Houses
I started making little houses because I liked the shape.
Then I started knocking on the doors.
Now I know every house holds a story.
Some just haven't introduced themselves yet.
#17
Many people don’t know there is a small village in the mountains where characters live.
Think of it like Hollywood, but so very different.
On any street in Hollywood you might run into a famous actor or actress but you are just as likely to meet someone that has only ever done a TV ad and has their sights set on the big screen. A person with a portfolio of pictures, a cult following on OnlyFans but with dreams of a soap opera. Two friends living together in a third floor walk up that was once a Motel 6 who moved to California from the frozen upper midwest hoping to break out big in a sitcom that lasts the ages.
It is like that in this mountain town, but these characters are searching for their place in the next great novel. Some will only ever be illustrated on page 4 of a kids book that is only available as an Audible free book. They mark making it differently, were they in a story, will their kind continue. Main character energy but just as happy to preserve the craft.
Many people don’t know that authors count on this village to round out their flat stories. When they sit to interview a character, authors often don’t know what direction they are headed, but if you have lived in this village long enough you know you can turn the story your direction with a toss of your hair or a long deep look into their eyes. The authors are beguiled by the characters with the saucer sized eyes, or the well packed pants. These are easy pickings but the true characters hope to charm the authors with the deepness of their souls, the hidden agendas of their hearts. A story yet to fully unfold.
She has lived there since she was seventeen never wanting to know the picture book authors and too scared of vampires to set her gaze on the teen market, but once she was old enough to be featured in adult literature, she packed up her bags and moved to the hills. She shares the house with four other characters of varying ages, only one who has made it big and that was in a fantasy novel so the background played more of a role than her cheeky dialogue.
They each have their own place in the house. One room on the main floor and two each on the next floors with an attic apartment accessible from the outside. It sits empty right now because attic energy is for real and this group is trying to stay mainstream.
Most people don’t know that the space you occupy can bleed into your persona but the characters know so they plant flowers and ride their bikes, they open the windows and practice batting their eyes.
She only ever shaves her legs on the days she washes her hair knowing those days she’ll also put on make up and venture out hoping to be discovered by an author with a portfolio that has already been adapted.
She loves this time of year when the Tour de France is moving through the countryside and the heat of the day spills over until night. She dated a cyclist once and realized too late that meant she had to cycle too which means something different than the story her bike tells with its basket and cozy seat.
She emerges today for a leisurely walk to see who else has come to visit. She puts a change of clothes in the basket just in case the winter authors are in town to cast for the darker stories, but in her sundress and sandals she hopes for something lighter.
#11
"Ladies!" Annette shouted.
Nobody moved.
"Ladies!"
Barba sighed.
"Ladies, if we miss the eleven-eleven bell, the picture book authors will already be at the square."
“Sally, Sylvie, Page, Meadow, Lark, please stop in the mirror. It is time. To. Go.”
A deep sigh from Annette recognizing that half of them missed their lipstick.
She catches up with them all at the bottom of the stairs, “Here we are, now. One at a time.”
It wasn’t always this way, Annette and her husband used to house a different type of character. For a while it was an entire French family in a great variety of colors, but nowadays the pink girls love to come together to make videos at night and then it just became easier to stay.
At exactly 11:11 each day, the door opens and the lovely ladies from the pink house emerge. They are so niche they are not to be bothered for anything other than a pink cover.
Fancy Nancy lived here, and Pinkalicous. Nowadays, it is a lot of look-alikes and wanna-bes. Meadow for the love, how not pink is that, Annette thinks.
As Annette watched the girls glide down the street, all hope and happiness, she remembered Barba at that age. Barbabelle as she was called then was just a little twist of love emerging on the scene. With her brothers and sisters, the family became impossible to ignore.
However, over time, the idea of shapeshifting characters was deemed a monopoly by the mayors of the village.
So, each of the siblings picked a lane and Barba gave up her French for English and purple for pink. She put away her attitude and her very French ways of being and opened the home to those that love the color pink.
Annette was often shocked at the number of girls who would visit trying to break onto the scene. One summer she had characters for young adult romance on one floor and sports on another, she was surprised when she read, Heated Rivalry, and her characters from that summer were featured together!
That’s how it is with pink. You think you can judge a book by its cover but really pink spans the horizon. This season it is mostly young characters vying for positions with new picture book self publishers.
And you know how they are, so very predictable and cookie cutter. The characters are here for it because you just never know anymore what is going to take off.
If a house feels like it's calling to you, send me a note.
I'd love to hear what you noticed.
If it's meant to come home with you, we'll figure out the rest together.