Bits Of Me: Characters & Alter-egos
I’m not kidding when I say, in my official Author Bio, that there’s a little bit of me in all the ‘Hart & Cole‘ women.
The photo — which I recently stumbled upon while looking for something else on an old, massive hard drive — was taken circa 2005, when I’d gotten a white rose at a party because I’d been voted best dressed.
I was studying in Lancaster, England at the time. It was one of the best nights I’d had since I got there. I remember the experience was the bright spot of my existence, for a moment.
I’d completely forgotten about that photo, which I took when I got back to my dorm room that day.
Now, seeing it so many years later — and realising the similarities between my own photo and my main character Nicole, it’s uncanny!
A memory of a girl…
I remember when my mom first read the book, eons ago, she commented that I’d written my dream job for my character: a novelist, who was also a journalist.
Here’s the thing… I’m now a published novelist (not quite as accomplished as Nicole, however!). I also have an International Journalism Master’s degree (which is collecting dust as we speak!).
…So my character’s actually done much better than me!
She’s also slim-bodied, super-talented and fashionable and oh-so-sexy. Ha. If only I could be! I’m also totally envious of her main physical characteristic: the huge curly hair. Sigh. I’ve got scanty of this myself, and not for lack of trying.
But the point is, I guess we have to get inspiration from somewhere. Nicole was the first character to POSSESS me like that, to write her story. Like I’ve said before, I’m a pantser; she’s the plotter! I swear, there are parts of the story that I don’t even feel I wrote; I think she did!
So maybe Nicole is my elevated version of myself. Everything to the extreme!
She’s also hella crazy to the extreme, and thankfully I am not. She’s all fiction, of course, and so is her story… but sometimes I wonder if part of her was always rooted in fact.
Writing What You Know…
It’s no wonder I feel her like a presence, like a real person sometimes.
She’s a part of me. I didn’t even realise it consciously while writing her, all those years ago.
Now, when I spot this old photo of myself, after publishing and re-tooling my novel so many times, it feels so concrete that I’ve had this girl in me all along.
So strange, to realise that even back then — 14 years ago, which would’ve been about a year or so after I’d finished my first draft of Climbing The Walls, I knew exactly what Nicole looked like.
I’m glad to learn, in retrospect, that I stayed true to her 15 years later, when putting her likeness on the book cover.
Like I said, there’s parts of me in all the ‘Hart & Cole‘ women, who have been pleading with me for over a decade to do them justice.
My second novel — Book 2: Pandora’s Poison — is almost here (it will be live on Jan 22, 2019), and it focuses on a new female character, Luisa. But Nicole was my first girl, and parts of Nicole’s story are intertwined here in Book 2, and also in Book 3: Pandora’s Price.
Nicole’s not done yet.
…Sometimes, I wonder if she ever will be.
Get Book 1 now on Amazon – free on Kindle Unlimited! And pre-order Book 2 – coming January 22, 2019!
