Inside scoop

As the year anniversary of Half A Life’s publication is rapidly approaching, I have challenged myself to post a little inside tidbit about the book each day on my Facebook page. Of course, then I realized, why am I not doing it on my blog too? So here are the first two posts.

Inside Scoop #1. The characters of Sarah and Christian were originally named Natasha and Christian and based off a real couple. A very long time ago, I worked with Natasha. Her boyfriend used to come into the library we worked at and we’d always make it a point to talk. As I got to know them better, I was always impressed with how much in love they seemed. As I started toying with ideas for the story, I decided I wanted to use them as inspiration. The name change for Natasha came when the story changed from an adult themed story to a teen one.

Inside scoop #2. Another character insider … Psycho Karen was based on a real person. During my last couple years of high school there was a girl who did many of the things Karen does to Ben. She would follow me around and take photos of me, she would show up at the place I worked, and would randomly show up at my house. Even after I told her that I was never going to be interested in her because I was gay, it didn’t deter her (as she told friends that she would be able to change me and make me straight). I don’t remember how I finally got her to leave me alone, but as I was writing Half A Life and knew that I needed someone other than the person I originally had to be the “bad guy", somehow this person came to mind and it just worked.