Cold Day Dawning - who is Antoni?
Cold Day Dawning isout in the world and getting a great reaction – always a relief. I thought I’dshare a little bit of my writing process and how I came to create one of themain characters Antoni Nowak.
Antoni was easy in a way as he had alreadyappeared in a supporting role in the previous book Deep Waters. Imake detailed notes and bios of all my characters, so I already knew hisbackstory. The challenge this time was to discover how his injuries in the lastbook had impacted upon him.
Antoni is a photographer who runs a gallery inthe town centre with his brother Roger. He was left in a critical condition atthe end of Deep Waters with serious injuries. When we meet himagain, his physical wounds have healed but the mental scars have left a morelasting impact. He suffers from anxiety attacks, lack of appetite and hastrouble sleeping, but he’s a survivor and is slowly rebuilding his life withsupport from his family and friends.
I found myself digging deep into my own pastfor this. I went through an event in 2012 that left me with PTSD for a severalyears afterwards. While my own experience was more psychological than physical,I was able to tap into that to address Antoni’s circumstances in this book.
I plan all of my stories and characters inproject books. No modern software or folder structures for me – it’s all doneon pen and paper. I use a lot of actors and models to give the physicalfeatures for the characters. Again, I’m very old school with this, printing andcutting out photos of people I like.
So Antoni already had a detailed bio andphysical description from my Deep Waters story notes. For thisbook I had to update them with what he’d been through since and where he wasright now.
When Antoni meets handsome Dalton Caine at aparty, it seems like his life is about to take a turn for the better. But asthey get to know each other and their relationship develops, Antoni and Daltonare plunged into a twisted mystery that put both their lives at risk.
I’m so proud of Cold Day Dawning andthe character of Antoni. I enjoy romance and suspense in equal measures andfeel I hit it just right in this book.
