Dearest Readers,
We are pleased to debut Short Story Saturday today! Today’s feature is One Plus One Equals Three, Part I. You will meet Brady, Nicole and Daniella in Part I and you will find Brady likes both of these women and, like guys throughout human history, Brady is having a difficult time deciding which one to ask out. Part II will run in a couple of weeks. If you haven’t already, click here to read a preview and click here to subscribe.
Deciding whether to base a character on someone you know or to start from scratch is one of the writer’s most basic dilemmas and there is not a hard and fast rule. My advice is to trust your instincts.
In One Plus One Equals Three, the characters you meet a bit of both. The ladies, Nicole and Daniella, are named for, and based on, two women I knew who worked in a bank. They have the jobs and the descriptions you read about and they more or less act how I have them acting. I was never particularly close with them, but I always enjoyed the time I spent with them. A story of this sort had been knocking around my mind for a while and when I met these two they immediately asserted themselves as the perfect women for this story.
This was not true with the male lead. No one guy I knew screamed out as perfect for this, not even that rascal Benjamin from The Benjamin Chronicles, and when this happens making up a character from scratch is easy, because that is where the character is taking you. A writer can either fight it or roll with it and I have found it is best to roll with it because a writer must not force things in this regard. Characters must be allowed to become what they are meant to become and not be obliged to fit into whatever pigeonhole the writer wants to slot them into.
And one thing I’ve learned over the years is don’t bother telling someone when you’ve based a character after them, especially if you write smut, like I do. So Nicole and Daniella will have no idea of their starring roles. My experience is the person will not like the way the character turned out because there is no way your interpretation of them is even close to how they view themselves, and if they do not come off as utter and complete heroes they will be disappointed in the character they inspired.
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy Short Story Saturday.
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn K