Madison has sailed the seven seas with pirates, tamed the most ferocious beasts imaginable, and explored the very stars themselves! … in her mind, anyway. Truth be told, Maddie, regular old 3rd grade student at South Shores Elementary school, could never describe herself as particularly special. Or well-traveled… or extraordinary… or anything that sounds impressive to the rest of the 8-year-olds she goes to school with. Maddie has a mom that she loves very much, and a dad who ‘sure as the sun rises sends his love every morning on a cloud’ (or at least that’s what her grandma once told her, back when Maddie was very small and didn’t understand how her daddy could leave her so soon when they both still had so many adventures left to go on. She was really sad then, but now she’s mostly okay, though she still misses him). She and Mom get along well, though sometimes Mom works long hours and doesn’t get home til almost bedtime. Maddie has learned really well that the best way to pass the time when you’re going to be alone is with stories, so she spends a lot of the time reading and thinking of her own, with the help of her best friend— a plush white fox, Nimbus, who Daddy gave to her when she was just 4 years old.

In school, Maddie does pretty well. Math isn’t her best subject, but she makes up for it by being a good writer. Her teacher says she would have ‘famous grades, if only she would apply herself;’ Maddie is best at daydreaming, you see, so sometimes people have to repeat things once or twice before she hears them, and teachers especially don’t seem to like that much. But while real life can be scary because other kids are mean, skinned knees hurt really bad, and sometimes daddies go to heaven instead of coming home, inside of her imagination is another story entirely. If only people could see her there! She’s fearless— a hero! Evil never triumphs in dream land, and adventures in far off worlds and even other planets can happen in the time it takes to fall asleep at night. Maddie has tried so many times to share her impressive feats, but for all her efforts, it has won her no friends; the kids in her school seem to only know her as “That Weird Girl,” and sadly enough, most teachers seem to agree. But it’s fine, really— there are so many games left to play and worlds left to visit that she doesn’t have time for such boring people, anyway! … And besides, when she gets frustrated and really just needs someone to listen, she knows what to do— cloud watch! She and Daddy used to always come up with the best stories and ideas from the shapes they found in the clouds. She’s always prepared in her yellow raincoat— because sometimes she can’t wait for a storm to pass to talk to him, and who cares about getting a little wet anyway— to interpret the next adventure he passes along to her. Maddie probably seems like a fluff-brain with her head in the clouds to most people she knows, but honestly, she couldn’t imagine a better place for her head to be!

My star character for one of my story plans. :D She's actually a couple of years old, but I decided to do some updated model and expression sheets!