Since I love designing character aesthetics for my books, I came up with some for Wilting Roses | N. Hastings. This story focuses on Neal's life (who was the main OC from my most favorite fanfic up till now) and lately, I have been setting its storyline that motivated me to design the aesthetics.

There are five main characters featured in this book, each with a part dedicated to them, namely Neal, Amara, Rose, Dianne and Barbara. Those who have read Sugarcoated Chillies | B. Gordon already know the story focusing on Neal and Barbara but this book takes into account all the different stages of his life and all the different friends he made in his short time.

Each aesthetic is designed specific to the respective character and a different colored rose is assigned to each of them that represents their personality. The color theme for all the aesthetics is kept red and black to collaborate with the cover of the book and also because these are Neal's favorite colors. 

So let's dive into the little details of each aesthetic one by one.

1. Neal Hastings

Neal is the only one who has two roses to symbolize him; one black and the other white. The symbolism conveyed by the two contrasting roses can be taken in different ways. One way can be that the white and black roses symbolize the duality of his character; how he appears to be versus how he truly is.

Another symbolism can be that it reflects the light and dark sides of his personality. Like I said earlier, Neal's personality is a mix of contrasting traits and the opposing colors of the roses can depict that. It can also symbolize that he used to be a white rose but transitioned into a black one due to everything that impacted him in his life.

The other two pictures are that of burning candles and a man playing the guitar. The guitar one is really simple to understand because it is indeed a huge part of Neal's life as it started off as a hobby but then became a source of livelihood. The candles' picture, however, comes with another layer of symbolism.

If you guys have read Sugarcoated Chillies, you know that Neal thinks of life as a burning flame. He associates all the people around him with a plethora of candle flames that would go out as they die. But he doesn't want to go out like a mere candle flame, the light of which isn't missed due to the presence of all others. He wants to go out like an explosion and wishes to be remembered by all. That concept is summed up in the picture frame containing the burning candles lighting up the dark.

2. Amara Wright

Now, this character is going to be introduced in Wilting Roses and hasn't been mentioned in the previous books except once in Crushed Cigarettes | J. Todd. Amara Wright is Lydia's elder sister and the first part of this book would focus on her since she was one of his first friends.

As evident from the aesthetic, Amara is a cheerful soul and has a vivid personality. However, the fate she is dealt with is not so pleasant (spoiler alert), as indicated by the broken glass picture. She has a very carefree personality and loves nature. She is symbolized by a bright yellow rose that easily stands out in the lush greens. The color yellow is associated with friendship, happiness, energy and joy and to me, that summed up Amara perfectly.

3. Rose Gibson

Not gonna lie, she was my favorite OC (second to Neal) from these stories. Rose and Neal's relationship was bound to be cut short because I had other plans for him but they were so good together that it put me in a lot of doubt while I was writing the story. There were even times when I wanted to keep Neal with Rose and find another option for Barbara.

But then the tragic end could not be achieved so... Ooops.

Just like her name, Rose is symbolized by a red rose; delicate, fragrant, beautiful and a symbol of love. She was the first person Neal fell head over heels in love with and would have stayed with her if not for the other plans I just mentioned. Ah, every sentence feels like a spoiler...

Anyhow, the red rose sums up her personality and the other two pictures refer to her love for desserts and her overall delicate outlook. Rose might seem like a perfect girlfriend stereotype at first read but when you delve more into her character and find out more about her through the story, you will see that there's much more to her than it meets the eye.

4. Dianne Harris

One word that could summarize Dianne Harries? 

Queen.

To be very honest, Dianne is probably the most strong-willed, daring and rebellious woman I have ever written. Her character is a mix of greys due to her wavering inclinations over right and wrong, in other words, she exists on the thin grey line between good and evil. Her adventurous spirit and preference for solitude are depicted in the remaining pictures.

The rose chosen for her is purple because just like a purple rose, she is very rare. She is mysterious but exquisite and the color purple fits her in that sense. Purple symbolizes wisdom, magic, bravery, mystery and spirituality. Dianne might seem like a daredevil but she has many other traits to her that define who she really is as compared to the perception the world has of her.

5. Barbara Gordon

Ah, finally we get to Barbara Gordon, the only canon character on whom this story's last part is going to focus. Barbara was a tricky character to pen down so I chose to work on a version of her that would experience the most character development.

I wrote her as a girl who firmly believed in white and black, who thought there was good and there was evil but no in-between. As a result, she was judgemental and kept herself in check to always be on the good side. Like a traditional good girl, she is studious and hardworking, as depicted in one of the pictures above. But her vigilante identity of Batgirl takes her one step further in the paths of good and evil.

She aligns herself with the vigilantes to eradicate all evil but in doing so she gets confused when she crosses paths with Neal who is both light and dark. Her perception regarding him doesn't allow her to categorize him as a friend or a foe, a member of the white side or the black.

And due to him, she figures out the grey region where people like him exist. People who have both light and dark within them, who can not be categorized under the firm boundaries of good and evil.

Therefore, Barbara is depicted as a white rose since the color white represents, purity, innocence and can also be used to depict naivety. Barbara Gordon is naive but throughout the story, her character develops a lot.

The other picture of pinky fingers entwined together represent a promise she made with Neal which you will find out as the story unfolds. Or perhaps if you have read Sugarcoated Chillies, you might have some idea about it.

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Anyhow, these are the character aesthetics for Wilting Roses. It will be posted soon as I complete a few of my ongoing stories and I hope you guys will give it the appreciation you all have given to the preceding books; Sugarcoated Chillies and Crushed Cigarettes.