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Name: William
Nickname(s): Will
Age (Appearance Wise): 26
Age (Actual): 26
Personality: William is haunted fellow. He is a man who sees minotaurs in shadows and hell in paradise, a man's whose imagination has snapped free to wave about in reckless abandon, leaving him to suffer the throws of perpetual paranoia. He's a careful man, who keeps great care in keeping himself ready for flight, but instead, he ends up running from anything that he might perceive as a threat, like a wall or a shadow. Such fear leaves him incredibly lonely, though, and that gives him the strength to search for solace in friendship, a stronger desire sometimes than his worry for lurking terrors. He longs to find the perfect life, to have a small and comfy house and a woman to love him, to have two perfect children, and friends to come over and warm the house with laughter, but such dreams are dashed away when he's lost in a labyrinth of fear constructed in his own head. It's his value for the good things in life, like cold glasses of drink and the small pillows on couches, that bloats his worry for losing them, makes him suspicious of any goodness that might come his way. It leaves him mad and bothered, a mess of a man to those who perceive him. He reacts with hapless abandon, often bursting into nonsensical blathering or dropping anything at hand and bolting for cover. He is hardly able to find peace, and he's most bothered when he's about to go to sleep, mistrusting the corners and walls that might house him. It's only when he's entirely exhausted himself that he's able to sleep. William's a lost man, trapped in the ever shifting constructs of his perception of the world; and he's mad enough to not notice that he's weaving himself into his own endless labyrinth.

Thoughts on the Forest: Suspicious and terrified of the Forest for the potential to be lost within it, William stays as far away from the trees as possible. His thoughts run in circles in concern of the impassable forest boundaries, scared endlessly by its maze of trunks and its vast depths. The fact that he appeared upon its edge does nothing for his mental health, leaving him running ragged on explanations for why he and the other book children appeared there of all places. William believes that there is a connection between the Book Children and the Forest, but he's afraid what that could mean. He also fears the possibility that somewhere within the maze of black trunks and stripes is a living lurking monster, a being made for sniffing out the Children and he. Why else would they be found there other than to be offerings to a hungry minotaur within?
Thoughts of Book Children: A source of comfort, he sees the other Book Children as means to distract himself. He spends many of his hours seeking them out, believing that there is safety in numbers, because he dreads being alone. They give him hope, as he sees them as means to tether himself to reality, people that he can hold onto to keep himself from being lost in his ever darkening scope of the word. He also spends most of his time with them checking his perception against theirs, constantly nagging them for assurance or referring back to them for their company, always somehow distracted by the whispers of his untethered imagination.
Thoughts on City People: Admiring the City People, he likes to cling to them for the knowledge that might stabilize him in his paranoia, but, at the same time, he tends to be suspicious of everything they say, afraid that they might be lying to him and coddling his insanity.
Physical Appearance: Casually dressed, but with clothes sloppily worn, William looks a bit out of sorts, lost and fearful of the minotaur monster that creeps after him in his waking nightmares and walks in his shadow. Perhaps he IS the minotaur he fears. He has the look of a photographer, his dark clothes with labyrinthine patterns, or someone who ought to be wearing a white straight jacket. Carried with him is unnecessary survival equipment, like rope, lanterns and other sources of light, typical explorer type gear. He shivers a lot, prone to cold.

History: Woken by the groans of the trees, William found himself at the edge of the forest staring into the dimly lit sky. It didn't take much effort on the shadow's part to fill his heart with panic and send him scrambling for the lights of Library City, searching for solace in some brightly lit corner. Unable to be content with anyone place before he pulls it apart with his imagination, he is in constant movement, hopping from one place to another. He still scuttles about, scaring away shadows with the flash and swing of his lanterns.
Hobbies: Story-telling, using morse-code and making shadow puppets.
Birthday: March 7th
Favorite Things: He enjoys drinking, songs with steady beats, and futzing around with puzzles, though he's never able to solve them.
Hated Things: If it wasn't understood already, William is afraid of the dark and he also perpetually suffers from cold (either real or imagined). He is terrified of noises just beyond his hearing, and either makes them up or exaggerates harmless sounds. He also suffers from claustrophobia and is always very suspicious of his whereabouts and locations, as if the very building he's in is shifting about him, which makes doorways a place of nervousness for William. He often doubts doors for leading one place or another, even if he's just stepped through them. Unfortunately for the Book Child, he very easily gets lost or turned about, a natural quirk to his person which does nothing to aid him in the long run.

Story: House of Leaves
Favorite type of Ending: A ******** twist and maze of an end followed by a peaceful one, with love and lessons learned, but forever haunted by a dark silhouette just beyond a flickering lamp post.
Favorite Illustration: http://s2.hubimg.com/u/1128249_f496.jpg (?)
Dreams: They're more like nightmares, of rooms shifting and changing shape and dimension, of floors dropping out or ceilings expanding. Of being lost and hunted in the blind darkness. William dreams of becoming the minotaur he fears, lost in a labyrinth, doomed to have his head split open by his stalking enemy.

With all his paranoia, how does he make a living in the city? What part of the city does he most frequent? Has he made any friends that he can trust?

and on an OC note: House of Leaves FTW!!!

There's a few phrasing issues scattered here and there - mostly repetition of words very close together, and a lack of variety. For "peace" and "calm", I can recommend adding more phrases like "keeping a level head" (specifically for the "wobbling off-kilter" analogy), "setting his heart at ease", "ending his unrest", "finding definite safety", et cetera? It's a chance to specify what his ideal peace and calm would be as well as lessen the broken record feeling.

The repetition of the maze element is also a little bothersome to me, but mostly because it doesn't seem to fit in where it's placed. His mind is a maze, he's weaving a labyrinth, the forest is a maze, a twisting maze of plot? Precluding all of this with his apparent obsession with the minotaur of the labyrinth would make everything settle a little better, maybe.

Also, "with hapless abandon" would mean "with actions unlucky and unrestrained", and I'm not sure that that's a good phrase to use there.


But that's just language. CONCEPTS, let's focus on concepts.

Firstly, I'm not sure if there's radio technology in this setting, so the radio equipment would be very broken indeed. The flash camera, too, would be rather large, if it's available in-setting. It'd be one of the the flash-powder accordion-box variety, nothing hand-held like we have now.

As far as his fears of being lost in the forest, there's not much for that - he couldn't enter it if he wanted to. Rather safe, really, though I suppose that knowledge would do nothing to allay his fears. (Also there are some creatures in there? Not sure if the forest guardians count as alive, though.)

Why does he distrust City People more than Book Children? The fact that they're walking, talking (er, typing) shadows? Simply the fact that they look different?

As a last note, I'm pretty sure that the Dreams section is for goals and aspirations, ha ha. Definitely wedge that information into some other section, though!


All in all, he's an interesting character, and I'm excited to play with him when he gets approved! I just think this profile needs a little more cohesion in the writing, as contrary as that may be for the character.