Where do the characters come from?
(Nina Foxx)

Truthfully, I have no idea. People approach me all the time and ask me how I wrote them and I always assure them that I did not.

My mind is a strange and funny place, although real people always inspire me. While writing NO GIRL NEEDS A HUSBAND SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, I was having trouble with one of the characters, namely Marie. She was always searching for something better, even in her marriage.

I went to dinner with a reporter and her friends, while out of town, and found all the inspiration I needed. It was great to listen to someone's ideas about marriage and romance that were so different than my own.

This was an eclectic group, and the conversation at the table had me quickly imagining Marie sitting among us, putting in her two cents.

Usually, the imagining of the character stops there. I do generally know what job they have and basic motivations, but I was challenged even further recently when I had to take a character from another book, MARRYING UP, and figure out what they would wear.

I had to pick wardrobe for MARRYING UP, the stage play, and physically go shopping for each character, defining their personalities even further. I felt like I was in a science fiction novel, as if I'd somehow spilled water on the page and a person inflated, becoming 3-D. I then gave them an electric shock and they jumped off the page and ran right on
to the stage.

It was an amazing experience. Would I do it again?

Absolutely. I plan to next year, but in the meantime, I gotta get back to writing the next set of people. Not your life, mind you...

All the best,

Nina