Guest Post: Claire Voyante, Main Character of Dream Life by Lauren Mechling

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming a very special guest blogger to Bookduck: Claire Voyante, half-French psychic girl detective and main character of Dream Girl and Dream Life, both by Lauren Mechling (who stopped by for an interview not too long ago). I am now turning the keyboard over to Claire.

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Greetings and salutations, book lovers! I’m Claire Voyante, the main character of Dream Life, Lauren Mechling’s rip-roaring detective novel (and no, it is not immodest to say that about a book you didn’t write but in which you star—I checked in one of my grandmother Kiki’s etiquette books).

Dream Life is all about what happened after I found out my best friend Becca had just joined a super-exclusive, centuries-old secret society called the Blue Moons. I figured out how to wiggle my way into the club, and, of course, much drama ensued. I warmly invite you to check Dream Life out—it’s available at a bookstore or Internet site near you.

When Dream Girl, the first book in the series, came out, my creator Lauren fielded questions from bloggers and journalists. Lauren is currently underground working on a secret project so I offered to step in and relief pitch. I’m taking a page from Ann Landers's book and writing an advice column. The questions came from fans of the series. The answers came from the heart.

(Warning: I don't have a degree in psychotherapy--use at your own risk!)

Dear Claire,

I know you’re a huge fan of fashion magazines. So am I, only sometimes they make me feel really bad about myself. I never see models with frizzy hair or normal-sized noses. How do you deal?

Thanks!
Paulette Who Doesn’t Even Remotely Look Like Agneys Deyn

Dear PWDERLLAD,

It’s a drag, isn’t it? When I was younger I wanted to have bigger lips so I drew a line around my mouth with my mom’s lip-liner and filled it in with Vaseline. And then I found out it was actually eye liner. You can imagine how gorgeous it looked.

Then my mom started working on a ghostwriting project for a former supermodel named Saffran (although I recently found out her birth certificate says “Gail”). She started coming by our apartment all the time, and as we got to know each other she shared a few tricks of the trade with me.

First, most of the pictures you’re seeing are about as truthful as “photographs” of UFOs on the National Enquirer. The models are totally airbrushed, and sometimes worse. Saffran showed me one picture that was actually a collage of parts from different models’ bodies—when you’ve been in the business as long as she has, you start to know Photoshop when you see it.

All to say, I imagine being a model would be a bit of a bummer. Think of how depressing it would be to look at a picture of yourself only to see that they'd decided to replace your knee with somebody else's. Plus, I have two words for you: fries and chocolate. They alone are worth it.

L’amour toujours!
Claire

Dream Life by Lauren Mechling -- Trailer from Richie Williams on Vimeo

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Thanks for visiting, Claire! (Also, thanks for the reminder that Photoshop can be used for good or evil, and that chocolate is good.)