts him like no one else in her life. She’s quite
aware that it would not take much for their friendship to become more, as much
as she tries to convince herself that she is not in love with him. For now,
though, he in her stability, the one certainty she has in her life.
Theirs
is a story I thoroughly look forward to sharing with you.
Also, do you know how hard it is to find pictures of fantasy heroines who wear glasses? Please mentally add a pair of purple glasses to all of the pictures of her that I shared here.
I love these pictures, and I look forward to reading Petra's story.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to meet Petra. :)
ReplyDeleteWow! I loved reading this. So many little things that give me more questions. But I won't bother asking them as I know they won't be answered.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized before that she had an older brother.
Aye, she does, and he's a dear. I'll be talking about him ... thursday, I believe.
DeleteI had heard of him though, and Summer, together. And I knew they were going to be in this book.
DeleteShe sounds like a fabulous character! I can't wait to meet her. Also, as a person with purple glasses, I can say that you've chosen a wonderful color for her frames. *nods and pushes glasses up on nose*
ReplyDeletePurple is THE best color for glasses. *pushes up own pair*
DeleteMy mother has some purplish glasses and I almost got some, but they didn't fit. I really prefer subtle glasses though. Gold or even brown.
DeleteCan't wait for Petra!!
ReplyDelete