The Big Lie Every Author Tells

You see it in every book you pick up – the disclaimer: Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, actual events or locations is purely coincidental and not intended by the authors.

Which is kind of true. Sort of. Maybe. Mostly. But no author is pulling everything out of their… imagination. The ideas have to come from somewhere, right?

I’ll be the first one to admit that I put a little piece of myself in every book. Take my Callaghan croies, for example.

Taryn from Dangerous Secrets? I’m partial to heavy metal and often play it loudly with the windows open while cruising back country roads.

Lexi from First and Only shares my mixed heritage of Irish and Greek ancestry (father’s side Irish, mother’s side Greek).

And Maggie, well… Maggie’s intense distrust/dislike of doctors is an amplified version of my own. No offense, people in the medical profession. Outside the office, most of you are really cool and I like hanging out with you. Inside the office… not so much.

But I digress.

So… yeah. My characters aren’t completely fictitious.

Are my heroines me? No, not even close. But parts of them are, and I think that’s what makes it possible for so many readers to relate to them. Maybe you see something of yourself in them, or maybe they remind you of someone you know. Maybe they’re struggling with something that you’ve struggled with at some point. They’re not perfect. They’ve got issues, strengths, quirks. Just like all of us.

That’s what I’m shooting for – that thing you can connect with. The one that makes the story resonate and stay with you long after you read the last page.

And if I’ve done that, then I’m happy.

Is there a particular character that resonated with you?