....its longer than it looked to me honestly...*noshame*

I think as Liam, Tori, and many others have stated every person’s childhood is different. I was a very mature yet still young at-heart-child at times really when I was ten/eleven. I was also a mixture of both shy, awkward, brave, and outgoing. Because of reasons I had to grow up quickly – those reasons being that when I was nine my dad nearly died and my mom rather than sugar coating it told me that his transplant was hit or miss he might not have survived it. He did though.

But because of this I’ve noticed that when I was younger while being imaginative I was very guarded. This was more because I didn’t realize how many people my dad knew so I would have a relative stranger walk up to me and ask how he is. But that is beside the point.

With my characters I try to play them as realistically as possible while also giving each one their own identity. Or in some cases having them find their own identity. Most, I’ve noticed have tended to have a sense of whimsy hidden in them that sometimes is hard to spot except for with Amelia – her whimsy she wore on her sleeve.

I also, like Tori and Liam went from a relatively small school to a larger one but it was quiet different for me. As I switched in 2nd grade to a private elementary school the Waldorf school system where you have the same teacher for eight years. My grandfather offered to pay for it as he was trying to help me reach my full potential as a child and he had also paid for most of my cousin’s educations as well. Still, I went from a class of maybe 20? Children to a class of 10 where I was immediately accepted. I did have a group of friends at the public local school but in all reality they weren’t true friends as I came to realize later (will get to that later). Waldorf though fun wasn’t a good fit for me so half way through my fourth grade year I switched back to the previous school (worse time to switch I must say) and with that felt a little ostracized mainly from the previous group of “close” friends I had honestly kept in contact with but not as well as I would have had I been going to a public school as we had different breaks. One of the previously called friends came up to me and actually said “We don’t like you and aren’t your friends” or something to that extent – needless to say I was friendly but never invited them to anything again in the history of that school…or high school really.

I did make other friends sort of quickly one in the fourth grade really and then more in fifth that I’ve mainly kept until now. Still, I’ve noticed that a lot of my characters are very shy, reserved, and sometimes have a hard time admitting if someone is a friend or not because they don’t know if the other person really accepts them as a friend or not. This is more obvious with characters that are transfers I’ve noticed. But I think this is a preference I have of writing a character with complex faults that aren’t exactly visible at first unless someone really talks to them and gets them to open up to you. Right now I know that Puck has major relationship and trust issues but this is entirely a part of her character and build and it really is how she came to me filled with her issues that she will eventually work on.

I’ve also noticed that lately I have had characters come to me and unfold their family, world views, values, and personality long before I am able to unveil them. For example with Puck she came about actually during Amelia’s third year? I never told anyone about her and just kept her like a little quiet (not so quiet really) thing in my pocket waiting to be released into the world. Another that I’ve been ready to unleash is my next 1st-7th character (hopefully) Melbourne Johanson – the last of the Johanson girls. She has been around in my head since Amelia’s fist year I think because she is turning 8 this year I think? I don’t remember off of the top of my head only that she’ll be a first year in 2088.