The Story Of A Girl ((Contest))

1. What's you're name and do you like it, why or why not? (If you don't want to use your real name, username is absolutely fine!)

For me, that’s a ridiculously complicated question. My birth name is Meagan Marie – my mother wanted to name me Mary after her favourite grandmother, but my father had dated a girl named Mary for five years, so that name was altered to be “Marie” and demoted to a middle name. Meagan, the first name they ended up giving me, has no special significance whatsoever – my mother read it in the credits of a movie and thought it was pretty. I’ve always hated my name for it’s lack of meaning – even on it’s own, it’s meaning (pearl) is less than life-shaping. I never felt much like a Meagan, anyways. 

My name is Lusie – “of the light”. I’ve been Lusie in one circle or another since I was around ten years old – since I was 14, even my teachers and church leaders have known me by Lusie, and I’ll be legally changing it in April, when I turn eighteen. I love it because it describes me completely – I am a child of the light, a moral and intelligent woman that is curious and constantly seeking novelty. The alternate spelling of the name feels lighter than the traditional L-u-c-y, and so fits in with my bubbly personality.

As for my user name, it is and always has been BesonderSchatten – loosely translated “beautiful shadow”. The shadow part is in reference to Puck’s closing monologue in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when he speaks of himself and the other characters as shadows. Like Puck, I am an actor with only the best of intentions, and I hope that my life and art are irrefutably beautiful.

2. Do you like animals? Why, why not? What's your favorite? (Anything in there. More the better, remember!)

Everyone who knows me is always surprised to discover that I don’t really care for animals or children. In both cases, they’re cute and fun to have every now and again, but I don’t want them in my own life. I’m allergic to pet dander, and I don’t like having a living creature being that dependent on me – I’m a flighty and forgetful person, and I don’t want my own activities to be limited by anything. I would hate to have another living creature be neglected because I’m off doing something exciting, but I know that I would chose myself over my pets any day. (My family has a dog, three cats, and fish right now – I love the kittens, but I wouldn’t want to have to deal with their food and water every day myself.)

3. Do you have any siblings? If not, what about your parents? How do you feel about these people?

I have one sibling, a sister named Kiersten. She was born when I was ten, and she’s the most ridiculous little girl I’ve ever met. She has AHDH, a temper and a half, and curly hair. I love her in the cosmic sense, but she frustrates me, and it makes me sad to know that she won’t really remember me being a part of her life when she’s my age – I’m leaving for school this summer, and I won’t be moving back to this city again.

4. Do you know me? (Hah. I like that one.)

Not really, no.

5. Where do you live? (This is optional. I understand some people might not want to answer it. I live in the U.S.!)

Well, I was born in West Virginia and spent summers in Tennessee growing up, but I consider Louisville, KY to be my home. It’s a bizarre city – it’s the seventeenth largest in the States, but everybody seems to know everybody just like a teeny tiny town. We’re in Kentucky, a Southern state in the Bible belt, but most of us have Midwestern accents and socially moderate points of view. We aren’t renowned as an artistic capital of the country or the world, but the Louisville area has an excellent artistic community with a strong performing arts concentration, and Louisville’s public schools are open to more arts education than most. In the area of town I got to school in, specifically, there’s a strong international presence that has hopefully enabled me to be a bit less of a stereotypical American than most. 

6. Do you like music, and if so, how do you relate it to your writing?

I love music, even though I can’t play an instrument. (I can sing alright, if I do say so myself, though.) However, I really don’t do a lot with music in my writing – I use it to tune out what’s around me to concentrate, of course, but I rarely find inspiration from songs. Every once in a while I’ll find a song that sounds like it was written for a specific character, and then I’ll put it in a playlist for that story, a la Stephenie Meyer.

7. What is your favorite thing to write?

I enjoy writing that which I read as a guilty pleasure when my scholastic reading is done – young adult semi-romantic fiction. My writing tends to be characterised by dry humour and intricate plotlines; it’s very character driven, and I use a LOT of dialogue. My writing style makes sense, if you know me – people and what they have to say are very important to my life, both as a human being and an actor, and so it is natural that this bleeds through to my writing. I’m also a sucker for a good romantic plot twist, especially kidnapping and such. (I don’t write them much, as my stories tend to get a little BDSMy when I go down that road.)

8. Are you a people person?

Oh, infinitely! I’m an actor, my life is being a people person! I think humans are the most interesting creatures in the world – there’s nothing I love more than sitting and listening to people tell their stories, no matter what they’re about, how true they are, or how many times I’ve heard them before. I’m a social chameleon, so it’s easy for me to quickly fit in with any given group of people and get folks to start talking – while my friends say that I’m very funny and fun, and I enjoy entertaining people myself, my true skill is getting others to bloom.

9. Do you seem to have a lot of REAL friends?

I have a very nontraditional view of friendship. While I have a handful of “real” friends – old friends, that I’ve been through a lot with – I don’t tend to think of anyone I consider a friend as “unreal”. I think that everyone has their time and place in my life, and I in theirs – it’s not about this girl being a better friend than someone else, it just so happens that we’ll benefit most from being close while something else is best for the other relationship. In the sense of a friend simply being someone you love and trust, I have a plethora of friends of every sex, orientation, and economic status.

10. How do you feel about war?

In my own life, I am a practicing pacifist – I refuse to fight physically, no matter what actions someone else takes towards me, and I try not to be verbally unkind. I think that this is a good philosophy for the world at large, but I understand that it’s not a realistic one. As far as a realistic point of view, I think that war is something that should be taken with a continent-sized grain of salt – every now and again, war is necessary in a defensive capacity, but that is only at the very last hour when all diplomatic venues have been traveled. I also believe that when there is a war, it is necessary to avoid propaganda and maintain the viewpoint that the people of the other side are humans, and I believe that it is the responsibility of the “winning” side to help the “losing” side rebuild their country and their lives.

11. Why do you like StoryWrite?

I like Storywrite because it’s a way for me to get feedback on my writing in a pseudo-anonymous way – I hope to publish something eventually, and however much I love my friends, I can’t trust them to give me impartial reviews. (Of course, since y stuff is so long it rarely gets read on here, but still…)

12. What got you into writing?

I’ve written stories since I was old enough to write, then stopped during middle school. I got back into writing more seriously my sophomore year of high school, when I started writing on a Harry Potter roleplaying forum – writing as a part of a huge story make me want to control a story of my own. As I was toying with this idea, I stumbled upon a creative writing Livejournal a friend of mine had kept secretly. I talked to her about it, and we started writing for each other’s enjoyment.

13. Do you have a friend here that you really, really love?

I don’t know anyone outside of SW, really.

14. Does your writing seem to effect the people around you?

I think you mean “affect”, but yes, in a way it does. There are a few people who keep up with my stories on my creative writing Myspace, and they have fun anticipating the next part of a story and discussing it once it’s done.

**15. Why do you write?

Oh, that’s like asking why I breathe! I write to effectively communicate feelings that I cannot adequately or appropriately express verbally, and I write to explore possibilities that I am not assertive, brave, or foolish enough to bring to fruition in my own life. I write to fill the hours, to entertain myself and others, and to feel like there is something I may eventually become good at. Generally, I just write to stay sane 