RHYS BOWEN: one of the great thrills about writing the Venice Sketchbook (apart from going to Venice, strictly for research purposes of course), was that the publisher used one of my own sketches as part of the cover. There it is, inside the dust cover. I know I’ve had many books published and I still get a thrill from seeing them on a bookstore shelves, but this is a special excitement because it’s not my professional skill, but my amateur hobby.
I have always drawn and painted. In my teens I would paint dramatic landscapes with dying trees and red sunsets. As an adult I have taken life drawing and lots of watercolor classes. It’s still a medium I am trying to master. But my greatest joy is taking my sketchbook when we travel and capturing the places we visit. When I look at those sketches I am taken back to the place where I painted them so much more vividly than a photograph would have done.
It struck me recently that my recent characters have been artists: Hugo in the Tuscan Child went to Florence to study art. Juliet and Caroline in The Venice Sketchbook are both artists. Is this me living vicariously?
And it got me thinking about what other personal details I have given to my characters: Evan shared my Welsh heritage. I have never been an Irish immigrant or related to the royal family but my series heroines do have some things in common with me: Molly Murphy is feisty with a strong sense of justice--very much like me. Lady Georgie tends to be clumsy when stressed. Again like me. And they both wind up with a roguish Irishman with unruly dark hair. Interesting. My husband is quarter Irish, related to Irish nobility and with the striking features of the Black Irish and was very handsome with dark wavy hair when I first met him.
So how about you, Reds? Have you given your characters any of your skills, talents, hobbies? Have you given them professions you wish you had tried yourself?
I know that food is important to Lucy and Hallie and that translates to your books. It’s funny but some of my books (The Venice Sketchbook, The Tuscan Child, Above the Bay of Angels) have a heavy focus on food and cooking and I’ve received letters asking for recipes and whether I am a cook. The honest truth is that I love to eat but I really don’t enjoy cooking much.
Julia, did you ever think of becoming an Episcopal priest?
And have you given them any of your own characteristics, strengths or weaknesses?
Confession time!
HALLIE EPHRON: In all of my books there are echoes of me-ness. Absolutely.
Professional organizer Emily in CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is a former teacher who loved teaching but got burned out by all the testing. That’s completely me. She lives basically where I live, eats what I eat, wears what I wear, and drives what I drive. She’s married to a guy who can’t pass a yard sale without stopping. DING DING DING!
On the other hand, I can’t imagine helping other people get organized since I’ve got my hands full organizing myself.
JENN McKINLAY: What a great question, Rhys! I love that your sketch was included in your book. I do think I give my characters bits and pieces of me. A love of pastry leaps to mind in the cupcake series. Of course, a love of libraries is in the library series. And my love of travel comes out in my rom-coms and my mysteries - Ireland, France, and Italy, in Paris is Always a Good Idea, for example. That is probably the attribute that is found in most of my books that comes from my own wanderlust. Where does Jenn want to go? I wonder if I can sell a romcom set in Japan since that is my next big trip...I hope, I hope, I hope.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Never been called to the priesthood, Rhys, but I am a cradle Episcopalian, and my love for (and sometimes exasperation with) my church is definitely a strong thread in my writing. I feel I went the other way when creating Clare - I tried to make her more of my opposite. She loves coffee, while I drink only tea (but we both use too much sugar.) She’s very physically daring, and I’m not. She cooks as a hobby, while I, now that I no longer have to make meals for five every night, am scarcely touching the oven and rangetop.
When I started writing the series, I was just a few years older than Clare, and I did feel like her in many ways. At this point, I’ve shot well past Russ’s age, and so I’m starting to resemble him a lot more! Next step, I become a senior citizen activist, like his mother.
Oh, and for those who want to know about the sex-on-the-kitchen table scene… I’ll never tell. ;-)
RHYS: Julia, there have been some interesting experimental scenes conducted as research in this household over the years too. My lips are also sealed.
LUCY BURDETTE: You nailed it with the food question, Rhys. I love to eat and talk about food and write about it too. My husband will tell you that it’s Hayley Snow who’s pushed me to be a better cook, rather than the other way around. You may have noticed that there are a lot of pets on Houseboat Row--and that Hayley is devoted to her cat Evinrude. Absolutely true for me too, I have a powerful pet gene inherited from my mother. My two earlier series had a lot of me in them as well. I aspired desperately to be a great golfer, and gave that (and a lot more talent) to Cassie. And Rebecca was a clinical psychologist who attended the Congregational church. All me of course!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: When I started writing Duncan and Gemma, I had a lot of empathy with Gemma's situation. During those early writing years, I went through a divorce, as both Gemma and Duncan had, and was taking care of my daughter, as Gemma was Toby. But I very deliberately wanted Gemma to be more outspoken and confident. (Not to mention taller and thinner…) Since then I've put my characters in places I loved and have lived, like Cheshire and Scotland. I've given them dogs and cats (my animal loving gene) and an interest in food and drink. There is a lot of wish fulfilment--I've written characters who were artists and musicians and professional chefs, all things I would love to be able to do myself! Of course what I really wanted was to be English and live in London, so being able to do that vicariously has been a real gift.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ha. Ha. Nope, the reporters, who are in ALL of my books, are nothing like me. Interesting thing: when I was writing Prime Time, early early on, main character Charlie had to drive somewhere. I thought, oh, no, she hates driving. ANd my brain said: Are you kidding me? YOU hate driving. Charlie is Charlie. She doesn't have to hate driving. Readers, it was a revelation. So I allowed Charlie to be a really good driver, and she enjoys it, and that was truly fun.
But I also have to say, I consciously make my reporters NOT me. They do what THEY would do. But being a real-life reporter, I know all the options!
In fact, a character in Her Perfect Life is SO not me, AT ALL, but I am worried people will think she is. We shall see.
RHYS: So dear friends, who are also writers--do you put parts of yourself into your characters? And dear friends who are readers--do you like to learn from characters' hobbies? Baking recipes?
