Noor Al-Madina
In the order of literature, as in others, there is no act that is not the coronation of an infinite series of causes and the source of an infinite series of effects.
-Jorge Luis Borges
-Jorge Luis Borges
Name
Noor Jurji Bahadur Al-Madina, PhD
Nicknames
Some people call her Nora. She doesn’t mind it, but she will be mad if she gets a letter addressed to Nora L Medina
Age
42
Gender
Female
Sexual Orientation
Asexual
Occupation
Writer
Appearance
Cat lady might be the best words to describe her aesthetic. Noor doesn’t care much about her personal appearance. She usually dresses in an oversized sweater or sweatshirt paired with practical pants. Her hair is usually very unkempt and messy, when she has to look a little presentable she will tie it into a bun. Poor eyesight runs in her family, so Noor frequently wears thick glasses instead of contact lenses. She’s a little taller than the average woman, but slouches so this fact is rarely noticeable.
Personality
Noor is not a social butterfly. She can get along with people and even form friendships, but it is difficult for her to interact with strangers. She reads whenever she gets the chance, and talking about media is one of the few ways she can find common ground with unfamiliar people. Noor is very methodical and prone to thinking outside of the box, she often starts with ideas that seem strange and gradually works on them until they are less out there.
She frequently appears spaced out, like she’s lost in her own world. She appears this way both when she is paying attention and when she is not, which happens more often than she would like to admit. Noor is very committed to her artistic vision and her own ideals, but is averse to conflict. She tends to change the subject when disputes over this come up, even if they will have to be discussed eventually. She is rarely in a bad mood, but her quiet nature means this is hard to notice.
She frequently appears spaced out, like she’s lost in her own world. She appears this way both when she is paying attention and when she is not, which happens more often than she would like to admit. Noor is very committed to her artistic vision and her own ideals, but is averse to conflict. She tends to change the subject when disputes over this come up, even if they will have to be discussed eventually. She is rarely in a bad mood, but her quiet nature means this is hard to notice.
Likes
- Books
- Philosophy
- Coffee
- Making obscure references
- Cats
- Avant-garde Classical Music
Dislikes
- Right-wing politics
- Braggarts
- Wordiness
- Crowds
- Pushy people
Fears
Being forgotten, being manipulated
Strengths
- Calm
- Knowledgeable
- Slow to anger
- Innovative
Weaknesses
- Tends to put off problems
- Frequently Inattentive
- Rarely compromises
- Poor negotiator
- Dislike socializing
History
Noor grew up in a middle class household in Windsor, Ontario, the second oldest of five. She read frequently, a habit which her parents encouraged, particularly her father, a paralegal who had at one point aspired to a literary career. He never realized his dreams, but did have a quite extensive book collection. From an early age, her taste was eclectic, digging into old classics and modern pulp with equal ease. While she definitely had her favorites, this was when she developed that every genre and nearly every book has strengths that a writer can learn from.
Noor was never comfortable around strangers, and spent most of her time with her family or reading. Plenty of reading and time to study allowed her to earn high marks in school. She went to college at the University of Michigan; this was her first time spending an extended period away from home. It was a stressful experience for her, and she coped by rarely leaving her room. Noor had always wrote a little bit, but it was during her self-imposed isolation that she really began to develop her style.
She finished her undergraduate studies with a dual major in math and English, and went to graduate school. Even though she enjoyed fiction writing, Noor avoided creative writing classes due to her discomfort during the workshopping process, she focused on literary criticism instead. As a post-doc, Noor worked as an adjunct for several universities in the area, in a futile search for a path to tenure.
Over the years, she read and wrote more, and shared her work with a few penpals, several of whom were published authors. With careful study and the advice of those more experienced, she refined her eclectic style and started to get her stories published in a few minor journals. They attracted notice for their metafictional elements and philosophical themes, but she remained relatively obscure.
Her first real break came when she wrote her first novel, Psychic Distance, a psychological novel with elements of magic realism that focuses on a man in country in the midst of a revolution. It received good reviews and minor commercial success, enough to increase interest in the rest of her work. She published a few short stories for several years while she worked on the book that would become her best known work. The Folding of Space was somewhere between a collection of related stories and full-fledged novel, but either way it was greatly praised and won awards. Despite being experimental, it was successful enough for Noor to concentrate on her writing career full-time and marked her as one of the newest members of the literary elite. She’s currently planning her next large-scale work and exploring opportunities.
Noor was never comfortable around strangers, and spent most of her time with her family or reading. Plenty of reading and time to study allowed her to earn high marks in school. She went to college at the University of Michigan; this was her first time spending an extended period away from home. It was a stressful experience for her, and she coped by rarely leaving her room. Noor had always wrote a little bit, but it was during her self-imposed isolation that she really began to develop her style.
She finished her undergraduate studies with a dual major in math and English, and went to graduate school. Even though she enjoyed fiction writing, Noor avoided creative writing classes due to her discomfort during the workshopping process, she focused on literary criticism instead. As a post-doc, Noor worked as an adjunct for several universities in the area, in a futile search for a path to tenure.
Over the years, she read and wrote more, and shared her work with a few penpals, several of whom were published authors. With careful study and the advice of those more experienced, she refined her eclectic style and started to get her stories published in a few minor journals. They attracted notice for their metafictional elements and philosophical themes, but she remained relatively obscure.
Her first real break came when she wrote her first novel, Psychic Distance, a psychological novel with elements of magic realism that focuses on a man in country in the midst of a revolution. It received good reviews and minor commercial success, enough to increase interest in the rest of her work. She published a few short stories for several years while she worked on the book that would become her best known work. The Folding of Space was somewhere between a collection of related stories and full-fledged novel, but either way it was greatly praised and won awards. Despite being experimental, it was successful enough for Noor to concentrate on her writing career full-time and marked her as one of the newest members of the literary elite. She’s currently planning her next large-scale work and exploring opportunities.
Why did you decide to work for this movie?
Noor has always had some interest in film, and has written film criticism before. Studios tend to write her novels off as unfilmable but are still interested seeing what she could come up with working in conjunction with film professionals. She found these offers a lot more tempting when she realized that she would soon be facing a large tax bill due to the complexities of international tax law.
Birthday
August 24th, 1973
Miscellaneous
Into the Wrong Hands or Never Have I Ever. Although it would be funny if she ended up attempting to contribute to the romantic comedy. Also like the Twin Souls idea that clocktower suggested.