by Inge Saunders
Dance of Love
All roads lead to Rome when Ashley
Solomons embarks on fulfilling her dream to become a world-class dancer. But
there’s one person who stands in her way. “It`s a no from me,” Antonio
Machiavelli.
When Antonio’s auditions for a lead
principal end in wintry Cape Town, the last thing he expects is to have more
than a knee-jerk reaction to an audition. Ashley not only verbally challenges
him, but also translates her fire and cheekiness into an edge of your seat
performance.
Can Antonio keep his
distance from Ashley? Can Ashley focus on fulfilling her dream of becoming a
lead principal? Or will love have its way?
Ashley
Solomons, the heroine of my latest book Dance of Love, is based on a real person. And not
a friend or family member, more an acquaintance. I’d gone so far as to even
derive the first name of the character from them to keep me grounded in the
‘mind’ of the person she’s based on. Of course, I can add loosely, but that wouldn’t be truthful.
From
the moment I met this person I was fascinated by her, from our interactions I
assumed her to be several years younger than me. As it turns out, I`m several
years younger. I constantly asked myself, "how can someone be so…naïve." And I
don’t mean that in a derogative way, more in an "I’m viewing an alien from
another planet" way (which also doesn’t sound good).
I
met her three years ago and bonded over our shared writing journey. It was fun
to have someone in the trenches with me. We’d email each other updates, share
industry tips and also beta read for each other. And here’s another little
nugget, we’re in the same writing group *finger on lips*
Now
it’s becoming juicy, right? Oh
I'm so going to get it when I'm done here!
Those
who follow my blog (click HERE) know I’ve shared my struggle with writing
Ashley, because we are such different people. My most comfortable female
characters are the strong sassy, smart, funny and confident types. Not the I’m
going to barf all over your shoes because I have stage fright types. *spoiler
alert* Uh yeah, that happens in the book.
As
New Adult heroines go, Ashley’s at that phase of her life where she’s carving
out her place in the world, trying to work out who she is and where she fits
in, AND having to deal with falling in love for the first time. Tough. Certainly
not easy at any age, but at twenty-three Ashley fits neatly into this category.
She’s uncertain of herself, even though tremendously talented, doesn’t quite
believe it.
She’s
insecure and though she’s got a bit of spunk, her lack of confidence can trip
her up. I literally had to hold myself back from making this character too
vocal, too assured and knowing, by walking away from my laptop. I would take a
walk, make coffee, watch E-News (don’t throw virtual rotten tomatoes at me),
then I’d read an email from this acquaintance and the character would slot back
into place.
I
feel like I should write her a letter to tell her she’s the inspiration for a
character that I developed a deep respect and liking for. ‘Ashley’ taught me
how to write characters that are as far from each other as Princess Kate,
Duchess of Cambridge aka Royal Mother of future King of England, is from Kim K
from the House of Kardashian, now House of Kanye West. As a writer this is a
great lesson. We’re constantly required to reinvent with every book we write. And
now I’m not talking about voice and writing style, I’m referring to characters
who can’t be distinguished from each other. The heroines and heroes read the same in every
book the author writes.
So
how do you break from that? Base them on real people. I know. What if they find out? *whispers*
Well
two things can happen: either it’s a compliment, or they kick you from here to
next Tuesday. Of course, it all depends on what you do with the character. In my
first novel I told my cousin, "Look I`m going to borrow your name for the
man-stealing harpy, and your hair and your long legs, but not your
personality."
She sent me a text back, "Oh, okay." When she read the book, she
laughed. And here’s the thing; art does
imitate life. I wrote two sisters in that story too and without realizing, I
gave the eldest sister some of my sister’s quirks.
I
realized these ‘real life’ aspects made my stories much richer and interesting
to me as the author. I love "messing" around with real people on paper *smile*
So
my writing tip; use one real person, for one whole character of your story. See
what happens *grin*
No comments:
Post a Comment