Anna? Who is She?

Hi Fellow Bloggers,

This week I am focused on Anna. If you want to get a good idea of who she is before you read this post I would check out my conversation with her in the character forum: Deep Thoughts with Anna  I think it will reveal a lot about her personality. She is very fun to be around.

While writing Forbidden I found myself (at certain scenes) wondering what Anna would say in that moment. She has a way of lightening things up. She’s good at having your attention, but making sure you are only seeing her on the surface. She’s the type of person who feels private things should be kept private. Which for her means her feelings. They are keep in a vault that not many have access to. Even me as the person telling her story had to spend time with her before she would reveal herself. As the books progresses she’ll opens up a bit then withdraw. A lot takes place that I don’t want to give away, but it causes her to question a lot about family and values. The very things she was raised being taught were being tested. She was pushing everyone around her to not give up, but inside herself she was kind of losing the same battle. I loved this energy and realness that she held within her. Despite this, the persona she put to was always so superficial. The same thing is seen with her strength.

In this book you can see her starting to crumble. Not only does she have to stay home and watch her mother get worse each passing day, but she has to feel that loss of connection with her twin. I learn to love Anna as much as I love Ivy. Not because they are twins, but because she feels relatable. She has such an honest perspective on life. One that invites you in, but keeps you at arms lengths too.

While she doesn’t get as much play in the first book she is still represented. However my favorite scene from her isn’t in any of the books from the trilogy, but in a short novella that I wrote about her. I will come back to that in a moment. The best scene that showcases who Anna in the Forbidden takes place when she finds out about the curse. You can find this scene in the excerpts category: Chapter One of Forbidden Second Excerpt. Out of everyone in the room I felt her emotions the strongest while writing that scene. They are also the thickest in the room as far as tension goes. She feels confused, then betrayed at being left out, then jealous… all in a matter of moments. It shows her love and dedication to her family. Even though the girls have two very different relationships with their mother they both love her very much. Which is why I think Anna was so jealous that Ivy got to go. She wanted to help her mother too.

When I first started writing the story I thought Anna was going to be this really mean, dense twin sister that tried to jeopardize her sister’s return with the herb. I had written the end already before I even really started getting into the story… she was going to steal the herb from Ivy and push her back into the dimension for her to remain there forever. As the book went along I realized that Anna isn’t a bad person she’s just guarded. She doesn’t have it in her to be mean. She can say rude things sometimes out of hurt, but she wasn’t capable of being my villain. I couldn’t see all that at first. I had to get pass her rough exterior.

So back to the Novella. I wish I could post a scene from it, but it’s on my flash drive. Which is still broken. So if you are interested like or comment on this post and as soon as I get it fixed I will do a part two. I hope this post helped you understand, appreciate, and or like Anna a little bit more.