This is the second of six character profiles to introduce you to the group of friends in Beautiful & Terrible Things, about which award-winning author Ruth F. Stevens (no relation to me) says:
“The six young men and women we meet in Beautiful and Terrible Things share a warm, I’ve-got-your-back camaraderie that reminded me of the cast of Friends…[but it] is a far more diverse and complex ensemble.”
Character Profile: Sunny
Meet Sunny Winston: Sunny is a 28-year-old, nonbinary, pansexual individual who studied Environmental Studies in college and now sells solar energy systems. Sunny is biracial — half-Black, half-Indian. They have an on-again-off-again romance with Xander.
Note: As a nonbinary person, Sunny uses the pronouns they/them. Several readers said they found that difficult to get used to, which I understand, but I wanted the characters to represent society today. On that note, I messed up — there is one place in the novel where I used “she” for Sunny. Can you find it?
Another note: In related news, The Rauch Review recently mentioned Sunny in an article on how to write biracial characters. Read that here.
What Sunny Represents: Our conscience
Personality in Brief: The Optimist
Personality in More Detail: As Charley notes, Sunny “radiates joy.” They see the good in all, and joke that if everyone in the world practiced yoga, there would be no wars. If they identified as female, many would call them the classic Earth Mother. Their altruism, however, can threaten their own happiness.
Their Challenges, Hopes & Dreams: Like Xander, Sunny wants to save the world. Their pacifist approach to activism balances Xander’s fervor. Sunny also craves marriage and children, but finding the right life partner proves an elusive goal.
What Others Say
How The Friends Describe Sunny:
Charley: (At this point in the story, Charley does not know that Sunny is nonbinary.) The woman’s stunning, heavy-lidded, almond-shaped eyes were offset by a round mouth that made Charley think of childhood innocence and puppies, a connotation that intensified when that mouth stretched into a disarming smile at something her companion said. A row of tiny gold hoop earrings traveled down the helix of her coppery left ear, glinting from within her Afro. Sunny’s voice was so comforting it made Charley want to burrow inside it, if that were possible.
Xander: He tugged on the long tail of the orange paisley scarf Sunny wore like a headband, set back a few inches from the forehead. The cloth divided their four-inch-long Afro into a narrow, sleek band in the front and a cloud of black fuzz in the back, like a smoke tree in bloom.
Terrance: Sunny—gorgeous in a waiflike way, with big almond-shaped eyes and a round mouth—was the darkest, with an unusual, orange-brown skin tone.
What Reviewers Say:
Sunny is a very easy to like character. (Chat About Books)
Sunny…desperately wishes for love while contemplating how being a “nonbinary, biracial pansexual” makes commitment a challenge, musing “it’s hard to commit to another person when society isn’t committed to you.” (Booklife)
A nonbinary person who is Xander’s friend with benefits. (Reedsy)
What Sunny Says
Quotable Quotes:
“Jess is all about efficiency. Xander’s all about equality, even for words. Now stop bickering, you two.”
From The Wallace House of Pain, at a cookout with Xander’s father and stepmother:
“The parts I was born with are my business, Mr. Wallace. What matters is that today, I prefer not to be thought of as male or female.”
“Some people like the taste of pickles, some prefer doughnuts. I happen to like both. I might even like a pickle-flavored doughnut if one existed. It doesn’t make me weird. It means I have broader tastes than some people.”
Excerpt: Sunny
In this first of the two scenes excerpted here, Xander prepares Sunny to meet Charley:
“She’s akin to a wounded animal, Sunny. She lost her parents, and then her grandparents, and she’s got no one unless you count her crotchety boss. Strike that—I’m not sure the boss even likes Charley. Or anyone.”
“But now she’s got you, Xan,” Sunny said, their voice as smooth as warm honey. They weren’t surprised that a damaged soul was Xander’s latest project. He’d been on a crusade to save the world and all the people and animals in it since the day they’d met at college in freshman year.
Xander wasn’t done. “She needs to be pulled kicking and screaming into the realm of the living. I believe she’s existed in a state of suspended animation for years now.”
“You’ve been able to draw her out some, right? So, she must want friends. Maybe she just doesn’t know it yet. You really think I can help?”
Xander snorted. “This from the person who dragged my sorry drunken posterior out of the gutter after that frat party, cradled me in their arms, and convinced me I would not only survive, but flourish. Yeah, I think you can help. Radiate your luminance on her like you do with everyone else.”
Sunny put a tawny index finger in the center of their lower lip and used their thumb and middle finger to squeeze the lip, folding it inward on itself. Xander recognized their thinking pose and remained silent as the two of them reached the bookstore and stopped outside. “Maybe you came on too strong. You can be overpowering, you know.”
“Hmph. I merely conveyed that it would be a highly entertaining weekend with a coterie of extraordinarily stimulating people.”
“That’s not too strong for you or me, but maybe too strong for her. Let’s make it sound like less of a commitment.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Just follow my lead,” Sunny said, entering the store with a jingle.
Sunny watched Xander’s nose twitch as the morning sunbeam sifting through the bedroom blinds tickled his sleeping face. Awe at how deeply they loved him pulsed through them, followed by bewilderment at why they didn’t love him more.
Sunny and Xander had been each other’s soft place to land since the day they met. He was their soul mate and sometimes savior. Friday night, the nightclub shooting painfully fresh in their minds, they sought each other out as they had off and on over the years in between boyfriends and girlfriends. But Sunny knew the carnal reunion was most likely temporary, and they were okay with that.
Sunny so wanted marriage. Friends liked to say Sunny had it made with such a big pool of potential mates to choose from when truth be told, the people in that pool who could love a nonbinary, biracial pansexual were few and far between.
Sunny wanted children. They craved pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood intrinsically, and hoped to nurture one child in the womb plus guide another out of the foster system.
Sunny wanted love, the sweetness of which they’d tasted twice only to have it turn stinging and salty. A two-year relationship with a man ended when their political differences became unsurmountable. A two-year relationship with a trans woman followed, but the first forever talk scared her right out the door. Sunny smirked. Heterosexual women who think hetero men in their late twenties are scared of commitment should try building a long-term relationship with someone marginalized into believing their wants aren’t as legitimate as everyone else’s. It’s hard to commit to another person when society isn’t committed to you.
Xander stirred. Sunny debated asking him if they were officially a couple again. Then they decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
Where to Buy
Beautiful and Terrible Things is available in paperback, ebook and audiobook, on all major sites. Click here to get to most of them; it’s also available on Walmart and Target.
Illustration credit: webstockreview.net
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This is such a brilliant way to help us get into the book!–Sent with mail.com Mail app
Sunny is a delightful character who loves family and is true to their friends. They are an individual everyone can trust because of their empathic support of others. Everyone should meet Sunny; their role is critical to the story.
I’m grateful you appreciate their role in the story! In the original draft, they had a larger role but that arc was one of the ones I had to cut to get the book to a marketable length. 😐