Would You Mind Telling Me A Little Bit About Catalina?

Would you mind telling me a little bit about Catalina?

LOL I am finishing up her playlist right now. Great timing, friend!

Catalina is my mc, Daron's, best friend (even though it takes Daron the whole book to realize it). She's the daughter of a mistress, which pretty much equates to a duchess, and her mother is also the headmistress of the school all my characters attend. While Daron keeps a professional relationship with her mother and barely interacts with her brother, Catalina contrasts her by being very close with her mother and her little sister. Because of her relationship with her family, she serves as a mother figure in her friend group.

Catalina is an incredibly strong witch, but she has trouble believing it because Kelsee has been out to get her for years. Their families have been fighting for more power in their clan for generations, but Catalina's mother was over it and decided to run a school instead. Kelsee saw this as a bid for power and bullied Catalina into doubting herself and made their classmates believe it too, but don't worry, Catalina realizes her strength.

From the start of my writing, I intended for Catalina to have ambitions other than succeeding her mother as mistress--she thinks she suits a smaller lifestyle better--but I just added in an arc for her recently where she is put in a leadership position and learns that she is good at it. In the end, she decided she really does want to be mistress and lead with Daron, who has one of the highest positions of power in their country.

Catalina's the kind of person who always knows what to say so I gave her some of the best dialogue. A friend once told me that I have a kind smile, and I thought that was the nicest thing anyone's said to me so I wanted to immortalize it. In my first draft, Catalina already had a similar line so of course I gave it to her to say to Daron. She also says this line that was rated the best line in my wip from a poll I made: "We cannot be perfect. We can only be better."

Like other witches of the Herbneivorous Clan, Catalina's powers include being able to grow plants, tell their properties by touching them, and being able to eat poison. She's eaten so much that her blood's actually poisonous, but it's not much of a threat because she's typically calm and grounded.

Thanks for asking! That's Catalina.

Benefits of being a writer:

✓ Story goes how YOU want, nearly 21% of the time

✓ can buy a new book for 'work'

✓ excuse for all those blank notebooks you have

✓ search history doesn't send up any red flags

Downsides:

X You have to actually write a book

Character Profile Tag

Thanks for tagging me @willtheweaver! I’ve been dying to do this one for Daron

Full name: Daron Spiritwalker

Age: 18

Sex: Female

Species: Witch

Appearance: Daron is very tall, about 6 feet. She has pale skin and sapphire blue eyes. Her hair stands out the most out of all her features. It’s knee-length and black with a singular white streak.

Occupation: Lady/student

Family: Madame Spiritwalker—mother, Lukas Spiritwalker—brother

Pets: She doesn’t have a pet but is close with a horse

Best friend: Catalina Hemlock

Describe her room: Plain. The headmistress set it up and she kept it that way. Her bedsheets and curtains are both black. The most interesting thing she has is a bookshelf with her spellbooks and a romance book Cassidy recommended her.

Items in her bag/purse: If she’s at school she only has her spellbooks. When she goes out she usually takes some money and water.

Hobbies: Studying

Favorite sport: She’s grown fond of horseback riding

Abilities/talents/powers: Daron is known for being intelligent, skilled with magic, and a natural leader. Her powers include being able to see and communicate with spirits and to travel to the Spirit World at will.

Relationships: Daron tries to keep all her relationships professional, including those in her own family. She is eventually forced to open up to friendship by a group of girls at school who won’t leave her alone.

Fears: Being anything less than perfect

Faults: Doesn’t allow herself to feel emotions, self-sacrificing

What she wants more than anything: To serve the needs of her people and spirits

Gentle tagging @the-golden-comet @kaylinalexanderbooks and open tag!

"how did you forget XYZ?!" I didn't, I didn't include it because it would wreck the curve. If you think one was left off in error, pick one of the provided choices and then leave your suggestion in the tags

This far into my draft I can really see Daron’s character development. I’m so proud of my baby girl. Look!

Chapter one Daron

Something sweet rose up from my chest but I promptly tamped it back down.

I did not take even a single glance back at the black-brick mansion. My path had already been laid out, and it led away from Spiritwalker Mansion. I would not be able to keep moving forward if my head was turned back, even for a second.

Daron now

“How are you?” I searched Catalina’s foresty eyes and found no judgment; none of the expectation for apathy that I was used to. I only saw compassion. It broke me further. “It hurts.” “I know.” Catalina gently moved my head so it rested on her shoulder…and I let her.

the real question is, why do i spend more time making playlists for my characters than actually writing about them?