Tracy Marchini is here today with a character interview courtesy of the Teen Book Scene blog tour for her short story, Effie at the Wedding. Welcome, Effie and Tracy! Thank you for being here today! You can follow along with the tour here. Enjoy! Do you think your relationship with Ophelia is going to change now that she is married?
Honestly, I think it started changing when she got engaged. Like, there were times when I’d ask her about something, and instead of giving me her opinion, she would tell me what George thought. (It’s like when people fall in love, their significant other’s answers to everything are suddenly either brilliant or hysterical. But to the rest of us mere mortals, they aren’t that bright or funny.) I do like George, it’s just that sometimes I want to be able to talk to my sister without him being a third party. Maybe this will wear off though, right? Like a honeymoon phase, but for annoying-older-sister-gushy comments?
What was going through your mind when you realized the stall door was jammed?
This would never happen to Ophelia.
If you could say anything to Ophelia, what would you say?
I guess I would tell her that I miss how we used to be, and that it’s not that I don’t like George…. I just don’t want to lose my sister in exchange for a brother-in-law. (Also, that she still owes me forty dollars for Death Cab tickets. She can’t use “It’s a wedding present” forever!)
What three things do you love about Ophelia?
3.) Ophelia makes awesome brownies, and her chocolate fudge is absolutely, hands down, the best thing that has ever happened to corn. (It’s made with corn syrup, chocolate, sugar, butter and probably some other super-excellent ingredient that I’m forgetting.)
2.) Ophelia is nicer than I am, which sounds like it’d be completely annoying, and sometimes it is. But frankly, two of me in the house could be a problem.
1.) She always knows how to help when my mom says something rude, or when my grandmother is poking at my stomach, or when my aunt has said way too much about how beautiful my older sister is. She’s like, our family referee, and I’m really going to miss that.
Do you think your family's dynamics will change now that Ophelia is married?
Given all the lovely things I just said about Ophelia above, I will just say this one thing: You know how Bridget Jones mentions the “smug marrieds?” I’m not saying that Ophelia is that bad, but every once in a while, it comes out in a big way. Like, she never once said to me, “You’ll understand when you’re older” when we were growing up, but now it’ll slip out occasionally.
Give me five things you should never do at a wedding.
1.) Never be the only single girl at the wedding. This might be difficult to accomplish, and if you can’t then:
1a.) Be sure to be in the bathroom during the bouquet toss. Who wants to sit on a chair in the middle of the wedding and have some strange, probably five beers in, guy try to out-do the groom in putting a garter up their skirt? Gross. (You know it’s never the hot guy that catches the garter.)
2.) Never be the girl crying in the bathroom. (I was pretty close to this, but I did not cry, and that makes all the difference.)
3.) Never snort. (Laughing, crying, it doesn’t matter. Your snort during the ceremony will be captured by their cinematographer, and years from now the wedded couple will play the video just to hear the snort and try to pinpoint if it was you, or the cousin you were forced to bring as a date.)
4.) “Shout” is not a good song to dance to if you have poor bladder control. I’m not saying wear a diaper, but if you’ve ever even thought that you might need one, just sit out the “shout” song and watch everybody else jump at the right moments. You’ll thank me later.
5.) Never, ever, start drinking heavily before you do the toast. At best, you will just be a mumbling mess. At worst, you will tell the entire ceremony about the bachelor party that the bride didn’t know about, or that time in college where you and the groom took turns throwing yourselves down the stairs to see who could roll fastest. (Seriously, my will-do-anything-for-a-dollar-probably-still-bruised-from-rolling-downstairs cousin is married, and I can’t even get a date. Seriously!)
Give me five reasons why Ophelia and George are perfect for each other?
5.) They look like cake toppers. It’s disusting(ly cute… but mostly disgusting.)
4.) Ophelia likes to decorate, and George’s apartment looks like he took a Pottery Barn catalog, took it apart, tacked it on the wall and then randomly bought whatever the darts landed on. It’s all very nice, but nothing matches. Ophelia’s much better at that stuff than I am, and definitely better than George is. (Even if she doesn’t always get fashion right.)
3.) They never argue. And if they do, it always ends quickly and without anybody pouting. (So, the exact opposite of when my mother and I argue… I won’t tell you who is the pouter.)
2.) George knows when Ophelia doesn’t like something but won’t say it because she’s trying to make him happy. So if George says, “Let’s go see this ridiculous movie that’s mostly dark except for when you’re hearing/seeing an alien go SPLAT, but otherwise there’s no plot whatsoever,” and then Ophelia says, “Uh.. okaaaay.” but that she makes the Ophelia face, which is a half smile on top of a grimace, then he’ll say, “Or we could stay home at watch Love Actually with a bottle of wine.” And then Ophelia will say and actually mean okay.
1.) They truly love each other, even though Ophelia has morning breath and George has a weird patch of fur on his shoulders. (True story, you’d think he’d give it a quick wax or something.) They’re super gross when they’re together, but, I’m hoping that one day, I will be just as disgusting as the two of them.
Thank you for answering my questions, Effie, and thank you so much for being here!
Tracy Marchini can be found on her website.
------------
Giveaway
Tracy Marchini has graciously provided Lost For Words with two e-copies of Effie at the Wedding to giveaway.
Thank you, Tracy!
Both e-copies will be gifted from Amazon.
Giveaway is international, and will end July 22, 2011.
Please fill out this FORM to enter. Comments, while appreciated, will not be counted as entries. Thank you!
