I’ve recently been posing “Important Character Questions!” on Twitter, and it’s fun and I will probably continue doing it. Exactly zero of the questions is actually important, most are and will be completely absurd, but that’s why I love them. I’m a sucker for those Tumblr RP prompts that are all, “What’s your character’s favorite ice cream flavor? Preferred sleeping position? View on Brexit?”
And because I figure it’s only fair, I will answer them myself here. (The characters in question will be my Ash characters unless otherwise noted.)
The questions so far, in chronological order:
Which of your characters would enjoy your current favorite song as much as you do?
For me, the song at the time (of course it’s changed, since) was “Stop Desire” by Tegan and Sara, and the answer is Esmat, who would absolutely crank it up and dance around to it in her underwear. Vulo would gripe about her taste in music and turn the volume down pointedly whenever he came into the room. Sirin would hum along with it agreeably, 100% for the purpose of irritating Vulo.
Where would you take your protagonist to lunch, and why?
I’d take Vulo out for vegetarian dim sum or for fresh and minimalist seafood. If I took him someplace meat-heavy, like a steakhouse, he’d eat but would pick at his food passive-aggressively and feel quietly but deeply insulted. If I took him for ice cream he’d probably walk out in disbelief.
What food does your character hate so much they would feign an allergy to get out of eating it?
Vulo loathes dairy in almost any form. He will eat sparing quantities of very salty cheese but he will make big baby faces the whole time.
Who would your characters vote for?
(As I’m American, I’m assuming the current American election, but you’re free to have your characters vote in whatever election you please.)
The most enthusiastic vote of the lot would be Sirin’s, for Hillary Clinton, and if you came at her with stories about corruption or scandals you’d only be cementing her enthusiasm. Sirin believes about 60% of the anti-Clinton conspiracy theories and they make her like Hillary better.
Esmat and Farin both voted for Bernie in the primaries. Esmat would vote now for Jill Stein; Farin would sigh and vote for Clinton. Vulo would tell everyone he’s voting for Clinton, would give Esmat a lot of shit about her Stein vote, and then would secretly write in Sirin. Patriarch Arkadi would have been a Ted Cruz man and will write in Mike Pence. Olek (fka Ogdu) was a Trump fan until the recent sexual assault scandals, and will now vote for Gary Johnson. Mikha’s going to write in Justin Trudeau.
(I’m aware this is a sensitive political season, so I feel obliged to note that all of the above characters are fictional and none of them is me.)
wren wallis 