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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Treatment Tuesday: Catrin Passerini (and an Explanation)

It's been a while since I've done a Treatment Tuesday, I realize. But I'm taking the time to let all 22 people who are left in my queue for the freebie assessments know that I WILL get to all of them. 

In the same vein, I've discontinued the freebie assessments due to being overwhelmed with write-ins! I'm grateful it was popular while it lasted, but the freebies still take time and energy away from my family and my writing. My hope is that authors will look into the paid full assessment option I still offer on my website.

So that's the deal with the freebies, since I've received several questions about them.
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On to who's on the couch today. Catrin is the 24-year-old brainchild of author Brie and she resides in a romance. Her mom left her with her Dad when she was 7. Seven years later, her father died from complications due to an automobile accident and Catrin herself was scarred on her hands, face, and shoulders from flying glass and debris. She now lives with her Uncle, whose wife also left him with a young daughter, Catrin's cousin, who is 3 years older than Catrin. Now, ten years later, she's an event planner working with her cousin with a crush on a guy who has a girlfriend who's basically her nemesis.

Brie wants to know: Why is Catrin so worried about her scars? They make her beautiful. Also why is she so wary with unknown people? Is it because they would judge her? Who is her perfect guy?

I love to read answers to the question about a character's most significant event in childhood that still affects them today. Catrin had a great response:

I was five and Daddy told me, "I may  not like what you do but I will always love you." I had pushed Jimmy Lock off the slide because he had pulled on my braids. Daddy told me later he was proud of me standing up for myself but he would have preferred if I pushed Jimmy Lock in the mud.

This answers your last question, Brie. The kind of guy who would be perfect for her is the kind of guy who will say/show her something like this. Girls tend to look for (or at the very least, find) someone similar to their fathers, especially if they had good relationships with them (and even if they didn't).

Catrin clearly loved her father and wants to make him proud even though he's deceased. She felt his support even when she did something he wasn't completely happy about. (Which begs a question...would pushing Jimmy Lock in the mud have been less serious or more serious than pushing him off a slide in his mind?--just curious. I took it as less serious, but still gets the point across.)

Based on the rest of the intake form, I didn't see a real clear goal for Catrin. I'd suggest giving her a cause...something she might stick her neck out for, regardless of her scars. It would need to be something she's passionate about....perhaps mentoring young girls also abandoned by mothers? Seems she has a lot of experience (along with her cousin) in this department. Maybe she's a Big Sister? On the board of Big Brother, Big Sister? Anyway...it could be in the course of her cause that she does something dream guy doesn't like, but accepts b/c he loves her. Just brainstorming here, of course.

About her scars...maybe give her a reason to believe beauty is skin deep. What if her mother had been a diva-sort? Flawless. And she drilled into her little girl's mind (prior to skipping town) that she needed to look her best. A 7-year-old can internalize messages like these BIG time. So this would give her extra reason--besides the obvious social discomfiture--to worry about her scars. Unknown people would surely look upon her more curiously or harshly...so it makes sense to be wary of them. Nothing out of the ordinary there, it seems. FYI, I did find an interesting article here on the psychology behind scars.

Wish you the best with her, and my sincerest apologies at the delayed nature of getting it to you!

Let's Analyze: What kind of personality would be the perfect nemesis to Catrin?

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