Possible character feature for Jack?

[pegkerr]

From work:

I went down to Starbucks today to get an espresso brownie. The clerk at the register was someone I hadn't seen before. As he handed me the brownie and my change, I blurted out, "Pardon me, but I'm-a-novelist-and-so-I-study-peoples'-faces-and-would-you-mind-telling-me-about-your-eyebrow?"

He blinked in surprise, but obligingly told me. He has a condition called vitiligo, which causes parts of his skin to lose pigmentation. The only sign of it on him is that one of his eyebrows is jet black and the other is snow white. Very striking.

Hmm. Might I use this for Jack?

You have no idea what weird things I ask perfect strangers at times. The hazards of being a writer.

Peg

P.S. Maybe, on second thought, I shouldn't. There was that streak of white hair on Willy Silver in War for the Oaks.

So. It's been done. Feh.

Comments

White Hair and Willy Silver

[(Anonymous)]

Aw, Peg, don't let a twenty year-old book make a character decision for you. I mean, I loved WAR FOR THE OAKS as much all the other Minnesota fan-grrls... but Willy was fey, and didn't have nearly as cool an "excuse" as a possible skin condition.

I say go for it.

I have a character in the novel I'm currently writing who has a white streak in her hair. She's been mutated by the Medusa. I don't think of it as having been done by Emma, I think of it as an homage to her. :-)

And anyway an eyebrow is a completely different thing. And, honestly? MUCH COOLER.

--Lyda

[rabican.livejournal.com]

A lot of characters have had streaks of white in their hair for various, generally otherwordly reasons, so surely you can get away with an eyebrow due to a skin condition?

(Speaking of which, isn't vitiligo what fans of Michael Jackson used to claim had bleached his skin? Just a random thought.)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"P.S. Maybe, on second thought, I shouldn't. There was that streak of white hair on Willy Silver in War for the Oaks.

"So. It's been done. Feh."

Don't be rediculous. If you look carefully enough, everything has been done.

B

[penmage.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking. It's a nifty reason, and a nifty appearance quirk - and different color eyebrows are different than a white streak in the hair.

And, though War for the Oaks was indeed a wonderful book, I doubt anyone will read your character description and say "hey...didn't Willy look like that?"

I think you're safe on this one.

:grins: And I also stop people and ask random things for the sake of writing. I've often been tempted to take pictures of total strangerw who matched a character I was writing...

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

*laugh* I have a white (well, okay, a prematurely grey) streak in my hair. It is, sadly, not an homage to anyone. ;)

I think the eyebrow idea is great, and it would definitely give Jack a noticeable quirk that hints at being "otherworldly" while also being very grounded in this world. Plus, it makes me think of frost spreading across his skin -- like a changeover that isn't complete.

- Darice

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that "frost spreading across his skin" image is positively excellent. Like... frosting! Ha.

I like it better than my idea, which was to give him two different coloured eyes.

My cousin has a blonde hank in his brownish hair. My aunt says he was kissed by an angel.

K. [knows my cousin, more or less doubts that]

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

MMmmm... frosting! :)

Kissed by an angel? I'd not heard that one... *files it away for future use*

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I want a white eyebrow!