RHYS BOWEN: Whenever I am interviewed I'm always asked if my protagonists are based on anyone--especially me. I'm sure the rest of the Reds have experienced the same thing. And I always answer that I wanted Molly Murphy to have my strong sense of justice, inability to shut up when she should stay silent. She's not always wise when she barges forward. A little like me, I have to confess. For example: I was in a supermarket parking lot before Christmas when a man came toward me. He was skinny with long stringy hair and he was holding a Big Gulp in one hand. "Can you give me some money for food?" he asked. "No, I'm sorry. I can't," I replied. "Then I'll just take your purse," he said. I was holding my keys in my right hand. I stepped up, in his face, and pointed my keys at him. "I'd like to see you try," I said in my menacing voice.
He backed away. "I could," he said. "I could take your purse." And then he ran. I was so pleased with myself. I knew now that if I was in real danger I could go for a man's eyes. But was I wise? It was daylight. And it was a store parking lot. Molly Murphy is a lot like that.
This was the first sketch of Lady Georgie, by the artist who does all my covers. She looks a lot more poised and glamorous than me, doesn't she? And other thing. She's a twenty-something royal. When I started the series I just wanted a naive, innocent character who is trying to survive on her own in a difficult world. She is royal, but penniless, with nowhere really to call home. Then I discovered that she has a tendency to become clumsy when she's under stress. And embarrassing things happen to her. Who could that be like? Uh--me? Remember that scene in the first book when she is modeling an outfit for a rich client and she puts two legs into one half of a culotte? Yes. That happened to me. It ended my very brief modeling career.
So since then poor Georgie has had to suffer more and more with embarrassing incidents that her creator has actually endured. She's terrified of knocking something over at Buckingham Palace. When I did a tour of the palace a few years ago I kept looking at priceless antiques and thinking, "Do not go anywhere near that!"
You'd think that confident, successful older woman would never have embarrassing moments, wouldn't you? Well, I was writing at my desk when I looked at the time and realized I was running late for an ortho appointment on my knee. And I was wearing jeans. I rushed upstairs, grabbed a dress from the closet and put it on. Then I drove to the ortho office. I was standing in line, in a crowded office, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. "I don't know if I should mention this," the woman behind me whispered, "but you have your dress on inside out."
Oh, the mortification!
The trouble is that things like this happen to me on a regular basis. In a hotel room, washing my hair before a car comes for me to take me to a signing, AND I put the body lotion on my hair instead of the conditioner. Do you know how long it takes to get body lotion out of your hair?
So poor Georgie. Any time one of these things happens to me I think, AHA. Now she's going to suffer too.
But at least it makes her real and identifiable. One of the nicest things ever said to me was a fan who wrote, "I've just seen your picture and until then I thought you were the same age as Georgie!"
Of course I wanted to write back saying, "What do you mean? We're almost the same age. I've just been out in the sun more than she has."
But all the same, I was pleased.
So dear Reds: have your characters acquired any of your traits? Did you model any of them on you? Confession time.
LUCY BURDETTE: I've had three main protagonists, Cassie the golfer, Rebecca the psychologist, and Hayley Snow, food critic. Cassie, of course, had the athletic talent that I yearned for. The psychologist and I had lots in common--our therapy practices in New Haven, good girlfriends, love of good food, interest in what makes people tick. Hayley and I both adore Key West, though I'm not inclined to live on a houseboat (I get easily seasick!) She loves to eat as I do, and has surrounded herself with good friends and pets. However, two ways in which I'm different from all three--if I stumbled over a clue or a body, I'd turn it over to the police instantly. I'm a chicken. (And wow, kudos to you Rhys for scaring that guy off!) And I have a much happier relationship/marriage--though hopefully Hayley is headed that way too...
JENN MCKINLAY: Yikes! If I'm ever in another bar fight, I want you to have my back, Rhys! As to your question, with seven series in various genres, I can honestly say I don't think any of my characters are much like me. They may have bits and pieces. My temper crops up in my sidekicks, my love of pastries pops up in most every book, and the book lover in me oozes out in several of the series but overall my characters walk fully formed into my head, their own unique beings. Rather like my children, actually, I'm just the birth giver.
HALLIE EPHRON: I DO think most of my characters are like me. From the 90-year-old woman in THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN to the pregnant 30-something in NEVER TELL A LIE. Just at different points in my life, and imagining different circumstances. My new book CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is about a professional organizer--something which I could never be. Never never never in a million years. I organized my sock drawer and then gave up. But I SO get why someone would.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yikes, Rhys! Superhero. (How did you feel afterward?) Anyway, I've spent years denying that Charlotte McNally is me--of course she is. Kind of. But she's not only a better driver--because she's younger, and grew up at a different time than I did, she's more confident. Jane Ryland--no, She's a reporter like I am, but she's 33 now, and I was 33 long ago, and that's a different 33. Mercer Hennessey? Not me at all, except for the analytical thinking. Ashlyn Bryant? Sure--the part that can see a different side of every story. And Rachel North in the upcoming The Murder List? I'll adore to hear what you all think.
But bottom line I think there's got to be some of each of us in every character. Because they come from us.
RHYS: That is such an astute comment, Hank. Of course our characters often react as we would because they come from our heads.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys! You are always so poised! I never would think of you as clumsy or awkward, but I love hearing how Georgie has evolved. Isn't it interesting how our protagonists--and our perception of our protagonists--changes over time? I know in the very beginning I thought that Duncan was like me in many ways. He's a little introspective but has good people skills. He likes to think before he acts, he's not quick to form opinions or pass judgement. Gemma, on the other hand, I set out to make very different from me in personality. She's more confident, has no trouble speaking up for herself. She's very outgoing, less analytical, and is very quick to connect with people but also to pass judgement, perhaps prematurely. Over the series, however, I think they both have just become themselves, with their own very distinct histories and backgrounds that help form who they are. I certainly never think about either Melody or Doug being anything like me, although I'm sure they are in some ways. As Hank so wisely says, all of our characters (even the bad ones) have something of us in them or we couldn't write them.
So, fellow writers out there: are your characters like you? Have they taken on your traits as you write? And readers--as you read our books do you find yourself thinking, "Yes, I can see Hank saying that."
