elionwyr | Haunting Tales: Characters (Reply)

adelheid_p asked me to talk about the back stories to my haunt characters.

I shamefully confess that I don’t actually have histories. I wrote something up for my Grisly Gothic Gables character several years ago, but I only have a vague recollection of what that story was. So instead, I’ll just talk about how my two main characters came into being.

At Grisly, I went by the name of “Minion.” I didn’t start out at Grisly as an actor. All I ever really wanted to do was help build things, but there was a need for someone to work in the costume room and manage the actors, so that’s where I ended up. I didn’t have a costume or a character, but I did have a long black lace slip dress that I work so I could be somewhat neutral but look like I fit in so I could jump in to cover just about any role or scare when needed.

One night, I showed up at the haunt on a night I was scheduled to be off. The owner, Allan – the man I wish was my father – looked over at me, extended a hand, and said, “Come to me, my minion!”

And thusly was Minion Grisly named.

(Trivia: There is, somewhere in

annachria’s artistic creations, a painting called “Minion’s Minions,” wherein Minion calls in the monsters and beasties that populated the manse.)
When I started working for Castle Blood, I was determined to not have Minion be assimilated into the MacCabre clan. I played a witch my second year at the Castle and was asked to name the character.

Being a writer, I decided to use the name of my at-the-time-favourite font, Charme. I assumed it would be pronounced “charm;” Ricky assumed it would be “Sharm-ay.”

Which quickly led to, “Don’t squeeze the Charmay.” Which was not-so-happy-making.

I’m not sure that the witchiness of my character was ever really understood by my fellow cast mates. Most of the characters in that particular haunt are vampires, but the one time I tried wearing fangs while dressed as Charme just didn’t feel right to me. Conversely, I rather enjoyed joining my friend Peachey in the very tiny ranks of the non-vampiric.