Nell Ingram Bio
Character Name: Nell Ingram
Fandom: The Soulwood series by Faith Hunter
Character Type: Student
Potential Username for Character Journal: Mylandmyrules
Character Age: About to turn 15
Students Only: Class: Freshman
Character Background
We're going to ask you a few questions about your character and their canon. These questions are designed to give us an idea of what you know about your canon and your character, as well as an indication of how the character might work at Fandom High and what plans or ideas you have for them. This information must be written in your own words. Copy/pasting from other sources is not allowed.
1. Assume we've never even heard of your show/movie/game/book/comic/play (known as 'canon' from now on). Please explain it to us.:
The Soulwood series is a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock series (of which I have only read the first book so far). As in many urban fantasy books, it's set in a typical modern day United States which just happens to have vampires, shapeshifters, witches, and some types of fae. The general public knows about the vampires, witches and were-creatures, but there's a lot of uncertainty about which other things might be real versus legend. There is a government group called PsyLED, which is the Psychometry Law Enforcement Division of Homeland Security. They investigate and solve paranormal crimes and report to the NSA and Homeland Security. They can also be called upon by the CIA and the FBI. In canon Nell ends up working for them in one of the first units made up of all paranormal creatures.
Nell grew up in east Tennessee in what was effectively a cult, called the God's Cloud of Glory church. The men have many wives and can marry girls as young as 11 or 12. When she was twelve, one of the church elders asked her father for her hand in marriage. She waited till that Sunday and told him no in front of the whole congregation, then ran out of the church. A church member named John Ingram and his terminally ill wife, Leah, found her hiding in the barn nearby. John hadn't been able to give Leah, or any of his other wives, children. The other wives had all requested and been granted divorces to marry others who could give them children, leaving Leah and John on their own. Leah suggested John marry Nell so she could serve as a nurse for Leah and a younger wife for John. They agreed not to make her perform her 'wifely duties' until she was 15. (She'll be coming to Fandom unexpectedly just before her 15th birthday, and shortly after Leah died.) Nell was told by them and absolutely believes that they rescued her from a forced marriage at 12, though we find out later that this is not exactly true.
She nursed Leah, took care of the house, learned about herbal medicines and teas, and in general became able to be almost completely self-sufficient by living off the land. John had solar panels to allow a little electricity and a water heater attached to the wood stove, but other than that it was a fairly primitive/simple lifestyle. She's very familiar with guns, can do basic handyman/woman type stuff, and can get pretty much anything to grow- but more on that later.
She and John and Leah lived on land adjacent to the cult's holdings, but not on it. Nell wouldn't have wanted to move away from the area in any case, because she had hopes that she could someday save her sisters from the cult. Beyond the basics, she is largely self-taught - teaching herself to speak better English through her interactions with people from town to whom she sells her vegetables, teas, hand creams, and other herbal things at a farmer's market. In canon she also learned all sorts of other things after John died when she was 18, because she was then able to read library books - all of which had been forbidden to her previously. (After all, wasn't the bible good enough?) She took out multiple books every week on a wide variety of subjects and she'll do the same in Fandom.
2. Now onto your character. Please tell us about them. Appearance, personality, how they react to others in general and where they fit into the canon you explained above. Describe the character to us so we can get an idea of who's joining the community.:
Nell has waist length straight brown hair and generally wears skirts at least calf length with boots or leggings to cover all that skin with, and concealing shirts/sweaters or some type of t-shirt with overalls and work boots. She is described as being slight, but wiry, and muscular in a way that comes from hard physical labor. She is tiny, but fierce, sharp-faced and lean. I can't find mention of her eye color, but I'm guessing brown or hazel.
She has been mostly alone for the past three years, interacting only with John and his wife on a regular basis, though she does sell her vegetables, teas, and various herbal remedies and creams at a local farmer's market.
She comes across as quiet and self-contained to the people she interacts with at the market. She is also distrustful, stubborn, prickly, and not the best at socializing given the way she was brought up. When Jane Yellowrock first finds her, Nell calmly pulls a gun on her and backs her down. However, she is also smart, sassy, kind, empathetic, eager to learn, and determined to make a life for herself. In many ways her early life has left her damaged, naive, and vulnerable, but it has also made her a strong fighter and someone able to think outside the box for solutions. She will still be working her way toward discovering her inner strength when she arrives at Fandom since I'm taking her pre-canon, but she is someone who would find a way to thrive anywhere.
And, she's not entirely human, though she doesn't know it yet.
3. Powers! Does your character have any abilities (powers, skills, training or weapons) that go beyond what a normal person would have?:
Nell has an amazing ability to communicate with and control the land and those things growing on it. She's always been able to make things grow, but tried to hide it as nothing more than a green thumb because the cult would have considered magic of any kind as proof she was a witch and then would have killed her. Jane Yellowrock assures her that she is not a witch, but possibly more like a yinehi - a Cherokee fairy or wood nymph - at least partially as she's definitely part human as well.
The timeline in the books is a little unclear (either 5 or 8 years before the first book occurred), but for my purposes, the big triggering event to the bigger awakening of her abilities comes 8 years before the first book in the series - just before she turns fifteen - when a man attacks her on her land and in the fighting she sheds some of his blood. The land seems to wake up and she feeds his life to the forest which then greatly enhances her gifts and connects her to the woods and the earth of Soulwood Farms where she lives (though we discover that she is not as tied to that land as she believed). She is able to exercise her gifts - and feel the connections to her own woods - even quite a distance away. She'll be able to feel use them and feel her own woods at Fandom too.
When she walks barefoot over an area or touches it with bare hands she can get a good idea of what the land is like - how healthy it is, if anything unusual has happened there, how well it is cared for, etc. She can make plants grow faster - and presumably die as well - if she wants them too. She has made vines spring up to capture someone she wanted stopped. She can feel the undeath of vampires - like maggots and rotting things - if she's barefoot where they have been. She is able to relax and heal herself by communing with the trees and earth - and later to heal others in that way too, though there are risks to that. She has a sense of what creatures are around if she is communing with the area. She is still learning about her abilities in canon, and will just be beginning to do so at Fandom.
4. Why is your character coming to Fandom and what kind of situation are they leaving behind at home?:
Nell will be coming in pre-canon, and reluctantly. She's just going to end up here through a portal of sorts that lands her in the woods in Fandom, not long after she's made the connection to her own woods. She'll still be shaken up over causing the death of the man who tried to assault her and worried that John will think she's run off. She'll also worry about her sisters left back at the cult. However, there will definitely be a part of her that's grateful to have avoided being initiated into her 'wifely duties' and once she realizes the freedom she has at Fandom she'll want to soak up all the knowledge she possibly can - probably with the aim of one day being able to find her way home to save her sisters. For the time being, though, she won't be able to contact her home in any way.
5. Is there any reason that they might cause trouble to other characters in the Fandom High setting due to behavior or abilities? How would you account for that to make the character work well in a group-intensive environment?:
She can have a bit of a sharp-tongue, and will probably be a bit shy at first, but she's incredibly adaptable. If someone were to attack her and their blood spilled on the ground, she'd be able to use her connection to the land to kill them, but it's something she wouldn't want to do. And since that wouldn't be an issue at Fandom with the other characters, it shouldn't be a problem.
6. Links to character/series information:
As usual with my people there isn't much.
Some basic info about the books on the author's site:
http://www.faithhunter.net/wp/books/soulwood-series/
There are also a number of good reviews on Goodreads - obviously some better than others - but they can give you an idea of the story.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452922-blood-of-the-earth
There is a fandom wiki site which really excited me for a moment, but there isn't actually any information on it. Sigh...
You can find the books at Amazon or a bookstore. I'm working from the first book in the series, Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter, and the short Jane Yellowrock story, "Off the Grid" in the story compilation book, Black Water, which is where Nell first appears.
Writing Sample: Please write at least 300-500 words *in character* having your character do something, anything, set on Fandom Island.
Nell wasn't certain exactly where she was or what this Fandom place was or why they seemed to be expecting her when there was no way any of them'uns should have any idea who she was. And the number of people going around with their shirts off was purely indecent!
She kept her eyes turned diligently away from them and made her way to a table where she was given a name tag, welcomed, and assured once again that she was supposed to be here. “I'm sorry,” she said, as politely as she could manage, though her insides were twisting and turning on her. “I don't know who you'uns are or how you got me here, but you need to bring me back home right away. My husband, John, will be very upset that I've disappeared. I'm the only wife he's got since Leah died.” She choked up a little on that. Leah had always been good to her, taught her all sorts of things. She'd be most displeased if she knew Nell had somehow gone off and left John to fend for himself.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a man whose face seemed to be on fire, but when she turned and stared nobody else seemed to think anything of it. Actually, now that she took a good look, there were an awful lot of strange, well... beings? ...around. There was just no way some of them could be human, but they didn't look like anything she'd ever heard of.
She felt herself getting a little light-headed and without caring about how rude she was being, walking off in the middle of a conversation without so much as a how-do-you-do, she made her way quickly to one of the trees, going around to the side not facing all the whatever-they-all were and sat herself down right quickly. Her hands slid through the grass at the base of the tree and she pushed her back firmly against the trunk. Immediately, she felt the response of the land, flowing into her and calming her. Later she'd wonder how it was that she could feel this land as well, but right now all she could feel was grateful.
Fandom: The Soulwood series by Faith Hunter
Character Type: Student
Potential Username for Character Journal: Mylandmyrules
Character Age: About to turn 15
Students Only: Class: Freshman
Character Background
We're going to ask you a few questions about your character and their canon. These questions are designed to give us an idea of what you know about your canon and your character, as well as an indication of how the character might work at Fandom High and what plans or ideas you have for them. This information must be written in your own words. Copy/pasting from other sources is not allowed.
1. Assume we've never even heard of your show/movie/game/book/comic/play (known as 'canon' from now on). Please explain it to us.:
The Soulwood series is a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock series (of which I have only read the first book so far). As in many urban fantasy books, it's set in a typical modern day United States which just happens to have vampires, shapeshifters, witches, and some types of fae. The general public knows about the vampires, witches and were-creatures, but there's a lot of uncertainty about which other things might be real versus legend. There is a government group called PsyLED, which is the Psychometry Law Enforcement Division of Homeland Security. They investigate and solve paranormal crimes and report to the NSA and Homeland Security. They can also be called upon by the CIA and the FBI. In canon Nell ends up working for them in one of the first units made up of all paranormal creatures.
Nell grew up in east Tennessee in what was effectively a cult, called the God's Cloud of Glory church. The men have many wives and can marry girls as young as 11 or 12. When she was twelve, one of the church elders asked her father for her hand in marriage. She waited till that Sunday and told him no in front of the whole congregation, then ran out of the church. A church member named John Ingram and his terminally ill wife, Leah, found her hiding in the barn nearby. John hadn't been able to give Leah, or any of his other wives, children. The other wives had all requested and been granted divorces to marry others who could give them children, leaving Leah and John on their own. Leah suggested John marry Nell so she could serve as a nurse for Leah and a younger wife for John. They agreed not to make her perform her 'wifely duties' until she was 15. (She'll be coming to Fandom unexpectedly just before her 15th birthday, and shortly after Leah died.) Nell was told by them and absolutely believes that they rescued her from a forced marriage at 12, though we find out later that this is not exactly true.
She nursed Leah, took care of the house, learned about herbal medicines and teas, and in general became able to be almost completely self-sufficient by living off the land. John had solar panels to allow a little electricity and a water heater attached to the wood stove, but other than that it was a fairly primitive/simple lifestyle. She's very familiar with guns, can do basic handyman/woman type stuff, and can get pretty much anything to grow- but more on that later.
She and John and Leah lived on land adjacent to the cult's holdings, but not on it. Nell wouldn't have wanted to move away from the area in any case, because she had hopes that she could someday save her sisters from the cult. Beyond the basics, she is largely self-taught - teaching herself to speak better English through her interactions with people from town to whom she sells her vegetables, teas, hand creams, and other herbal things at a farmer's market. In canon she also learned all sorts of other things after John died when she was 18, because she was then able to read library books - all of which had been forbidden to her previously. (After all, wasn't the bible good enough?) She took out multiple books every week on a wide variety of subjects and she'll do the same in Fandom.
2. Now onto your character. Please tell us about them. Appearance, personality, how they react to others in general and where they fit into the canon you explained above. Describe the character to us so we can get an idea of who's joining the community.:
Nell has waist length straight brown hair and generally wears skirts at least calf length with boots or leggings to cover all that skin with, and concealing shirts/sweaters or some type of t-shirt with overalls and work boots. She is described as being slight, but wiry, and muscular in a way that comes from hard physical labor. She is tiny, but fierce, sharp-faced and lean. I can't find mention of her eye color, but I'm guessing brown or hazel.
She has been mostly alone for the past three years, interacting only with John and his wife on a regular basis, though she does sell her vegetables, teas, and various herbal remedies and creams at a local farmer's market.
She comes across as quiet and self-contained to the people she interacts with at the market. She is also distrustful, stubborn, prickly, and not the best at socializing given the way she was brought up. When Jane Yellowrock first finds her, Nell calmly pulls a gun on her and backs her down. However, she is also smart, sassy, kind, empathetic, eager to learn, and determined to make a life for herself. In many ways her early life has left her damaged, naive, and vulnerable, but it has also made her a strong fighter and someone able to think outside the box for solutions. She will still be working her way toward discovering her inner strength when she arrives at Fandom since I'm taking her pre-canon, but she is someone who would find a way to thrive anywhere.
And, she's not entirely human, though she doesn't know it yet.
3. Powers! Does your character have any abilities (powers, skills, training or weapons) that go beyond what a normal person would have?:
Nell has an amazing ability to communicate with and control the land and those things growing on it. She's always been able to make things grow, but tried to hide it as nothing more than a green thumb because the cult would have considered magic of any kind as proof she was a witch and then would have killed her. Jane Yellowrock assures her that she is not a witch, but possibly more like a yinehi - a Cherokee fairy or wood nymph - at least partially as she's definitely part human as well.
The timeline in the books is a little unclear (either 5 or 8 years before the first book occurred), but for my purposes, the big triggering event to the bigger awakening of her abilities comes 8 years before the first book in the series - just before she turns fifteen - when a man attacks her on her land and in the fighting she sheds some of his blood. The land seems to wake up and she feeds his life to the forest which then greatly enhances her gifts and connects her to the woods and the earth of Soulwood Farms where she lives (though we discover that she is not as tied to that land as she believed). She is able to exercise her gifts - and feel the connections to her own woods - even quite a distance away. She'll be able to feel use them and feel her own woods at Fandom too.
When she walks barefoot over an area or touches it with bare hands she can get a good idea of what the land is like - how healthy it is, if anything unusual has happened there, how well it is cared for, etc. She can make plants grow faster - and presumably die as well - if she wants them too. She has made vines spring up to capture someone she wanted stopped. She can feel the undeath of vampires - like maggots and rotting things - if she's barefoot where they have been. She is able to relax and heal herself by communing with the trees and earth - and later to heal others in that way too, though there are risks to that. She has a sense of what creatures are around if she is communing with the area. She is still learning about her abilities in canon, and will just be beginning to do so at Fandom.
4. Why is your character coming to Fandom and what kind of situation are they leaving behind at home?:
Nell will be coming in pre-canon, and reluctantly. She's just going to end up here through a portal of sorts that lands her in the woods in Fandom, not long after she's made the connection to her own woods. She'll still be shaken up over causing the death of the man who tried to assault her and worried that John will think she's run off. She'll also worry about her sisters left back at the cult. However, there will definitely be a part of her that's grateful to have avoided being initiated into her 'wifely duties' and once she realizes the freedom she has at Fandom she'll want to soak up all the knowledge she possibly can - probably with the aim of one day being able to find her way home to save her sisters. For the time being, though, she won't be able to contact her home in any way.
5. Is there any reason that they might cause trouble to other characters in the Fandom High setting due to behavior or abilities? How would you account for that to make the character work well in a group-intensive environment?:
She can have a bit of a sharp-tongue, and will probably be a bit shy at first, but she's incredibly adaptable. If someone were to attack her and their blood spilled on the ground, she'd be able to use her connection to the land to kill them, but it's something she wouldn't want to do. And since that wouldn't be an issue at Fandom with the other characters, it shouldn't be a problem.
6. Links to character/series information:
As usual with my people there isn't much.
Some basic info about the books on the author's site:
http://www.faithhunter.net/wp/books/soulwood-series/
There are also a number of good reviews on Goodreads - obviously some better than others - but they can give you an idea of the story.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452922-blood-of-the-earth
There is a fandom wiki site which really excited me for a moment, but there isn't actually any information on it. Sigh...
You can find the books at Amazon or a bookstore. I'm working from the first book in the series, Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter, and the short Jane Yellowrock story, "Off the Grid" in the story compilation book, Black Water, which is where Nell first appears.
Writing Sample: Please write at least 300-500 words *in character* having your character do something, anything, set on Fandom Island.
Nell wasn't certain exactly where she was or what this Fandom place was or why they seemed to be expecting her when there was no way any of them'uns should have any idea who she was. And the number of people going around with their shirts off was purely indecent!
She kept her eyes turned diligently away from them and made her way to a table where she was given a name tag, welcomed, and assured once again that she was supposed to be here. “I'm sorry,” she said, as politely as she could manage, though her insides were twisting and turning on her. “I don't know who you'uns are or how you got me here, but you need to bring me back home right away. My husband, John, will be very upset that I've disappeared. I'm the only wife he's got since Leah died.” She choked up a little on that. Leah had always been good to her, taught her all sorts of things. She'd be most displeased if she knew Nell had somehow gone off and left John to fend for himself.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a man whose face seemed to be on fire, but when she turned and stared nobody else seemed to think anything of it. Actually, now that she took a good look, there were an awful lot of strange, well... beings? ...around. There was just no way some of them could be human, but they didn't look like anything she'd ever heard of.
She felt herself getting a little light-headed and without caring about how rude she was being, walking off in the middle of a conversation without so much as a how-do-you-do, she made her way quickly to one of the trees, going around to the side not facing all the whatever-they-all were and sat herself down right quickly. Her hands slid through the grass at the base of the tree and she pushed her back firmly against the trunk. Immediately, she felt the response of the land, flowing into her and calming her. Later she'd wonder how it was that she could feel this land as well, but right now all she could feel was grateful.