#PennedPossibilities 875: SC feel they fit in with community/culture?

Jenny, not really. She grew up mostly in England, then the family moved to Canada as she entered high school. She also feels like her french isn't good enough to be at her bilingual university.

Sherlock, he worries he doesn't fit in, perhaps in part due to racial issues, though he's doing a better job of it than he thinks.

#PennedPossibilities 876: Does MC like being centre of attention?

Very mixed bag for Carrie. She used to enjoy it, and isn't the type to sit quietly in the background. However, calling attention to herself might invite further scrutiny, as to her sexuality, and even her control over time. Which she would prefer to avoid.

In effect, she enjoys it so long as she's not getting any questions (or crass comments).

#PennedPossibilities 877a: Characters terrible with time management?

I mean, Carrie can literally step through time. She doesn't like to though, so tries to arrange her life to avoid that possibility, meaning she's pretty good at managing it.

Heather's probably weakest, because she does things on her schedule... barging into the timelines of others with this or that. She can manage deadlines though.

I'm pretty organized, so my characters are too.

#PennedPossibilities 877b: Any characters have trouble with deadlines?

Carrie can time travel, so she's exempt. The other students do have plot interfering with their schooling; if they didn't, they'd be able to plan better. (Heather might be better at deadlines here, she'll ignore plot if it's inconvenient.) The worst is probably Rob, a side character who prefers to party.

#PennedPossibilities 877c: Something wholesome?

If a villain can be reformed, I tend to try and reform them. In fact most characters are less broken by the end of the story than they were during the plot itself.

I don't know if that counts, but there it is.

#PennedPossibilities 878: How would MC react in a crisis?

Carrie tends to immediately shut down her emotions and think of ways to get out of the situation. Possibly creative ones. Possibly to her own detriment. While using deadpan humour to keep others calm. She's not that different from me, frankly. And you get to see it in action more than once.

#PennedPossibilities 879: Antagonist locate someone in a crowd?

Those with the time power do have the ability to focus in on individual moments in time. Thus they could look through the crowd at one moment in time for the person. Granted, someone would be far easier to spot if they were also a time traveler.

They also wouldn't mind approaching the crowd and calling out a name, like that could work too.

#PennedPossibilities 880: Childhood sweetheart?

CARRIE: I mean, one could argue I'm still in my childhood. Things could change. But pretty sure it's Chartreuse. She was the one I still couldn't figure out, back when I thought I had it all figured. And then I kissed her, on the lips, like to say goodbye, and instead the world opened up and I wondered why I'd wasted so much time dating guys. I'm still dealing with everything that moment meant today. #TimeTravelAuthors bonus.

#PennedPossibilities 880 7/8: Does MC prepare parties, or spur of the moment?

If Carrie does something spur of the moment, it's either because she's trying to get out of a situation, or it's something she'd do with one, maybe two others. Not a whole group of friends. Hence, more inclined to prepare days ahead.

That said, she's also more inclined to get one of her friends to prepare. Delegation!

#PennedPossibilities 881: Fact about MC that only a few people know

Few characters know Carrie can jump through time, and fewer people still know she was a villain in her original timeline. But that's pretty well laid out for the reader.

A fact that's easy to forget is that she never goes to airports, preferring any other method of travel (including time jumping). Airports have never been good to her.

#PennedPossibilities 882: Locate SC in a crowd?

Jenny/Ginny's red hair would help. Sherlock having darker hair might help. Jenny would likely be on the fringes of the crowd at all, she's not a fan of crowds. I can't think of any other particularly distinguishing characteristics or mannerisms.

#PennedPossibilities 883: Gift MC would genuinely cherish?

Possibly someone's time, no wordplay intended. Whether that's time invested in making something creative, or time spent talking or playing around with her.

She doesn't really cherish things. Possibly because the one thing she did cherish got broken.

#PennedPossibilities 884: Characters have any pets?

Nope. Even if they were allowed in a university dorm, they're too hard for me to keep track of.

#PennedPossibilities 885: MC react to unwanted romantic/sexual advance?

Probably a glare as a warning, and then if someone tried a second time, a slap upside the head. If it's another woman, perhaps Carrie inserts a more polite intermediate verbal step before proceeding to the slap.

If it's Peaches, it's constant verbal warnings, then leaving the room. But one could make the argument Peaches' advances aren't unwanted. Merely unfortunate.

#PennedPossibilities 886: What part of the writing process is the favourite?

I think it's the sharing.

Whether it's sending it to a beta reader, an editor, or posting a serial entry to everyone, it's the feedback and/or validation that what I do is interesting and worthwhile that I enjoy most. (I've mentioned before that no one I see in my life is interested in my genre.)

The initial creation is kind of like sharing it with myself, so that's also nice.

#PennedPossibilities 887: Favourite sort of character to create?

Primarily female. As a guy, I find male characters uninteresting and much prefer exploring my feminine side.

Also, ones who are mixed up and working through stuff. Carrie (and Rose) are working out lesbian feelings. Alijda is working through depression. Heather has trust issues. Rebecca (and Peaches) have societal issues. Sometimes these issues take over the main plot.

Probably says something about me, huh?

#PennedPossibilities 888: Worst injury MC has ever experienced?

She's been shot. Had to spend time in hospital. In the WIP sequel, she gets stabbed. She does get better. But she's only 18, so what comes later in her life is, in theory, easier to handle?

#PennedPossibilities 889: MC resolution for new year?

Carrie's sagas consistently finish at the end of December for time travel reasons. Ergo, I imagine she's resolved every year that she's not going to let it take over her life again. There will come a year when she's correct.

If we're talking more generically, it would likely be to simply try and make things better, for her and others.

#PennedPossibilities 890: SC say about the previous year?

If THEIR year... Jenny would be glad to have survived it, if she even does, given her quantum state. Sherlock would find it was good for him, because he either spent time with Jenny, or never knew what he missed out on.

If OUR year... frankly, I think most characters would decide it wasn't good but could have been worse, and hope next year doesn't trend that way.

#PennedPossibilities 891: MC immediate family?

Carrie has her father.

Her mother vanished, and Carrie became estranged from her mother's adoptive parents. She may still have one grandparent on her dad's side, but not living close by.

There is only one other family member, but it's a spoiler.

#PennedPossibilities 892: SC three wishes

Stumbling mental block of loophole issues, let's simply assume good phrasing.

JENNY:
-She can talk to her sister again (no zombies)
-Her quantum state is resolved (without dying)
-Donates her 3rd to someone else

SHERLOCK:
-People can become aware of their microaggressions
-That he ends up in a good/lasting relationship
-Donates his 3rd to Jenny

#PennedPossibilities 893: MC Full Name?

Carrie Elizabeth Waterson. Many other characters know it, because characters revert to their middle names if they're time displaced. (This also helps the narrative, Carrie isn't talking to FutureCarrie, she's talking to Elizabeth. And Elizabeth was specifically chosen because then I can also use Betty, Buffy, Liz, Beth, any number of variants for when there's more than two Carrie's. Tricky.)

#PennedPossibilities 894: To hurt the MC, what would someone say/do?

As many others have said, hurting people close to Carrie would bother them. For emotional hurt, bringing up her mother is a sore point.

The other angle would be suggesting that the timeline without her existence would be better. In particular because few know that's even a thing, so only someone close to her *could* lash out that way. Extra hurtful.

#PennedPossibilities 895: SC cherished possession

Another one that brings me up short. I don't know if it's from being schizotypal, but I don't have any single cherished objects myself, thus it's hard to picture for my characters.

Maybe Jenny has a screwdriver she got from her parents? Maybe Sherlock has a script with someone's notes written in it that was personally important? Complete shots in the dark here. Should've probably passed.

#PennedPossibilities 896: MC worry about the most?

That she'll lose her grip on humanity and go full temporal megalomaniac; effectively a situation where no one wins. In part because she'd prefer to have a normal life.

#PennedPossibilities 897: Five facts about favourite character(s) in WIP.

My favourite character tends to be someone who ends up with a larger role than I expected. So we'll go with Peaches Nancy Creme.
-Yes, that's her real name.
-Father walked out when she was young (parallel to MC losing her mother).
-Detached with relationships, yet goes all in, wonders if she got a playboy attitude from her dad.
-Studies psychology... to try and understand her own damn head.
-Enjoys watching SciFi.

#PennedPossibilities 897.1: Characters snore, sleepwalk?

Definitely not something I considered. Can't be Jenny, Carrie or Peaches, otherwise it would've come up by now. Possibly makes Heather the best candidate for snoring.

As to sleepwalking... maybe Carey? Though that would carry certain implications. It's a good question.

#PennedPossibilities 898: MC prefers: Alone time, Small group, Large group?

Small group. Now that Carrie has certain things she wants to keep private, she's less a fan of large groups. However, she does prefer being social to being alone, even if it's only with one other person.

#PennedPossibilities 899: MCs screen name?

Y'know, the story is modern, so she probably has one, but I've never really thought about it.

Before plot events, it likely would have been something generic like CheerGirl1. Meaning these days, she might go with QueerGirl instead, describing her evolution, odd life and attempts at understanding LGBT+ simultaneously.

#PennedPossibilities 700: Share lore from WIP

There are people in the world who are spiritually attuned, and can manifest powers, given the proper amplification tools. It's said to be genetic, and trends female. We have met three: Chartreuse (future flashes), Azure (past flashes) and Sakura (truth flashes). Chartreuse's mother is also mentioned as being able to speak with spirits.

It remains an open question as to whether Carrie's mom (an orphan) is connected to this lineage.

#PennedPossibilities 701: MC profession?

University student. I've toyed with giving her a part time job, but she just came to a new city, and it doesn't fit well in the narrative.

#PennedPossibilities 902: How old is antagonist? Do they act/feel their age?

He's roughly the same age as the protagonist (meaning 18 or 19), which is the whole point. He acts older than his age, owing to circumstances.

#PennedPossibilities 903: Afraid to be alone?

CARRIE: Not especially. I mean, I suppose I'd go stir crazy eventually without someone to talk to, but if I have stuff to get done, alone time is fine. Now, being cut off by friends would freak me out, like what do they know that I don't. But that's not the question, is it?

#PennedPossibilities 904: MC has in common with me, the author?

We both like the same sort of women. (Related, I suppose we're both non-binary.) We both enjoy a quiet walk/run when overwhelmed (and have other odd coping mechanisms, like humour). We both worry about inner demons taking over.

We both have too much schoolwork to do.

#PennedPossibilities 905: MC responsible for anyone else?

In the sense of having dependents, no.

In the sense that she's got temporal powers that can change the fate of anyone she encounters, yes. In the sense that she will have saved Jenny's life in the past, but hasn't done so yet, meaning Jenny's continued existence is in her future hands, also (a different) yes.

Carrie tries to compartmentalize to deal with the responsibility.

#PennedPossibilities 906: SC response to stress?

Jenny's inclined to freeze up initially, then plow through to accomplish whatever the thing is, to try and get out of stress.

Sherlock would react instinctively to minimize it, then overanalyze why it happened (or is happening) in the hope of avoiding it happening again.

#PennedPossibilities 907: MC any phobias or irrational fears?

She doesn't like airports, seeing as it's the last time she saw her mother. Plus was one of her earliest time trips, when she lost her normal life. Doesn't come up much.

I think most of Carrie's other fears are rational.

#PennedPossibilities 908: Last reason SC saw a medical doctor?

For both Jenny and Sherlock it was probably some sort of medical checkup before university. The cast in general is pretty healthy. Physically.

#PennedPossibilities 909: MC advice to younger self?

The question is damn hilarious, seeing as Carrie can (and DOES) travel back in time on occasion to talk to her younger self. She usually has to be cryptic, as otherwise she'll not take her own advice. (Possibly another #TimeTravelAuthors difficulty for that prompt today.)

That said, a lot of future advice boils down to, "Most people are doing the best they can. To also be at your best, accept help from others."

#PennedPossibilities 910: Only 24 hrs left to live?

If it's an external event, they'd probably try to do something to prevent it. Possibly time travel to avoid it.

If it's an internal medical issue, they'd have one last hurrah of some sort, and make a point of thanking those nearest them for their support. Goes for Carrie or her associates.