First time at this blog? Check out Home for details on the project and the Character Index for more of an overview of the characters.

Tangela O’Sullivan (89)

Project: Web series (Driving to school)

Known as: Tange

Real name: Tangela O’Sullivan

Group affiliation: Sophia’s carpool

Physical description: Tange is 16 with long, curly red hair. She is skinny and often sits in unusual positions (she studies yoga and often crosses her legs and so forth in situations where others typically wouldn’t – like riding in the car). She likes tassels and bangles and so forth, so her design style can come off bohemian sometimes.

Personality: Tange is curious and optimistic. She is very nice, although it is not out of a need for acceptance and approval. She is very comfortable in her own skin and in fact is introverted in the sense that she finds herself to often be her best company. She loves Sophia and Alejandro and is perfectly happy that she is usually having her own side-conversation in the back seat.

History: Tange is Sophia’s neighbor and they have been friends for a long time. Tange is artistic and hopes to go into graphic design and her greatest joy is in creating things. Her parents run a local insurance firm, so she stands out a bit in her family as the creative one (her brothers are both in college and both majored in math). They named her “Tangela” after her maternal grandmother (who is Angela), and just decided to add a letter to avoid name confusion (they had no idea there was a Pokemon with the same name). Tange loves her name for its uniqueness.

She also holds an unusual spot in Sophia’s carpool. Where Alejandro (the provocateur) and Sophia (the level-headed realist) frequently verbally spar back and forth, Tange usually finds a single aspect of the conversation most interesting and almost talks to herself. She says things that the other two might not even respond to, only to answer herself a little later. For example, if Alejandro starts a conversation on recycling, he and Sophia may ultimately end up discussing morality. Meanwhile, Tange takes a shine to how people have built houses out of bottles and other creative reuse of materials. She’ll look things up on her phone, share factoids she finds interesting and so forth while Alejandro and Sophia may or may not even respond (usually they don’t).

It’s debatable which conversation is ultimately the most interesting; the active one between Sophia and Alejandro or the more fun, light-hearted conversation Tange is having with herself. The hope for the writer is that often Tange will have the answer Sophia and Alejandro might be seeking without the front seat knowing it.

Role in the narrative: Tange provides a counter-point to the conversations that Alejandro and Sophia are having. She is meant to be a reminder that as much as we can get swept into debate, there is usually a more playful take on the whole thing.

Abilities: She can draw, she’s really good with the Adobe suite, and she is smart.

Inspirations: Tange is what made me write up this project. These three characters have been comparatively thin vs. most of the others I’ve written in the 100 days project. This is because the plot isn’t the point – this is just a series of scenes with young people having discussions. I thought there was comedic potential in having a person solo pursuing whatever she found most interesting in the conversation. Also, I think she might often have the right of it, as Alejandro and Sophia sometimes get caught up in the debating and lose perspective. I named her Tange/Tangela for “tangent.” I suppose her inspiration comes from Greek choruses.

First time at this blog? Check out Home for details on the project and the Character Index for more of an overview of the characters.

Alejandro Flores (88)

Project: Web series (Driving to school)

Known as: No nicknames

Real name: Alejandro Flores

Group affiliation: Sophia’s carpool

Physical description: Alejandro is 16 with brown skin, dark eyes, and longish, thick black hair. He is good-looking and usually has a smirk on his face and a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Personality: Alejandro is an extrovert and stimulus seeker. He has issues sitting still in class and he does not like quiet. To the extrovert point, he gets lonely easily and doesn’t like to be by himself. As a result, he isn’t the sort to bury his nose in his phone or use headphones to keep the world out. Instead, he’s the sort to like to play music on speakers, dance with people, and easily strikes up conversations with strangers. He has strong social skills but gets bored if things stay too cordial or mellow and likes to stir things up. He’s the sort that if a group of people all agree with him on an issue, he’ll argue the other side to stir the pot. He’s not a bad guy but has some growing up to do (he only realizes the harm he sometimes causes well after the fact; and sometimes needs Sophia to explain it). He is a loyal friend and would give Sophia or Tange the shirt off his back.

History: Alejandro met Sophia in pre-school. Alejandro was always popular with other kids but only Sophia tended to keep up with him intellectually. The fact that she is usually even-tempered, and calm might seem like it wouldn’t match well with Alejandro but in reality, he finds her interesting and challenging. She is also an ideal friend as she understands him better than most and is therefore less likely to misunderstand his intentions and is quicker to forgive than some others.

Alejandro’s family is middle-class and Alejandro himself lacks the focus to hold down a job. So, he gratefully accepts rides to school from his best friend. He’s an average student, though very smart. He has a tremendous knowledge of whatever has tripped his fancy but is less interested in things he is directed to learn. He will go to college most definitely undeclared and will likely choose based upon climate or party-school status.

He will be the driver of conversation on rides to school and won’t allow silence to linger for too long.

Role in the narrative: Alejandro is the pot-stirrer that will take unpopular opinions for the sake of conversation. By the way, Alejandro and Sophia are best friends – no romance is brewing there.

Abilities: He’s smart, a smooth talker, charismatic, and has a gift for getting under people’s skins.

Inspirations: There is a little Ferris Beuler in Alejandro.