Cecilia Alva

One of this week’s assignments was to “Write a Character Dossier: Create a character dossier for a noir figure of your own making.” This was a really fun assignment because we got to start from scratch and come up with whatever we wanted. After looking at a list of “typical” noir style characters, I decided I wanted to create a femme fatale character. It seemed like it would be extremely entertaining to come up with a mysterious, seductive, and quick witted type of female character, and I wasn’t wrong. This was probably the most amusing homework I have had yet. I got to create a brand new character of my choice, I got to come up with a backstory for her, and develop a start to a engrossing murder mystery type story.

When I was trying to develop this femme fatale I needed to start off by choosing a good name for her. I decided to go with Cecilia Alva. I spent a long time researching names, and their meanings. I knew I wanted a sexy spanish type of character so I researched hispanic names and their meanings. What I came up with was Cecilia means “blind” and Alva means “evil.” Which is perfect because she is the main suspect in her husband’s murder, but she is so beautiful and charming that it is getting in the way of a clear investigation, so they are “blind” to her “evil”

    … I thought it was witty.

Anyways, we had to fill out a form about our character and answer some basic questions, along with develop a bio or backstory (as I made it) and describe her physical attributed in detail. Down below you will see pictures of some of my answer in the form, as well as the descriptions.

Age: 27

Height: 5’7

Weight: 122lbs

Eye Color: Blue/Grey

Hair Color: Chestnut brown, with hints of natural red highlights

Hair Style: Wavy long hair that falls just below her breasts

Physical Description:

She has perfectly tanned and flawless skin; she almost looks photoshopped in real life. Her teeth are brilliantly white and completely straight. She wears her hair down most days in its natural wavy state, parted down the middle and contouring to the sides of her narrow face. She almost looks like a fox, with how sly and slender she is, but that synonym could not possibly describe her beauty. She wears shadowy eye makeup, and bold red lipstick that never seems to fade. Her body all together is slender but toned. There is not a single imperfection on her body, except for one hidden, but large, scar on her lower back. She claims she procured this scar during a home invasion last year that happened at her upstate New York house, while her and her now deceased husband were home. She also has a heavy but understandable and sexy Spanish accent. Her voice is low and smooth, and seductive. She had a large mouth with plump lips, and her smile can only be described as angelic but equally devilish at the same time. Her eyes are a piercing shade of blue, but often fade to grey as the night sky is brightened with the rising of the moon.

Bio:

Cecilia was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1987. She was the child of Lucas and Isabella Alva. Her mother died of cancer at a young age, when Cecilia was only 8 years old. Her father did not have the means to take care of her, seeing as he was just a peddler. He lost his job after his wife fell ill. He was a cook at local restaurant a few blocks from their apartment. He got laid off after missing too many days of work, tending to his child and sickly wife. After loosing both his job and his wife, he became a peddler on the street of Barcelona. After being arrested twice, Cecilia got torn away from the only family she had left and was thrown into foster care. She was a problem child, acting out and misbehaving, so she was constantly moved from home to home. By the time she was 16 she ran away from Barcelona and began traveling around the country. To stay alive, she used the only thing she had left to procure ends meat…her beauty. She was always a beautiful child, slender, tall, exotic looking. She used her looks to lure traveling gentlemen into a compromising position in some lavish hotel for the weekend. After she had her fill of fun with the men, giving promises of love and faith, and after being treated to all the luxuries they had to offer, she would often slip away with artifacts of theirs to hold her over until the next man came along. She would pawn their watches, or steal their money to keep off the streets until she could lure in another unsuspecting gent. But little did she know that this scheme would eventually lead to her the Americas. After almost five years of living off of gullible and horny men, she stumbled across a man that could offer her more than just a few shopping sprees, and late night hotel rendezvous. A man named James Stanford was traveling to Spain for a business trip. He owned a global trading company that required him to travel frequently. After a long day of business deals James sat in his hotel’s lounge to wind down from the day with a drink and cigar. He spotted Cecilia sitting at the bar all alone. She stared at him intently for a few minutes, occasionally making eye contact with the elderly gentleman. He eventually worked up the courage to go talk to her, even though he could tell he was about 30 years her elder. After flirting and making polite conversation for about half an hour, he was already madly in love. They spent the rest of his business week together only parting each other’s sides when he needed to attend a private meetings. Usually after about four days of spoils Cecilia would have slipped away during one of his meetings, never to be seen again. But she was a smart girl and saw her opportunity. He offered to bring her back to the U.S. with him when the week was done, and she accepted. She followed him back to upstate New York and moved into his multimillion-dollar home with him. A few weeks later they were to be married, and she began helping him with his company. After five years of being happily married, a tragedy struck. One evening while they were home alone, burglars broke in and things went very wrong. Cecilia reported to the police the next morning that three large men broke into their house, not knowing it was currently occupied. She reported that she got shoved through a grass door by one of the men, and woke up the nest morning after spending the whole night unconscious. When she awoke, despite her injuries, she ran around the house searching for her husband. She called 911 when she could not find him, and it was on this call that emergency operators could hear her finding her husband’s shattered body in the pool outside. When police arrived they found Cecilia kneeling by the pool in shock, covered in he own blood. When she was pushed through the door a large piece of glass cut her from the bottom of her left lower back, up to almost above her right hip. They found James’ body still floating in the pool with four gunshots in his chest. The police are still investigating the break in; there are some inconsistencies in the story. But for now, Cecilia has taken over her husband’s estate and company and seems to have already coped with the death of her “beloved” spouse.