13: What character do you think is your most unique design?
This could be in comparison to the other stories you write, or in comparison to things you've seen in writing just in general. Which of your characters stands out to you the most as something "different?"
This could also include character design or emotional designs.
In most ways, at least out of my currently released stories, or maybe out of all my stories in general (time will tell) I think Essence Walker from "A Dozen Morning Glories" is one of my most distinctive character designs. I'm not sure how different she is from every character ever written in the whole wide world, so I won't try to judge that, but I think she stands out quite a lot from the other characters I've written, both visually and personality-wise.
In the realm of aesthetics, I think she might just be distinct in general. She is tall and thin, but without curves. Her hair and eyes are both black, and she is almost black in complexion (inspired by Nyakim Gatwech) giving her the appearance to the people around her of a beautiful shadow. She also has natural 4c hair, a broad nose and full lips, but very slanted eyes, that stand out in the rest of her face.
I think this design is definitely one that would stand out in a crowd of my own characters if I drew all of them standing together, and if you were to randomly select the leads from, say, 20 romance novels, she would probably still stand out.
Personality-wise she leans a bit toward what would be considered a kuudere, but she is really the most introverted and antisocial character I have in any of my stories, for quite a lot of reasons. I'm an emotional person. I create from my emotions and consider them one of my biggest strengths, so writing a character without emotions is extremely different from anything I've ever written up to this point. Extending that to very little sense of taste, touch, and so on, creates a character much less attuned and observant of the world around her than me or most of my characters. It is definitely an uphill battle writing through the eyes of a character who sees the whole world like this, but in the end, writing her is both a test to my skill as a writer and a chance to improve and push myself to think bigger with the things I create.
So I think she's pretty unique, if not to the world in general, to my own stories. And I do believe the reasons behind why she is this way still make her beautifully complex, heartfelt, and sympathetic. I want to be able to make people's hearts break for her, though her own can't break for herself.
