I'm really sorry for the delay, but here are the answers finally.
Sending you a hug, and I hope the answers are entertaining. Iām going to tag @gaulnon because they recently told me some things about their original characters and I think this ask game will be really helpful for them. Also, shoutout to vico (@julietasgf) who, as always, is my co-writer on lore: VIIK alliance.
7. What about your character still remains a mystery to you?
This is a very interesting question, for me, everything is a mystery in a way.
When you have an original character something quite interesting happens to me and yes, I actually consider Julia to be an original character because, although her fate and place in the canon story are defined. Her entire inner life, personality, and backstory are things I have given her, plus the information we have about her is so few or non existing (like her name itself, since she doesnāt have one and each of us who has worked on our versions of Mrs. Snow has given her a name of our own).
Iām making this clarification because to me itās different than when we talk about character interpretations. A clear example is my conception of Crassus; he isnāt my OC because he has several traits that come and are more clearly defined and stated in the text, I simply interpret him under a particular view of mine, still itās my interpretation. I can argue for my ideas on Crassus but I couldn't say that he's the only real Crassus,Ā but I can say which one is the only real Julia (but I couldn't say, for example, that she's the only real Mrs. Snow because thatās not true).
With that said, Iāll continue because Iāve created original characters from scratch before, and one thing I like about them is that theyāre constantly subject to change. Even if you write them down, theyāre constantly evolving; personally, I donāt feel this happens very often with character portrayals / interpretations. Iāll talk about Casca because heās a minor character Iāve interpreted in a specific way, and my own interpretation has changed for example, through my rereadings of the text and subsequent discussions that took place long after my initial readings on my own yet, itās not as if the change in my interpretation was too abruptly.
This is because Casca remains a well-defined character in the canon, and there are traits I must maintain. For example, my constant drama about how much I hate Crassus is a fundamental part of his story and characterization because it is, and I canāt change that!
*Quick note.
I know youāre not obligated to stick strictly to the text, especially in the world of fanfiction, and besides, what constitutes ācanonā is something that will always be different depending on each personās understanding of the text, right? At the same time, there are characteristics / traits that distinguish these characters, personalities and actions we can always return to when rereading, and while I myself have developed a writing in which a character do something improbable in a way that tries to feel authentic or consistent, but I've definitely pushed to the limits such traits and other things that constitute the vision of the character I share with others. Still, one of the reasons why I find writing fanfiction fun is the thrill of stepping into, so to speak, someone elseās shoes, finding instructions on how I should make the dolls act in the desk that leave me pondering, wondering how anyone could have come up with these as the rules on the first place, and trying to follow them.Ā
But what I see with the original characters is that, while there will be constants in them (because I believe characters are defined by themes that you want to explore in a particular way), you also find yourself caught up in constant change. With Julia, thereās a clear goal of where she needs to end up (becoming the protagonistās mother, marrying Crassus, and dying!) On why I remark on this, the aspect of her being an oc incorporate in canon / derivated from, because see thereās a path preestablished in her destiny by canon, and sheāll get there, but how she get there, who will be there, is something Iāve found has been transformed from that distant late 2023/early 2024 all the way to now!
As that wise song say, itās the best of two worlds, to me at least, in the thing that I created Julia, thereās only one Julia thatās mine, but I still face similar challenges than with the more established canon characters, at the same time, I had a freedom, in explore her, and get out of the box, and vibe with the differences in her concepts vs the moment I wrote her, Julia itās always a mystery to a certain extend because how canon and my interest crash, metamorphoses constantly.
I hope this makes sense, hehehe.
Before we move on to the next question, there will be some triggering content, as Iāll be discussing heavy topics. Not explicitly, but they will be implied: child abuse, post-traumatic stress, emotional incest, generational trauma, grooming.Ā
8. Someone shows your character a photograph of themselves when they were five. How do they react? What is the picture like?
Julia's reaction depends on what stage of her life you ask her about, but let's talk about the type of photographs first.
Julia is an only child; she has no close relatives, since her mother isnāt in the picture; her father has friends but is reserved, and at least when she was little, he tried to stay within the Capitol as much as possible. Even so, he had to step away, and although he would sometimes take her on trips, the custom was more to leave her with her nannies (thereās a constant turnover of them) and the staff at the Dorrance house (who can speak; I think Iāve mentioned that Julia at least knows Avox until she visits the evil Snow Department).
The photos always feature Julia as the star, the sheer number is somewhat absurd, but they were usually taken when she went out to play in the park with her father, or when he took her to the zoo, the theater, cinema, restaurants, the planetarium, or someplace in the Capitol. Sometimes in the photos youād see a part of Juliaās fatherās body, a figure who never drew attention to himself, nor had any intention of appearing in the photographs but sometimes there would be photos of them hugging or sitting side by side, which always refocused on her, since her father didnāt liked appear on pictures but liked had memories from Julia, that could kept as a testament of her youth and a remembering of better days when set a part in some travel far from her due to work.Ā
Also, on Miss Juliaās birthdays, there would be a myriad of pictures. Birthdays, in particular, were a very important and special occasion for Julia, they were usually a big celebration. Her father, who was normally very reserved and serious, seemed genuinely excited about her birthday and would throw a somewhat lavish party, even if it was a small gathering, since the guests were basically the servants forced to eat cake, clap when she opened her numerous gifts and at times, a professional photographer would sometimes be hired to do a photo shoot of Julia, as she would usually choose a theme for her birthdays (This changes once she grows up, but since weāre focusing on her childhood, well, yes, there are birthdays where she was a princess, then a fairy or a mermaid, etc).
I have explained the content because, although Juliaās father does not appear directly in most of the photos, as you can see, he is the one who arranges most of them or even takes them himself (such as during their visits to various parts of the Capitol). The photos are, so to speak, tangible and clear evidence of the many moments they shared together and of her fatherās apparent love. This matters because if you asked Julia, for most of her life, she would have been genuinely excited to explain and talk about the photos, trying to reconstruct why it was taken, what she was doing, and simply telling an anecdote that she undoubtedly wanted to share with others, after all of those years.
Unless we ask Julia, after her little worm became two-year-old, because sheās actually tearing up the photos apart in that moment, ah, and refusing to tell anything.Ā
The reason is a long story, but indirectly, the main culprit is her own conscience and maybe Aelia but let's take it one step at a time. Sorry for the little rant about them thatās coming (?
I find Aelia and Julia pretty funny because theyāre such an unlikely duo, but one of the main conflicts with Julia is that sheās constantly infantilized and shattered, treated as if sheās so fragile she might break, this bothers her, it frustrates her greatly while at the same time she feels comfortable with it, benefits from it at the same time suffer from this and she really has a low tolerance for being treated differently. It's one of the reasons why the bastardās horrible behavior seems strangely appealing to her. On one hand, itās the normalization of misogynistic violence (which sheās been taught to see as romantic and something she must tolerate) while, from her perspective, it also represents honesty; a treatment as an equal that no one else has ever given her, something that confuses with respect when thereās none.
The reason I mention this is that, aside from Crassus, the only other person who ends up showing her anything close to respect and recognition as an equal is Aelia (again not that Crassus really do any of that but from Juliaās pov she believes this to be the case) though it takes her a while to get there, it happens. And the fact that this respect reaches Julia in a way thatās free from the violence and judgment sheās grown accustomed to causes her to question her view of the world and what she actually considers normal.
But as I said, it takes time to get there, and thereās something curious and complicated about Aelia, since sheās actually a bit of an odd case within the Snow family when it comes to her relationship with Tigrisās father. Itās not an ideal relationship, and itās true that compared to the Snowsā ālavenderā marriage, anyone else would look better by comparison, but itās also true that Aelia enters into a relationship thatās apparently unusual within her family, in the sense that the power dynamics that exist elsewhere donāt really exist in hers (even if again sheās still in a fucked relationship).
The age difference, being one thing, is that while I donāt believe, at least for the time when Julia (announced at 16/17 as a betrothed), there was another case as explicit as hers, itās true that looking around, Aelia realizes that many women in her family, especially on the Snow side, were young wives (from my view of the Snow family, in fact the grandmother falls into this group of wives in their early 20s, with older men), and while, realistically, I donāt think Julia was an exception (because I believe there were several "Julias" in that hellish family tree) it does represent a hard reality check for her.
Because I think itās a little different to know that a certain adult, whom you know as an adult, was once a young wife, than to see it with your own eyes, especially in a case like Juliaās (her own realization). Even so, she tries to be kind, and although that wasn't her intention, Julia interprets her kindness as an automatic invitation to be friends (worst view her as family as in sisterhood), something Aelia doesn't share (that Julia is her friend nor her sister) but she doesn't deny it because she doesn't want to be rude, and that is precisely what shows a kindness rooted in a bunch of horrible feelings if Iām being honest. At first, Aelia is moved by a lot of pity, she really feels sorry for her but thereās clear discomfort, because Julia is simply so immature, so childish that sheās unpleasant and annoying to be around, more for someone that doesnāt have the need to put with this off-putting awkward young girl, Aelia had a life of her own, friends, a lovely husband and even a child.
So really WHY SHE SHOULD.*
She means more to Julia than Julia does to her (and itās pretty ironic that Julia didnāt like Aelia on first months neither LOL because she went against some of Juliaās super traditional ideas about respectability so in Juliaās mind, she was also being kind out of some bizarre sense of pity towards Aelia that was āweirdā, not only did the whole taxonomy thing scare her, but āoh my gosh sheās a woman who has a job and takes it seriously,ā besides, she thought the models have no self-respect, it wasnāt very mormon from Aeliaās part be one, Julia itās INSANE, still what I mentioned itās completely true because Aeliaās changes her life and to be fair Julia get over many of her ideas quite quickly because of Julia and her strange mix of contempt and admiration for the Snow women).
Even so, this matters because, although Aelia is initially one of the people (basically almost everyone) who treats Julia as if she were so fragile, once they become close later on and Aelia begins to accept her to a certain extent, she, as I said, is the one who truly treats Julia as an equal, which sometimes includes questioning her or confronting her, and this matters, it matters a lot when it comes to Julia and her father. Because there are simply so many things Julia never questioned about that situation, things she assumed were normal, and even though I think they had some discussions about it before Worm was born, Julia just covered her ears and started singing ālalala,ā ignoring everything Aelia said to her, because, āhey, I think the relationship you had with your father it was super weird, haha,ā it wasnāt something Julia wanted to think about, so Julia was like, blinking, hissing and acting as if she didnāt hear anything.Ā
But it becomes especially hard to keep denying things, especially given that Julia would do things that would upset people, and she begins to question herself. There are things she canāt explain why she did them, but they feel terribly wrong now that sheās a caregiver to a child.
Without going into too much detail, much of the abuse Julia experienced was a major violation of her privacy (yes, the photos are included in this, because some were... weird and relevant data, the many pictures stopped as soon someone grow up), and suddenly, having a child, she discovers why others call her out for be doing strange things, at the same time, she simply feels terrible about doing certain things now that sheās in this position of being a parent that were super common for her when she was a child. This includes Aelia, because sheās the one who, I think, more or less points this out to her (although there are many people doing this, there's a full subject of Grandma and Julia because she's accused of ruin the child), and at least doesnāt judge her for it (not completely), but itās when Julia starts questioning things, which, along with her flop marriage, makes her very angry once she makes her conclusions, because Julia really not a child, nor dumb, she can drawn conclusions, even if lack the language specific to named certainā¦ experiences, and itās torturous.Ā
*In why she endure the weirdo around it's a long story of it's own.
