Aperture Quartet

I know that for a while Aperture has been this thing I bring up but explain to the extent of "[vague waving hand motion] it's a thing that exists that I created", and I figured I'd finally change that a little bit! I want to become more comfortable talking about Aperture to people outside of my immediate friend group. (My friends usually hear me talk almost non-stop about Aperture ...)

The day that this goes up will be my final day as a kid -- Wednesday the 12th is my 18th birthday. I figured that was the most auspicious day that I could publish this post. (Or, y'know. To give me something to focus on other than the fact I'll be an adult. I'm still in denial.)

I'm only going to talk about the stuff that's established around the beginning of the book and not any of the stuff that the characters wouldn't tell someone they just met. A pretty big theme of Aperture is secrets and the versions of truth that people tell each other and I don't want to spoil anything!

In making this post, I realized that Quinn and Nate ended up with names similar to the faceclaim actors I found, and I cannot figure out how the heck that happened. Both of my characters are two years old and I only found their faceclaims within the past year.

I tried my best to find the original sources for these photos, and I'm sorry if I miscredit or made a mistake! I actually had to pass up pictures I'd pinned in the past because I couldn't find even a somewhat-credible source for them. (I spent 20 minutes on a picture of Nate that just kept linking back to itself. I still cannot figure out who it was of.)

actress Molly Quinn (image url / original post)

Name: Quinn Hart

Birthdate: 6/21/97

Height: 5'1"

Ethnicity: Irish-American

When I combined the two story ideas that became Aperture, Quinn had a much smaller part than she does now. As I tried to make the two plots mesh together into one coherent one, though, I kept getting ideas that focused on her, and I decided to make her the main character. June 21st is actually the day I came up with her as a character, right after sophomore year ended and I tried to figure out what to do with my summer without internet.

Quinn is the middle child of her family; with four other siblings, she's found the right balance of effort that she doesn't get in trouble for her laziness nor praise for ambition. She's very sarcastic and often tells the truth because she knows nobody will take her seriously. She also decides to ignore problems for as long as possible rather than worry about them, which occasionally backfires on her. 

actor Colin Ford 

(image url / original post)

Name: Nate Collins

Birthdate: 2/28/97

Height: 5'5"

Ethnicity: Israeli / Italian / Greek

I found this picture of Colin Ford on Pinterest through someone's character inspiration board and my jaw just about dropped because holy crap he looks exactly like Nate in this set of promotional pictures. Button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves and all.

Nate's grandparents live next door to Quinn's family. He and his dad lived with his grandparents when he first started school, but they later moved to California when his dad got his footing as a single parent. Nate's dad sends him back to live with his grandparents for reasons Nate refuses to elaborate on. He and Quinn have trouble at first adjusting to seeing each other every day again after losing contact.

actress Katherine McNamara (image url / original post)

Name: Fel Skayhill

Birthdate: 4/4/97

Height: 5'5"

Ethnicity: Canadian French

Fel was the first character I created that still exists in the story, and she was initially supposed to be the narrator for Aperture before I tried a dual POV with both her and Quinn and eventually cutting her POV. Her personality has changed a lot since the first draft I ever wrote.

Fel and her sister were both born in Montreal, but they moved to the US when their parents got jobs with the Smithsonian museums. She and Quinn have been friends since elementary school. Fel is the mom figure of the group and is the one everyone turns to for advice or to make the final decision on anything, which is a position she takes very seriously. She practices rhythmic gymnastics (though she doesn't compete) and is an awesome photographer.

Edit: I initially listed Suki Waterhouse as her faceclaim (image url / original post).

actor Tyler Posey (image url / original post)

Name: Sol Dunst

Birthdate: 10/3/96

Height: 6'1"

Ethnicity: German-Puerto Rican

Before Aperture, Sol was actually a girl! I completely changed Sol's character design so the cast was more balanced. The only thing that stayed the same was the nickname and having a German parent. 

Sol lived with his dad in Germany for a while before he decided to live with his mom and younger brother in the US. Sol and Fel clicked almost immediately when they met in middle school and they've been a steady couple for a few years by the time the story starts. He plays varsity basketball and sometimes struggles with trying to balance three languages between school and home.


So there you go! These four have been what got me through junior and senior year and I can't imagine where I'd be without them. I could probably go on forever with some really sappy story that'd probably bring me to tears trying to type it up (not gonna lie, that's happened more than once ;; ), but I'm gonna leave it here for right now. If you're still curious about Aperture, check out my Pinterest board for it! I'm hoping to write up more posts in the future about the plot and more side characters, but I don't know when I'll get to those or where they'll fit into my post schedule.

Thank you for reading and letting me share my bbs with you!! ♥