I recently had a reader ask me two questions: where I get my ideas for heroines, and how much my heroines are like me. The questions reminded me of about twenty years ago when, after meeting my critique partner in person for the first time and having an hours long chat (we had previously only edited books online), she remarked, “Your heroines make so much more sense now.”
Insert grimace face emoji here. We’re still writing partners and the best of friends.
But in response to both my reader’s questions and my writing partner’s initial observations, here’s how my heroines are very much like me:
1. Daria (Mercury, Warrior Lover Father): I am a total dyed-in-the-wool introvert, like Daria, and know what it’s like to have major panic attacks before having to speak in public.
2. Vanessa (Church Mouse on his Motorcycle): Like Vanessa, I too have a list of unconventional and quirky things I want to do in life. I’ve long since graduated from school but now try to tick off one thing a year.
3. Savannah (Russian Swirl): Similar to Savannah, I (ahem) have been rumored to go on (totally justified) angry rampages.
4. Evie (Her SEAL to Slay Dragons): Yup, I can relate to all of Evie’s sexual hang-ups. I learned them from growing up in a strict Caribbean culture. Nuff said.
5. Mary Jane (Weekend Warrior): I have a temperament like MJ and have had that moment when I got so fed up with the people in my house, I got up and left. Apparently, I get that from my mother who would do the same. One day my sisters and I woke up, to find she’d gone back to Trinidad for two weeks: leaving us at the mercy of our father and grandmother.
6. Martha (Campus SEAL): I am no stranger to imposter syndrome and constantly struggle with it.
7. Samara (Marriage of Inconvenience): I must admit, on more than one occasion, out of financial desperation, I came up with some completely ridiculous ideas on how to make some fast money. And no, they never worked. At least not for long anyway.
Hannah (Marriage of Inconvenience): My struggle with online dating sites was real. See Georgia for all the reasons why I ventured into online dating in the first place.
8. Georgia (Her Moment with the King): I have lived through Georgia’s fall from grace due to ageism and divorce humiliation. Ugh.
