Character Sketchs - beginning

The Antagonist – Camille Beaudry

•          Forty-something English professor – currently teaching the Children’s Literature course Nancy’s taking

•          Confident and attractive

•          Dresses in classic Channel-type clothes

•          Has a reputation for being aloof

•          Had several books published early in her career, but has hit a writer’s block

•          Has had several long term relationships with other professors, but is currently alone

•          Never shows emotions, but also never forgets

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The Protagonist – Nancy Simon

•          Twenty year-old, college junior

•          Her parents have agreed to pay for her college fees:  books, tuition, dorm room, meal plan & any lab fees

•          However, Nancy is responsible for any and all other costs: the gas or maintenance of her car (her mom’s old ’85 Buick Park Ave), any new clothes she wants, etc., so she has several, small jobs around the campus—including transcribing a professor’s new manuscript; pitch-hit for a grad bio student when their personal life got in the way of his lab job; even works as the odd weekend manning the reception desk at the college infirmary, etc.

•          She originally thought she wanted to major in Modern English Literature, but later settled on Elementary Education

•          She’s not beautiful, but her vivacious personality, intelligence and sense of humor more than make it up

•          Average height and weight, light brown, shoulder length hair and soft brown eyes

•          Unlike most of her fellow co-eds, she wears khaki chinos and oxford cloth shirts—so she has a more neat, formal presence than jeans and tee shirts

•          When she’s nervous or upset she flicks her thumb nail against the index finger nail

•          Her desk at the school newspaper office and her dorm room are extremely untidy – but she has the uncanny ability of being to put her finger on whatever it is she is looking for immediately

•          She has a great memory, but her ‘mental file’ often has a card misfiled

•          Nancy never loses her temper—but she bruises easily, and will isolate herself until she’s talked herself over it

•          Her best friend since kindergarten is Brent Brooks, a fashion design major who keeps his sexual preferences quiet

•          They chose this college together, because it has co-ed dorms

•          Her roommate is a flaky art major, named Skye Mallard



Helper One – Brent Brooks

•          Nancy’s best friend since kindergarten

•          Gay, but doesn’t flaunt his sexuality

•          Brent had always been among the shortest of his classmates until junior year of high school—when, just like Topsy, he just grew and grew—even several years, he is uncomfortable about his height, and tends to hunch and slouch

•          Lives in black jeans and black tee shirts—not ‘Goth’ but he does have earrings

•          Doodles on his ever-present sketch pad constantly

•          Loves film noir



Helper Two – Skye Mallard

•          Nancy’s roommate

•          Afro-American, a little taller than average, very classic-regular features, close cut hair

•          Art student

•          Can be a bit of a flake

•          Has a weird way of thinking, but generally gets the right answer

•          Totally untrendy—she lives in white and off-white painter’s overalls (well, originally – now they’re covered in paint smears and stains)



Helper Three – Matt Jones

•          Brent’s straight roommate

•          Insanely brilliant, double major in Political Science & Pre-Med

•          Not sure he wants to be a doctor or a lawyer – and will probably end up getting both

•          Often begins sentences mid-thought

•          Oddly, he’s not a great reader, with the exception of the classic British mystery writers:  including Arthur Conan Doyle; Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie

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