Meet Faye and Stella.While every story needs a protagonist, I...

Meet Faye and Stella.

While every story needs a protagonist, I got mad greedy and gave mine two.

I might have mentioned before, but ‘PULSE: The Trial’ started out as a flashback from ‘PULSE: Moonlighter’. Each time it was relevant, I would flash back to that excruciating Trial. As I got further into planning, that backstory excited me so much I decided to write ‘The Trial’ as its own standalone/prequel which eventually just became book 1. Also, f**k flashbacks. They ruined Arrow series 3 and 4. Sorry Stephen.

And so, these more spritely, youthful and untested versions of Stella and Faye came to life.

Faye, the humble, level-headed, forward-thinking fighter. And Stella, the feisty, headstrong, sharp-tongued athlete. A classic combination. As I go to great lengths to show in the book, these two rely on each other. Not just in combat or class, but in every aspect of life.

Stella’s is the family that orphaned Faye never had. And friendless Stella found the only person who wanted to put up with her was Faye. When one needs pushing the other drives them forward. And when one needs pulling, the other hauls them along.

I think that’s an important and often overlooked part of friendships. Sometimes we look for ourselves in our friends. Common interests or similar experiences that we can use to relate. But more often than not, it’s the friend that has something you don’t that can be the most relatable. As an individual, your strengths and weaknesses are always on show. But in a friendship or a group of friends, we can mask our own shortcomings within the talents of the collective.

It can be both the most amazing and, in turn, the most damaging kind of relationship we can ever hope to have. The Trial is my best attempt at showing the ups and downs of that kind of love and dependence. You can decide for yourself whether it’s successful of course!

But I digress. The only real purpose of this post was to show off this badass artwork. Books are a tough sell. You get a cover and a blurb and the first few sentences to persuade people to part with their hard earned cash. All the other visuals are in the readers head. Well, I thought I could help grow the PULSE universe and make things a little more enticing by showing off how these characters actually look in my head.

The only problem is, I draw like a 4-year-old chimpanzee taking a banana to piece of paper. That’s where Holly came in. All I did was tempt her with the idea of a world where women kicked ass all day long and the promise of an emotional rollercoaster.

She agreed to take the ride and when she got off, dizzy and faint-legged, her pencils (and incredible talent) did the rest. The fantastic thing about working with Holly is how invested she is. She took the time to understand the characters. She didn’t design them using the descriptions in the book. She read their backstories, noted down the most important parts of each of their personality and really brought them to life.

It’s the little things, like knowing how Stella values form as well as function or nailing the way Faye dresses more modestly as an orphan. I’m sure that a lot of people can draw, but Holly… she’s an artist.

You can check out more of Holly’s work on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Happy Monday!