FILE #009: Ernest ''Ernie'' Singleton

Name: Ernest William Singleton ''Ernie'' (based on an old character with the same name)
Date of birth: 1 September 1997
Age: 22
Height: 183cm
Nationality: English
Hometown: Looe, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
Languages: English, French
Eye colour: Light blue
Hair colour: Blond
Skin colour: Fair
Distinctive features: Large scar on lower back
Personality in a few words: A serious and rather pompous overachiever who is overly polite and slightly stoic.
Family: Thomas Singleton (grandfather), Mary Singleton (grandmother); Tammy Pennington (mother), Steven Pennington (father)
Issues: Anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder, emetophobia

Detailed information

Favourite music: Ludovico Einaudi, Enya, Hauschka
Favourite movies: The Shining, Apocalypse Now, Jaws
Favourite TV series: Veep, Friends, Arrested Development
Favourite foods: St Clement's pie, doughnuts, garlic bread
Hobby: Karate, yoga

Character history

COMING SOON

The creative process

The first version of Ernie existed back in the original Lapin tähdet. He was originally called Luke and served no other purpose whatsoever than just being a part of Nathan's old group of friends he left behind when he moved from the UK to Finland. Luke had no personality and I'm not sure if I ever even properly wrote him. In the most recent version of that universe, he had received a new name and became an actual character. The most developed version of him belonged to the Hopeakukat-universe, in which he was one of the ''normies''. He was also a part of the original Sunset Bay-concept (I don't think I've mentioned this before because I simply forgot, but the first version of Sunset Bay was actually called Sky Open Wide and it was largely inspired by Heroes and Life Is Strange, to name a few. It became Sunset Bay when I dropped the powers and included the rest of the characters) and his power was something related to shapeshifting or transformation, but I can't for the life of me recall the exact one.
   Ernie's personality is somewhat based on his namesake from Harry Potter. He's very pompous, but for some reason I find him very difficult to write, even though I know exactly how I want him to be. He's always been one of the most difficult characters for me. With Zach being the angry one and Justin the naive one, it was clear that Ernie was going to be the 'voice of reason' one. He's definitely one of the most intelligent of my children and possibly the most formal one as well. One of the reasons why I'm so attached to this trio is that their personalities complement each other, but they also clash, which makes their relationships and interactions all the more interesting.
   As well as their personalities, I wanted their heights to clash as well (I'm always a slut for height differences, me). Early on it was clear to me that Zach would be the middle one, Justin the shortest and Ernie the tallest. Ernie's appearance is very much the opposite of Justin's (well, their skin colours aren't that different, Justin is slightly paler), with his blonde hair and light blue eyes. The way he looks is mostly based on how I imagined Ernie Macmillan when I was reading Harry Potter, and it seemed to suit my Ernie as well, so that's what he came to look like in the end. Apparently I like giving my children scars with no proper explanations on where they actually came from. I might need to work on that.
   I spent a lot of time shaping all the eating disorder-storylines so that they would all be different: Ronnie's is the most long-lasting, Renny deals with relapsing a lot, Noel's doesn't really suit the descriptions of the most common ones and Ernie is a representation of the ones who beat their disorders and continue living completely normal lives without them. His ED doesn't last that long, but it's definitely impactful. It felt natural giving Ernie an ED-storyline, mostly due to his perfectionist nature. I also felt like it would feel slightly out of place with him, which is also why he ended up having it. It's not also his most prominent storyline, whereas with Ronnie, for example, a lot of things seem to come back to that in the end.
   I had some issues with the romantic relationships between the trio in the beginning. As I mentioned somewhere (maybe in Zach's segment?), in the most recent version of Lapin tähdet, Zach was aromantic. Justin and Ernie weren't, strictly speaking, a thing yet, but there was something (I recall planning Justin having a one-sided crush on Ernie, though). It was actually Zach who became Justin's love interest at first, but Ernie soon followed. I like the conflict that this situation brings to their lives, and there's a lot of struggling with feelings. I've always imagined the situation going like this: Ernie noticing Zach has feelings for Justin before he does, while he's together with Justin. Then he notices that the feelings are mutual, but he doesn't doubt Justin's feelings for him either (this is something I always imagined, it's Zach who has trouble accepting the fact that Justin has feelings for them both). It's kind of a polyamorous relationship, but there's nothing romantic between Zach and Ernie. No, instead, I imagine their friendship becomes stronger than ever (I mean, they are united by their love and exasperation for Justin).