Drew on writing

Drew on meeting one of your characters in real life Have you ever written an imaginary character, then moved to a new town and come face to face with your character in real life? We did. We being Mik (my wife and co-author) and I.

Just as well our character is delightful. In fact, she's one my favorite characters in the Two Old Twitchers series - and if you've read book one (the cuckoo in the nest), you'll love what happens with her in book two (the grouse that ate the eagle).

Here's how we me our character in real life.
We moved into a teeny tiny town where nothing goes unnoticed or unreported to the rest of the town. Seriously. Nothing. We had already written the first book of our Two Old Twitchers series (A Cuckoo In The Nest) and with it, the character of Gabriella (Gabby) Raines.

If you haven't read the book, here’s how Mik described Gabby when she first dreamed her up years before we moved here:

Only a few of the sold out stickers remained tucked under her arm and an out-of-control nest of dark curls bounced above her head as she walked, her brown sparkling eyes taking in every detail of her surroundings at breakneck speed. She fished a note pad out of her handbag and checked the next item on her list. Suddenly, her head sprung up, seemingly of its own accord, her legs stopping her dead in her tracks. She tilted her head slightly, like an animal sniffing the air, except her eyes were darting around trying to feed her conscious mind with the information it sought. Something was wrong. Out of place. Where? What was it? 

She became aware that she was standing next to the town Library’s big display window. A frown spread across her face and she gave her full attention to the display. The large cardboard cutout of Tom and Charles posing with camera and binoculars was surrounded by a collection of general bird watching books. 

Gabriella’s legs kicked into life, almost leaving her body behind, and marched her into the library. 

Jane Dawson, the younger of the two librarians, tried desperately to get out of Gabriella’s line of sight.

“Jane,” Gabriella called out with an alarmingly loud, hyper-cheery voice, “that display needs a darn good seeing to. I don’t know what you were thinking.” 

Jane took an involuntary step back, always having the feeling that at any moment, Gabriella’s high pitched voice would go super-sonic and cause her head to explode.

“This book here,” Gabriella continued, grabbing a book from the window display, “has no relevance to the two gentlemen in the big cutout.” Her free hand waved wildly at the cutout of Tom and Charles. “Jane you must help me to remedy this immediately. We will make this a proper feature. Worthy of Pigeonwood’s latest residents.”

No matter how invasive Gabriella could be, it was impossible to take real offence, with that super-happy voice emanating from that super-happy face. If it wasn’t for the fact that Gabriella had been that way since birth, one would almost think her manic nature was chemically induced. 

End of excerpt.

Now, we love Gabby as a character, but imagine the fright we got when we arrived and were introduced to Gabby in person! (Not by name, thank goodness, but, well, let me describe the woman who is now a friend of ours, and whom we adore, but whom I have also managed so far to avoid showing the book.)

She is a delightfully cheery woman, with a super cheery voice and a super cheery smile and a head of dark bouncy curls. And she’s even the same height we imagined Gabby to be.

Mik and I looked at each other, slightly alarmed. When our of earshot, Mik said, “she can never know about the book!”

We live in a small town. We should have known that was never going to happen.

Friends of ours have also long been friends of this wonderful lady. And yes, she certainly is a lady. She has taste. She has style. She also happens to be a mirror image of Gabby Raines.

One day, said friends read that bit I just gave you from the book and instantly whooped with delight in the light of recognition.

And promptly shared that delight with real Gabby. Who, one morning, marched up to me, gave me a megawatt smile, used my full name (soooo Gabby) and informed me that she had been informed that I had a most interesting book that she would be most interested in knowing more about.

I was caught in the headlights.

Mik abandoned me with speed. She didn’t even try to pretend she suddenly had something come up. I expected to hear a cock crow three times.

Gulping, then clearing my throat, I tried to speak.

“Now, before we continue,” I began, noting how incredibly dry my throat felt, “I must inform you that we wrote the book I think you’re asking about looong before we came here. Okay?”

Her smile remained on high beam.

Amazing how disconcerting that is when directed at you without so much as a flicker.

I then proceeded to confess all and say that I will show her one day. As long as she remembered how we had written this character waaaaaay before we met her. Ahem.

Mercifully, the Chairman of the meeting we were awaiting called the gathering to attention and I was off the hook.

Since then, I’ve managed to keep all conversations far, far away from the book.

Thankfully, she’s not a big internet user.

Could she be reading this right now?

Possibly.

So… if you are, our dear friend, I shall share an even more freaky conclusion to this tale:

Think back one night to a moment when you spotted the gangly young son of two of our mutual friends (who worked with one of your sons), standing at the back of a hall with slightly shaggy hair. You went up to him, cocked your head, then plainly told him he needed to improve his grooming.

Nothing much in that, but…I shall leave you to smile knowingly at this mini scene between Gabby and Maggie in the library, also written before we knew each other (and remember, we love you): 

Gabriella Raines had run out of books for her revamped Two Old Twitchers display and was looking for Jane. Her ever appraising eyes took in Maggie at a glance. Gabriella stopped and framed Maggie with her hands.

“You know Margaret, you’d be very pretty if you tried.”

Maggie took the new card. “I really need to go.”

Gabriella looked around. “Jane? Jaaaane?” 

Maggie gritted her teeth and made for the door.

Like a poodle on a hot scent, Gabriella set off toward the non-fiction section, located just past the westerns.


Drew