I remember sitting at the Salt Lake airport watching a young mother and her child interact while secretly took note of their dialog. What can I say? I've not had the pleasure of having children and when I get around them, I'm fascinated by how they think. I guess I thought they would be babified or something. I'm always shocked by little ones who express such forthright opinions about their surroundings. Did I do that? I seriously doubt it.When I am building my story - because I'm a pantser, which means I write by the seat of my pants, literally, from start to finish - the characters come to me and take the lead. It's like I'm a biographer to them. Naturally with this organic style of writing, characters from my own life always show up and inform the story, so to speak.
One such character is Freddie, the unhandy-handyman who was an inevitable addition to Storm Lake. He appears in all the Storm Lake books and is crafted from Mr. Quinn who is unfortunately challenged in that department. There's so much fodder there, but don't tell him. He probably wouldn't recognize himself in the character who falls down chimneys, builds crooked shelves, and inevitably breaks something in the process of repairing it.As Ridge Romano says in Merry Christmas, Baby "If it can be done backward, inside-out, upside-down Freddie's a natural."
Years ago, Mr. Quinn and I attempted to build a dog house. It just kept getting bigger and bigger until it was too big to even move it from the spot on which it was built. It was more like a guest house, ;)
The DH's ex has also stormed onto the pages in the Destiny books and Hard Days Knight. If you've read those books I'd be curious if you could recognize her. Let me know if you do!
Does life imitate art or vice-versa? What do you think?
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