Mores Naufragii
Character breakdowns
Where I go through the ins and outs of my characters, their relationships and their histories.
════════
Annalise and Nathaniel
Lise and Nate are the first ever relationship we see in the entire book. The story opens in medias res with the two of them in the piano room. I initially wanted to go a completely different way with their relationship - I wanted a healthy break up and a healthy friendship throughout the book, which is quite obvious in some places such as at the start. Obviously, that took a completely different turn as the story went on. I wanted to portray the toxicity in their relationship, something that wasn't clear to either of them throughout their actual relationship but somehow unravelled throughout the story. It was mostly about Nate's dependence on Lise, and his misguided belief that he has some sort of claim or entitlement over Annalise because they dated first and for so long.
Their relationship also hints towards Annalise's desire to be perfect. Before the story takes place, there is evidence that Annalise was growing out of her relationship, or desiring to be away from Nate, but won't admit it herself. It is pointed out to her by several characters, Ms Leva, Anastasia, Tyler and even Nate himself, but Annalise refuses to admit it. She remains adamant on the idea that she remained completely faithful to Nate in all ways throughout her relationship; she likes to believe her attachment died the second they broke up. But she's wrong. It just hints towards the toxicity in her relationship with Nathanial but also the toxicity in the way she responds to certain situations, proving her desire to remain perfect and grasp some sort of control in every aspect of her life.
Annalise and Chase
The relationship between Annalise and Chase is a new one for both characters. Although Annalise had been in a serious and committed relationship for four years, with Chase the game had completely changed. Nate and Lise began dated at fourteen, but at age seventeen / eighteen came a new obstacle: sex. A sexual relationship is a huge part of this storyline because it's the key difference between Lise's old and new relationship. She went from being in a completely comfortable relationship where she never felt pressured to do anything, to a new one with a completely experienced boyfriend; although the pressure never came from Chase himself, it was always at the back of Annalise's mind.
For Chase, a committed, long-term relationship is completely new. It's been made obvious from the start of the story that Chase has always been in a sexual short-term relationships, and a long-term, non-exclusive, friends-with-benefits type thing with Scarlet. Although it doesn't always seem obvious, that's scary for him too. This story being from Lise's P.O.V almost makes you lose that side of his story completely. How he feels about Annalise is something completely new to him because he had never been in love with someone before, let alone someone he's known his entire life. In his eyes, his relationship is completely fragile and he's afraid to shatter it.
If I could change anything about this story, I would convey his fear and insecurities a little bit more.
Annalise, Anastasia, Audrey and Violet
The female friendship circle in this story was carefully crafted, for me. We have four girls, who share similarities but are ultimately different people.
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RomanceAnnalise Fall seems to have everything - she's the smartest girl in her sixth form, has the perfect teachers, the perfect friends, the perfect boyfriend. The perfect life. So when everything is so perfect, why change anything? Unless the changes ar...