It's December, and... that's right, it's time for another character spotlight!! 
Developing characters is good fun, but it's also hard work. We're endlessly blown away by the time, energy, and creativity you guys pour into them. That's why, once a month, we like to celebrate that effort by highlighting a character that really stood out to us. Maybe they have a detailed biography or a cool aesthetic board; maybe you've been super dedicated to their plots; maybe their personality is especially unique or intriguing. More often than not, it's a combination of several factors!
This month, please join us in congratulating Faye for her brilliant character, Mania Athanasiou!
Mania is pure chaos. It's pretty hard not to love her. She also has a fantastic biography, a relationships thread, and aesthetic board, which are all worth checking out!!
As is tradition, we asked Faye to answer a few questions for us:
Congratulations, Faye!!!
~Clairey
(On behalf of the HNZ site staff)
Developing characters is good fun, but it's also hard work. We're endlessly blown away by the time, energy, and creativity you guys pour into them. That's why, once a month, we like to celebrate that effort by highlighting a character that really stood out to us. Maybe they have a detailed biography or a cool aesthetic board; maybe you've been super dedicated to their plots; maybe their personality is especially unique or intriguing. More often than not, it's a combination of several factors!
This month, please join us in congratulating Faye for her brilliant character, Mania Athanasiou!
Mania is pure chaos. It's pretty hard not to love her. She also has a fantastic biography, a relationships thread, and aesthetic board, which are all worth checking out!!
As is tradition, we asked Faye to answer a few questions for us:
What was your initial thought when you were contacted about being spotlighted?
I saw the light purple colour and almost threw my phone away, then realized it's Claire and thought you were trying to prank me. I went through all five stages of grief before even opening the PM, then I opened and I looked around me in the tram and thought "None of these people know I have just been spotlighted... SHAME!"
What was the inspiration for your character?
I have always had some sort of an obsession for Greek mythology and I wanted a family where all the kids were initially supposed to be named after gods/goddesses and take on traits from those gods and goddesses. Mania is the Greek goddess of insanity and madness, chaos too. So there came from the idea of her being driven on absolute chaos
What is your favourite RP that your character has taken part in?
AH! See whatever I write on Mania I know it'll be fun! There's nothing she's done that's been anywhere near boring to write for me but lemme give you some of my favs! First and foremost he one that started the friendship of utter chaos Don't Be Suspicious, to this day I think of this thread of Nia and Callie sneaking into St. Mungo's and running into unsuspecting victims.
Following up with another Nia/Callie they found a new bestie into their group and became the utter banes for their head of house We Made It. Then another with Callie and Nia just because the duo is so fun, this also encapsulates the way Mania grew up without proper adult supervision and has no sense of self-preservation or stranger danger... even if she thinks she does Put That Bird to Work. This one is my recent favourite of showing who Mania really is, she was convinced her Potions professor would need an assistant and would not take a no The Perfect Proposition, I think it just shows her character and stubbornness so well and even her ambition. AND BECAUSE I CANNOT BE STOPPED OR MADE TO CHOOSE HERE ARE SOME OTHER HONORABLE MENTIONS :3 Start Walking, The Floor is Lava, So Are You Related?, the last one especially... I like to say social anxiety is scared of Mania and panic attacks have Mania attacks.
What is your favourite aspect of your character?
How brave she is, even though she has this deep need to be liked and wants to be accepted she still puts on her big girl pants and does what needs to be done when it counts. She isn't afraid to be herself and like I said social anxiety hates to see her coming, I channel my inner Mania when in social situations.
Your least favourite aspect?
This isn't like I don't don't like anything about her I guess? But maybe one thing is her way of sometimes not thinking before doing things, like not thinking of what it may result in?
If you could meet your character in real life would you want to? Why or why not?
I ABSOLUTELY WOULD!! I feel like there'd be no boring moments with her and we could easily bounce off of each others chattiness! I would need a week long coma after that meeting though, but I absolutely would love to see her in action.
What do you feel your strength in developing characters is?
Creating aesthetic for them definitely, for me its one of the key parts of a new character. I need the visuals instantly and for me I usually have one idea to bounce off of and then I go on pinterest and create a character aesthetic board. It helps me massively to build the character and not to toot my own horn, but I do feel like I am quite good at building aesthetics No but it's definitely my strength. I also love doing some back and forths with myself which is quite helpful especially in a situation like Mania's who has too many sisters to count at this point. It helps me develop their personalities as well as their relationships, which is why I usually go into a rapid fire hole with myself when another one is sorted... 
Your weakness?
I struggle a lot with trusting my concepts and ideas and often think like what if I have the same person in just different font. I also think my attachment issues are a bit of a weakness, I attach to my characters very hard which makes any negativity for them often feel like negativity in my own life and then I struggle to develop them through conflicts because I'd rather avoid and sweep it under a rug.
Another like huge weakness of mine is definitely Bio's I feel like I struggle with them a lot, i always want to make them cool and fancy and interesting, but then I get frustrated and give up and they usually turn into a never ending work in progress! Don't get me started on keeping up with my trackers. ;-; I also am what I like to call a code goblin I always ask Claire if I may use her codes because I simply do not have the ability nor the patience to fight with the coding <3
What would you recommend to those looking to further develop their characters?
Um idk what to say to this one but I'll just go with what helps me I suppose; I'd say go on a pinterest deep dive, if you want to, see what you can find and if any ideas spark from it! Sometimes for me it helps a lot if I'm struggling to just dive in head first and see if pinterest or socials of any kind spark any ideas! Also don't be scared to speak with yourself aka RP with yourself. It does feel like talking to a wall at first but is also very fun and helpful development sometimes. Also reaching out to other RPers is always going to pay off!
What are you most looking forward to on HNZ in the next several months?
Ummmm Secret Santa? Hello? Valentine's, new Headperson, more lessons! Group changes! MORE SORTING!!!!
What is your favourite part of HNZ?
Sorting (it's an addiction HELP), the community and just getting to unwind through writing. It's been a huge help for me, especially in the past few months with losing my dog just having a place where I can completely switch off my brain and focus on the little stories and lives I am creating with other people and their characters c: A big thank you to everyone always plotting with me <3
I saw the light purple colour and almost threw my phone away, then realized it's Claire and thought you were trying to prank me. I went through all five stages of grief before even opening the PM, then I opened and I looked around me in the tram and thought "None of these people know I have just been spotlighted... SHAME!"
What was the inspiration for your character?
I have always had some sort of an obsession for Greek mythology and I wanted a family where all the kids were initially supposed to be named after gods/goddesses and take on traits from those gods and goddesses. Mania is the Greek goddess of insanity and madness, chaos too. So there came from the idea of her being driven on absolute chaos
What is your favourite RP that your character has taken part in?
AH! See whatever I write on Mania I know it'll be fun! There's nothing she's done that's been anywhere near boring to write for me but lemme give you some of my favs! First and foremost he one that started the friendship of utter chaos Don't Be Suspicious, to this day I think of this thread of Nia and Callie sneaking into St. Mungo's and running into unsuspecting victims.
Following up with another Nia/Callie they found a new bestie into their group and became the utter banes for their head of house We Made It. Then another with Callie and Nia just because the duo is so fun, this also encapsulates the way Mania grew up without proper adult supervision and has no sense of self-preservation or stranger danger... even if she thinks she does Put That Bird to Work. This one is my recent favourite of showing who Mania really is, she was convinced her Potions professor would need an assistant and would not take a no The Perfect Proposition, I think it just shows her character and stubbornness so well and even her ambition. AND BECAUSE I CANNOT BE STOPPED OR MADE TO CHOOSE HERE ARE SOME OTHER HONORABLE MENTIONS :3 Start Walking, The Floor is Lava, So Are You Related?, the last one especially... I like to say social anxiety is scared of Mania and panic attacks have Mania attacks.What is your favourite aspect of your character?
How brave she is, even though she has this deep need to be liked and wants to be accepted she still puts on her big girl pants and does what needs to be done when it counts. She isn't afraid to be herself and like I said social anxiety hates to see her coming, I channel my inner Mania when in social situations.
Your least favourite aspect?
This isn't like I don't don't like anything about her I guess? But maybe one thing is her way of sometimes not thinking before doing things, like not thinking of what it may result in?
If you could meet your character in real life would you want to? Why or why not?
I ABSOLUTELY WOULD!! I feel like there'd be no boring moments with her and we could easily bounce off of each others chattiness! I would need a week long coma after that meeting though, but I absolutely would love to see her in action.
What do you feel your strength in developing characters is?
Creating aesthetic for them definitely, for me its one of the key parts of a new character. I need the visuals instantly and for me I usually have one idea to bounce off of and then I go on pinterest and create a character aesthetic board. It helps me massively to build the character and not to toot my own horn, but I do feel like I am quite good at building aesthetics
No but it's definitely my strength. I also love doing some back and forths with myself which is quite helpful especially in a situation like Mania's who has too many sisters to count at this point. It helps me develop their personalities as well as their relationships, which is why I usually go into a rapid fire hole with myself when another one is sorted... Your weakness?
I struggle a lot with trusting my concepts and ideas and often think like what if I have the same person in just different font. I also think my attachment issues are a bit of a weakness, I attach to my characters very hard which makes any negativity for them often feel like negativity in my own life and then I struggle to develop them through conflicts because I'd rather avoid and sweep it under a rug.
Another like huge weakness of mine is definitely Bio's
I feel like I struggle with them a lot, i always want to make them cool and fancy and interesting, but then I get frustrated and give up and they usually turn into a never ending work in progress! Don't get me started on keeping up with my trackers. ;-; I also am what I like to call a code goblin I always ask Claire if I may use her codes because I simply do not have the ability nor the patience to fight with the coding <3What would you recommend to those looking to further develop their characters?
Um idk what to say to this one but I'll just go with what helps me I suppose; I'd say go on a pinterest deep dive, if you want to, see what you can find and if any ideas spark from it! Sometimes for me it helps a lot if I'm struggling to just dive in head first and see if pinterest or socials of any kind spark any ideas! Also don't be scared to speak with yourself aka RP with yourself. It does feel like talking to a wall at first but is also very fun and helpful development sometimes. Also reaching out to other RPers is always going to pay off!
What are you most looking forward to on HNZ in the next several months?
Ummmm Secret Santa? Hello? Valentine's, new Headperson, more lessons! Group changes! MORE SORTING!!!!
What is your favourite part of HNZ?
Sorting (it's an addiction HELP), the community and just getting to unwind through writing. It's been a huge help for me, especially in the past few months with losing my dog just having a place where I can completely switch off my brain and focus on the little stories and lives I am creating with other people and their characters c: A big thank you to everyone always plotting with me <3
Congratulations, Faye!!!
~Clairey
(On behalf of the HNZ site staff)
Congratulations!!