The name refers to a character in The Collection who feels “trapped” inside a body that, due to social pressure, she’s been compelled to hide. However, my main character Patrick, an artist with a taste for the unusual, thinks she’s the most amazing looking human being he’s ever laid eyes on. He feels this so much so, that it affects his plans to save his brother who is being sent into a mine standoff that will almost surely take his life. It’s his loving relationship with her, conducted entirely incognito via her blog, that keeps his demons – and by direct association – his dark powers at bay. And then…
…well, I don’t want to say just yet. But I was truly inspired by the photo you see above, and the way that beauty can be perceived in so many different ways. In our world, and to an extreme the world in The Collection, shapeshifting and nothing being what it seems has a devastating impact on society and how we define relationships. Therefore, for me, finding someone who is so much at the mercy of what they are on the outside has an endearing, almost liberating effect, regardless of whether they prove “good” or not. Sheridan covers up her freckles to fit in (and to protect her from a “sun that’s trying to kill her”), but they have already carved out her personality and made her who she is; her “spots” cannot be changed, forcing her to accept to a large degree who she is inside from a very young age. Patrick thinks she’s quite striking, and we watch his remote pursuit of her with both heartening optimism and deep anxiety. Knowing that his emotions are so precariously balanced to begin with, and now dangerously attached to the ebb and flow of this unique and yet, at its core, deceptive love fills us with a sort of charmed dread. Well, that’s the idea anyway.
Anyhow, I discovered this photo a long time ago and find it very intriguing that this young woman has her picture “out there”, yet has never been identified. It’s almost as if she doesn’t really exist, a whimsical notion that practically begged me to give her an identity of my own. I believe it was a stock image used for commercial advertising, but it’s also very much a picture of a woman who must have had a very unique perspective on life. If this entry finds her, thank you so much for inspiring an important and interesting character and sincere apologies in advance if she misses your essence entirely. In fact, in many ways, I hope she does.
One final note: I finished watching Pan’s Labyrinth and was very pleased with it overall. I also found it interesting that two of the three sequences surrounding her tasks were kept very brief, serving to give us the creeps and support the main narrative in small, but poignant ways. Not only did they serve the story in an important role in terms of structure, they also gave the film the fanciful tone that elevated it away from what was in the end a harsh and unforgiving tale. In pacing the more fanciful sequences in The Collection, I also found that I wanted them to comment more on the changes in my main character, as opposed to simply adding some harrowing action to a dark superhero yarn with cautionary undertones. Hopefully, as I approach one quarter of the way into my first draft, I’m succeeding.
Back under, I go.
scottStories 
I love you Scott. I’m not ashamed to say that.
Well thank you, Mr. Sly. We should never be ashamed to express our feelings, especially those of love and affection as they help make the world a big rainbow and unicorny place of happiness and puppies.
Back atcha, you kind and lonely man.
XOXO
are those freckles real ????
beacuse if they are than thats the coolest thing ever could you tell me your guess on how many freckles she has altogether ????
Dunno if they’re real or not, but personally I think they are. I’ve seen individuals with similar skin coloring and I find it extremely cool, too. Beautiful, even.
As for how many there are, it’s hard to say. Maybe it’s better to ask what percentage of her skin isn’t covered?
Short of that, my guess is “a jillion”. She has a jillion freckles. 🙂
Thanks for stopping in, Jake.
hahaahah thats pretty funny man i have almost as many as her. last summer i got a really bad sunburn head to toe and after the skin pealed i was covered with freckles from head to toe kinda funny eih do you think my freckles will be all gone by next month ??
or if not next month how long do you think i will have them ??(i have all winter by the way ????)
Hmm…again, I’m no expert. You might want to check here if you’re interested in fading them. And looky there – there’s a familiar face!
But I will say this: keep watch of them as you get older and stuff. Some of them might be dangerous.
Other than that, why not just be proud of them and play connect the dots and stuff?
no i already checked there hust normal freckles their not dangerous and thats hilarious (connect the dots one problem if i connected all of them it would take forever) so what your saying is that they wont be gone in like a month or so ???
im just wondering if im gonna be very heavily freckled just because of that sunburn than i can accept that but u sound like a guy who has a good idea ???
i just wanna know how long ill have them for ??
Couldn’t say how long, really. I reckon they’re there in some degree of darkness for the rest of your life. I got a few from sunburn once, and I’m pretty sure they’re hanging around for as long as I have skin. Which I’m hoping is forever.
By the way, not sure if it was clear, but if you click where I wrote “here” in my previous reply, that should take you to a page with ideas on how to fade them. Not sure if you caught that cause it’s kind of hard to tell that it’s a link.
But good news on them not being dangerous. Still, I’d check into sunscreen if I were you. Weirder things have happened.
actually im sorry to say but there as light as they can possibly get the doctor said but your saying i have yo go thru life with all these freckles blocking my skin do you think freckles can look cool in tremendous amounts
so one sunburn for me billions of freckles for life right hahaahah
theres a bunch of people that keep telling me not to worry because next month i wont have any freckles because i have so many do you think they were joking around with me just to make me feel better ???
one more question sorry to bother u will my kids get them as many freckles as i have ??
I wouldn’t take my word as gospel, Jake. From what I’ve read, in some cases freckles disappear, in others they don’t. It depends on the person. Which, in regard to your other question, kind of points to the same answer. If you have children and your baby’s mother (I’m going to go right ahead and assume you’re male, if that’s cool) tends to be freckly, then I would think there’s a great chance your children would be freckly. If you eventually produce children with, say, someone more dark or olive-complected, you might have spotless rugrats. Or they might be both. Heck, they might be clear!
I guess the important thing is, if you have freckles, be proud of them and own them. If someone teases you, say they’re not freckles but brain cells, and point out how few they have. 🙂
but will i have them for life and if i will call me a freckle face hahahaa everybody else dose
all of a sudden i want more freckles that i alredy have i want some more on my fore head hahaaha can you tell me how to do that ????
I would suggest washable crayon. 🙂
haahah but how can i get more permanent freckles even no im probably the only one in the world who actually likes being covered with freckles
Sun naked?
so can i really fade my freckles more even know the docter said thats the lightest thell get ???
by the way in the article it says she coveers up her freckles how dose she do that for the ones ion her arms and shoulders
???????
if you have ever seen the charles maraia freckles gallery are those first four girls the same person ???
>by the way in the article it says she coveers up her freckles how dose she do that for the ones ion her arms and shoulders
Body makeup. It works quite well, actually.
is there any possible way i could get more freckles like even more than that red head girl ??? like a specific cream or sumthin ??
is there an way to go frum hardly any freckles to being covered in freckles >>> pleanse answer
This is me and I’ve never once cover my freckles up. This shot was taken in 2000 and I have just about the same amount, less on my face. And yes, I am the first four people in Charles series.
Best,
JJ
Wow, awesome of you to comment, JJ. And thanks, again. Your unique beauty was definitely an inspiration.