The idea for this blog came when I learned The Henge Betrayed -- Refuge was released yesterday by Mundania. The characters in the book are one I know -- my grandchildren. But this was not my first foray into basing a character on someone I knew. Years ago when I was writing "sweet nurse romances" I needed a very fussy character who drove ten miles below the speed limit. My much loved aunt fit the description and so I used some of her endearing characteristics. When the book was released I really worried that she would recognize herself and be upset. She never did and I was thankful for that. Actually she thought the character was amusing and one of her favorites.
Have you ever based a character on someone you know only to have them never recognize what you have done?
Now my grandchildren know they're in the Henge books but they know not all that makes up the characters is them. They understand fiction and how a writer changes things. My youngest grandson will be so psyched to know before long he will be receiving a copy of Refuge. He will take it to school and tell everyone he's in a book that his grandmother wrote.
The young people in this series, Ashlea -- Air, Brandien- Water, Jaydren - Earth and Kylandra - Fire. Their elements in the book point to their Astrological signs and fit the way I often form my characters. A fifth grandchild - Sydli will find her way into the third book in the series, the way she found her way into our lives. She's Air and so is her birthday.
If you've used someone and they know you have, how do they react?
Now for a bit of promo about the new release.
Refuge
Jane Lane Walters
The Henge Betrayed Book 2
Ebook
978-1-59426-331-6
$4.99
Trade Paperback
978-1-59426-330-9
$13.95
256 pages
The adventure begun in Flight continues. Ash, Bran, Ky, and Jay, led
by the mysterious birds they believe are their parents, find refuge
with a doma while they await the arrival of their friend, Zand.
The doma plans to take them to safety in the highlands but news of the
capture of two friends by "He who walks with evil" sends them on a
rescue mission.
They soon realize their powers are not strong enough to defeat the
evil dom, but they must find a way to succeed, or risk seeing their
friends corrupted forever.
I have an opposite experience. My sister thought she was the older sister, Jackie in "Carly's Ghost" (Book 1 in The Road to Weird). She wasn't. She was derived from the stories a friend once told me about her childhood, though I haven't seen her in over 25 yrs, so I don't know if she read the book and recognized scenes from her childhood -- probably not.
ReplyDeleteI haven't used anyone I know, except maybe a trait or two that could fit a lot of people. One of my forthcoming books, though, is loosely based on my mother's life and it has the same children though what happens in the story is part fact and part fiction. None of them are alive today.
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