Age: 18
Citizen of: Old World

Loves:

• strawberry milk
• New World comics
• his family (especially his sister)
• his work boss' daughter/assistant manager, Himawari
• his New World Vespa and driving to the outskirts of town in it
• drawing
• sleeping
• drinking (a lot)

Hates:

• (unnecessarily) working hard (such as summer school/studying)
• bitter things
• green vegetables
• fist fights (even though he usually wins)
• sad stories
• rain (reminds him of tears)
• small, tight places (Claustrophobic)

Fears:

• being rejected by Himawari
• solitude
• independence
• death
• inheriting his mother's illnesses
• his mother (and losing her)

Why he trusts...:

• Kairi ~ knows that she will take care of him when he is unable to take care of himself
• Himawari ~ gave him everything that he relies on today: a job to help support his family, an emotional output (drawing), courage to learn to grow up
• Riley ~ knows that he is the only one who can take care of him and his family (especially his mother)
• Sakura/Tanya ~ his mother; even though she's ill, she does her best to take care of her kids

Why he doesn't trust...:

• Himself ~ thinks that he's incompetent in taking care of his family when his mother is unable to; thinks that the majority of the support is coming from his aunt, uncle and Riley

Believes in/that:

• hard work gets things done
• he needs to help his family out

Doesn't believe in/that:

• God, or whatever deity that supposedly controls all life
• an afterlife
• a reason to live, other than his love for his family and Himawari
• he is good enough to take care of his family

Click to View Author Guidance

I've already had three beta-readers read my first chapter, and all of them stated the exact same problems: my constant switching between past and present tense, and my lack of voice in my characters. Then I realized, I hadn't really defined my characters in the first place.

So, this is a little note for me. If it helps you, then by all means, do it yourself~

~Ato

updated Apr 3 '11 by Ato