• Lily Godwin 
• Lily Muse  
• Lily Doll  
• Lily Likes  

HISTORY: Lily the character came first, circa 1980, unless my Muse was already present and suggested her unbeknownst to me. Which on second thought is pretty likely. Hm. Let's say for now that in her earliest incarnation the Character sprang forth whole from my imagination, and was Here before the story Was. The first name I gave her was just "D," then "Dee;" she received her name of "Lily Godwin" in 1993. I've always imagined her looking as she does (with slight differences in her hairstyle), and behaving as she does. She's very consistent, sweet, devoted, and loving, despite the trials she endures.

Who is... Lily Godwin?

Lily Godwin is my depiction of the idealized woman, an artform that man has enjoyed since the beginning of time using various media and methods. Modern technology allows us to further refine the tools until now we can recreate virtually anything from our imaginations. Which, oddly enough, is where characters from stories reside. But I knew that Lily wouldn't be perfect by any means; she would have to be troubled, conflicted, and mysterious, which only made imagining her consistently more difficult. But the sculpting process employed through my Muse's direction eventually produced the young woman we have in UNBOUND: a natural (UNEXAGGERATED) beauty, and unselfconcious about it almost to a fault; she is committed, devoted, caring, kind, and smart, if not too wise, or full of common sense. The darker issues crop up as the story progresses and as Things Change. The ideal woman is flawed, of course, as are we all.

The photo in this box came with this lily template and coincidentally was a black-haired blue-eyed woman resembling her in a way (Lily would never get this made-up though). I may or may not change it; I like the serendipity :-)

Lily's composition

Lily is an amalgam of four different women who over time have impressed me with various qualities and traits. The first, a loved one nicknamed Dee (and the reason for Lily's original name) is responsible for Lily's "just do it" and "make it happen" attitudes, along with giving her her natural beauty and dazzling smile to go with this tougher side. Secondly, I added a lot of Cathy; she was a sexy, worldly, vivacious French girl I met at 15 and several years older; much of the Will-Lily interaction springs from our relationship. She was an important figure in my life but there's far too much to tell of here. We had a lot of adventures, let's say for now. She provided what physical traits Dee didn't, and charisma, joie de vivre, and inquisitiveness. The third is Bettie Page, who contributes her sexy innocence seen in some poses, which Lily can't help but have since she's obviously beautiful to the point of being sexy, but doesn't seem to be aware of it, which does drive men madder than if she were. Lastly is the persona of Kate Bush's Molly Bloom from the video for The Sensual World. Actually it might have more to do with Kate, but the video showed Molly's sense of wonder so well, her femininity and grace, and her enthrallment in experiencing the tangible World, very much as Lily does at times...

And the rest of Lily is all imagination:

"Fascinated with her study [she's watching a caterpillar overhead through binoculars, from the excerpt ], she stretched her slight form out uninhibitedly, catching as much sun on her flawless, tanned skin as each would seek, which was all of it but for that concealed beneath her unbuttoned cutoffs and tiny tank top. Even though quite modest (when mindful of it), her clothes fit her as if she wasn't. She tended toward the second skin, or as little as possible to bind her. She wasn't at all voluptuous; she didn't need to be." (From UNBOUND, 1.1)

I can see all four "components" in that one paragraph alone!

Lily's surname is a partial tribute to Mary Shelley's maiden name Godwin, and her father William who married the noted feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792), who died soon after giving birth to their daughter. There are numerous "Frankenstein," "Prometheus Unbound," and Percy and Mary Shelley references in UNBOUND, as this story essentially is an homage to them and their creativity.

Lily Godwin is very much a gothic girl in the traditional sense of the word; she'd almost be a throwback, were she not so modernized. The region of her origin is the Caucasus; she was raised in Odessa from what she claims to recall. She has the Czechoslovakian black hair/blue eyes/full lips of the women of that region. Her dialect is practically nonexistent, but her attitudes and behavior are more typical of her homeland.

Most importantly, Lily is a good person, and despite her rejection of dogma and her confusion over spiritual matters, follows and believes firmly in the Golden Rule, and is raising Will this way as well, despite his parents' wishes for her not to discuss it with him. Lily believes in a Maker, but why she does she can't reason why. "He" never talks to her like others say they can, nor does she feel "Him" so she's at a loss to explain her faith, and also her mounting anger...