𝖘𝖆𝖒 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖔𝖉

so after my post yesterday I had people ask me to write some headcanons for our favorite son if apollo. I'm not a born and bread texan, georgia what up, but I've been here most of my life and boy can I say Texans are weird

will yells "all y'all" a lot when giving instructions to campers and these northerners never know how to act

he may be the son of apollo but he's also texan. you'll see him preaching about good eating habits and then see him down sweet tea by the gallon

speaking of, what do you mean there's no sweet tea? how do you just not have sweet tea? NO YOU CANT JUST PUT SUGAR IN TEA AND CALL IT SWEET, THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS

after his rampage through camp, chiron makes sure there's always sweet tea on stand by

also on the list of things they dont have, will is upset that there's no whataburger around

"do y'all have a buc-ees around here" / "will what the fuck is that"

one word: mums

he brings pictures back from high school and has to explain the concept of homecoming and mums to everyone.

"no not like mom in England, mum like chrysanthemum"

"WHY THE HELL IS THAT GIRL'S MUM SO BIG"

"that's not even the biggest one this year. one girl had one shaped like Texas with lights and bells-"

he saw an aphrodite kid wearing a large ring and just mutters, "must be an Aggie, "

"WHO WANTS TO GO TO THE STATE FAIR?"

will refuses to eat any other ice cream but blue bell and nico learns that the hard way

when nico shadowtravels to texas to visit will during the school year, will drags him to schlitterbahn and nico wonders how they even pronounce these chaotic texan words

"how do you pronounce this thing?"

"you mean waxahachie? it's a town"

exclusively refers to soda as "coke" and gets upset when they actually give him coke and nor dr.pepper

as good as the bbq at camp is, nothing beats texas bbq in will's book

he and leo will break out into "deep in the heart of texas" at random times

they also have a friendly rivalry going on with who's city is the best

"at least you're not from a&m"

he measures distance in time and doesnt understand why everyone keeps trying to ask him for measurements, "it's just 15 minutes away down yonder"

passive aggressive nicknames and phrases with a smile when he's feeling annoyed or pissed off that everyone just thinks is a sweet southern thing

"aww sweetheart, bless your heart"

he doesnt have a heavy southern accent but when you get him on a roll, his drawl will come out and everyone at camp swoons a little bit

people sometimes write Will having a heavy southern accent and if this boy was born and raised in austin, he probably doesnt have as heavy of one as you'd think. people from austin kinda have a neutral to slight accent unless you're real southern southern. the major cities around here dont have much of an accent.

I know I do quite a bit on this character, but I truly love him so I will keep doing stuff on him. So here’s some Will Solace atributes that I see but not a lot of people do.

1. He is a natrual leader- Think about it, in the second Titan War he was only thirteen, and then pushed into the leader spot. Sure it wasn’t up to him, but let’s take notice that he was already head healer.

2. He is very self insecure- Think about it, there are countless times throughout the books that he is shown talking down in himself, or at his abilities. It’s crazy to realize he’s done this at least almost every time he’s made an appearance.

3. He is very perswaudesive- Think about it, not only has he been called so by Nico, and others, he carries himself in a way that is too. One prime example is that he was able to tell Apollo what to do. And Apollo was said to be taken a back at this, but in the end he did what Will told him to do.

4. He is very good at agruing- Think about it, he was able to win against Nico for the gods sake. We all know how hard that kid is. Also, bringing up the Apollo thing again, he was abe to talk Apollo after going after the missing. As well as convincing the Greeks and Romans, if only for a second, to stop the battle.

I haven’t read any headcanons about Will’s relationship with his mother Naomi, or about her life, basically we just know that she is/was an alt-country singer. But we didn’t get any more details about her. So this is my tiny contribution to the fandom!

Naomi Solace grew up in a big citric farm in Texas, that also had a bed and breakfast, which belonged to her family for many generations. Since she was little she demonstrated a talent for music, learning to play the guitar at a very young age and for having a beautiful voice.

She began performing when she turned 10 years at the bed and breakfast for the costumers. She played both covers of famous songs and also her own music.

She was 19 years old while doing a small tour with her band in Texas, when she met Apollo at a bar in Austin. She had just signed a contract with a big Nashville label and her first single was a success, reaching number 4 in the top 25 alt-country charts. They didn’t really have a relationship; it was just a series of very passionate hookups that lasted not longer than a few months, before Apollo had to go. She never resented him though, after all, she was also a free spirit.

She found out she was pregnant when she was already 2 months along.

She was so scared at first of being a single mom. Her family being very devoted Christians and even though they weren’t closed minded, she knew they wouldn’t take the news very well. She was also scared for her career, she was the opening act for a “very famous country singer” while they were touring the southern states. 

She didn’t tell her manager nor her family until she realized she could no longer hid her belly. That day she wrote a song called “It’s raining here in Georgia” about her fears and how she had to tell the truth.

Her parents definitely weren’t happy, but supported her.

The company was very understanding though, and didn’t cancel her contract. She continued opening for the “very famous country singer” until she was 6 months pregnant. Then moved to Nashville to work on her first album.

She went back to her parents’ farm in Texas to rest for her final month of pregnancy. She wrote more than 10 songs that month about her situation. 

Will was born on December 21th (I read @cyansonata‘s headcanon that Will was born on this day, the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter and that his mother always told him that it was because the world and her life needed more sunshine, and I loved it!).

When she first saw him, she swore he was glowing, but later dismissed it as the medications making her seeing things. She wrote a song called “My little bit of sunshine” the next week that was included on her second album about how happy she was with her baby boy. She never told anybody but Will the real story behind the name. 

She named him William after her father, though his name was Wilfred, but now way she was naming her son that! 

Will was the cutest baby, with his very big sky blue eyes and blond hair. All her band mates love to carry the cute baby all the time and everywhere she went she had people complimenting her baby.

Most of the time she and Will lived in her parents farm. She also had a small house in Nashville where she stayed when she was working on an album.

When Will was about to turn 1 year old he became very sick. Doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. They told her there was a big chance that he might die. 

A few days later, while she was watching Will in the hospital, Apollo visited her as an intern. She didn’t recognize him at first because he looked younger than when they were together. He explained who he really was and told her not to worry, that their child would be ok. And that their son was meant to do great things. He also told her about the dangers of being a demigod and that she might need to send Will to a special place for people like him so he could be safe. Before he left, he claimed him and he kissed Will and the baby started glowing (the only time Apollo used a different way of claiming) it was then, when Naomi knew that what she saw when Will was born, did actually happened. Apollo never came back again and Will never really met his father until the events of ToA.

She won her first CMA one year later.

She noticed that as Will grew older strange things happened around him, most of them good. Like dying plants suddenly became healthy again, then small animals, until people with minor illness told her how they felt better the minute they met Will. Or Will classmates claiming he could heal their small wounds by just touching them. She knew that the most powerful her son became the most he will be in danger and dreaded the day when she finally had to send her son away.

She loved sharing her love for music with her son. It seemed that he understood her passion better than anyone. She taught him to play guitar and the piano. They also sang together and even wrote silly songs. When she was on tour she would leave Will with her parents, or some times she would take him to Nashville with her.

It all changed when Will turned 6, he had been telling her for weeks about how he saw monsters hiding behind trees. She didn’t want to believe it; she didn’t want to have a reason to be apart from Will. Then one day a monster attacked them in the farm. She hit her head trying to escape and only remembered a bright light when she woke up.

She didn’t tell her parents anything about the attack.

The next day she contacted the place Apollo told her about.

New Years Eve morning she received a letter telling her that someone would come to the farm and pick Will up as soon as possible. 

Next day, during dinner she explained Will who his father was and that he could no longer stay with her, as it wouldn’t be safe for him. 

Two days later a teenaged girl, who was also a child of Apollo, arrived at her home and explained everything about Camp Half-Blood and how her son would be safe there. That same day, she took Will away.

It was very hard for her watching her son leave. Especially when she couldn’t talk about it to anyone. To all the world Naomi Solace’s son was accepted to a very exclusive music academy in New York. 

She tried to focus on her career and eventually won two more CMA’s and a Grammy. But she missed her son very much. She didn’t dare to take Will away from camp for very long periods of time. So going on short vacations became their thing, that, and weekly letters to keep updated.

Will came out to her when he was about 12 years old. She always suspected her son might be gay, but never forced him to come out. She even read about gay relationships and gay sex education to give him “the talk”, which she did a few weeks later. 

Naomi knew her son had a crush on a boy named Nico, because Will wouldn’t stop writing about him. Even if Will didn’t realize it until much later. She felt very sorry for all the misfortune that the boy had to endured. She began sending Nico little gifts, like some clothes in dark colors. 

She met Nico when she picked up Will for their Christmas vacations. 

The question I get the most is how I write characters that feel like real people. 

Generally when I’m designing a human being, I deconstruct them into 7 major categories:

1. Primary Drive 2. Fear: Major and Secondary 3. Physical Desires 4. Style of self expression 5. How they express affection 6. What controls them (what they are weak for) 7. What part of them will change.

1. Primary Drive: This is generally related to the plot. What are their plot related goals? How are they pulling the plot forward? how do they make decisions? What do they think they’re doing and how do they justify doing it. 2. Fear: First, what is their deep fear? Abandonment? being consumed by power? etc. Second: tiny fears. Spiders. someone licking their neck. Small things that bother them. At least 4. 3. Physical desires. How they feel about touch. What is their perceived sexual/romantic orientation. Do their physical desires match up with their psychological desires.

4. Style of self expression: How they talk. Are they shy? Do they like to joke around and if so, how? Are they anxious or confident internally and how do they express that externally. What do words mean to them? More or less than actions? Does their socioeconomic background affect the way they present themselves socially?  5. How they express affection: Do they express affection through actions or words. Is expressing affection easy for them or not. How quickly do they open up to someone they like. Does their affection match up with their physical desires. how does the way they show their friends that they love them differ from how they show a potential love interest that they love them. is affection something they struggle with?

6. What controls them (what they are weak for): what are they almost entirely helpless against. What is something that influences them regardless of their own moral code. What– if driven to the end of the wire— would they reject sacrificing. What/who would they cut off their own finger for.  What would they kill for, if pushed. What makes them want to curl up and never go outside again from pain. What makes them sink to their knees from weakness or relief. What would make them weep tears of joy regardless where they were and who they were in front of. 

7. WHAT PART OF THEM WILL CHANGE: people develop over time. At least two of the above six categories will be altered by the storyline–either to an extreme or whittled down to nothing. When a person experiences trauma, their primary fear may change, or how they express affection may change, etc. By the time your book is over, they should have developed. And its important to decide which parts of them will be the ones that slowly get altered so you can work on monitoring it as you write. making it congruent with the plot instead of just a reaction to the plot. 

That’s it.

But most of all, you have to treat this like you’re developing a human being. Not a “character” a living breathing person. When you talk, you use their voice. If you want them to say something and it doesn’t seem like (based on the seven characteristics above) that they would say it, what would they say instead?

If they must do something that’s forced by the plot, that they wouldn’t do based on their seven options, they can still do the thing, but how would they feel internally about doing it?

How do their seven characteristics meet/ meld with someone else’s seven and how will they change each other?

Once you can come up with all the answers to all of these questions, you begin to know your character like you’d know one of your friends. When you can place them in any AU and know how they would react.

ANYONE WHO REBLOGS AFTER WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL JULY TO GET THEIR DRAWINGS.