Jeannette
asked
Scott Hawkins:
First of all, the dork in me can't help but express how amazed and impressed I was with The Library at Mount Char. It's all I've talked about and I feel like no rebound book will be enough. The characters are all so fleshed out and different; I was wondering which characters are based off of or influenced by people you know. And if I can ask another question that is overly personal, which librarian would you be?
Scott Hawkins
Hey Jeannette,
As far as characters who were influenced by people I know--hmm. For the most part, the actual librarians were pretty much 100% fictional. I mean, like any character in any book by any author, they were all derived from me in one way or another, but for the most part the connection was pretty tenuous. Off the top of my head, I don't remember pulling from real people for those guys. Mostly.
There is one exception, however: Carolyn. Early on when I was writing Mount Char, I happened to be in the E.R. of a hospital when a guy having a heart attack came in. It was very Hollywood. A dozen or so doctors and nurses buzzed around, but I gather that it was problem for a specialist. There really wasn't that much they could do.
The specialist in question, a cardiologist, got there maybe 10 minutes later. She wasn't a big woman, she didn't yell or even say much, but the force of her personality just hammered the room. You ever seen those videos where a shark swims through a school of fish? It was sort of like that. Everything in that room just reacted to her. It was about the most badass thing I've seen in real life. I thought about that a lot when I was working on Carolyn.
Erwin is very loosely based on a guy I went to school with. He (the guy's name is Jason) is quite the character himself--absolutely brilliant, a Lt. Col in the Army, a Ph.D in microbiology (or some such) and bone-dry funny. I'd based a character in an unpublished book on him years ago. The Erwin character in Mount Char is based more on that previous character than the actual guy, but you can still see a little resemblance if you squint.
The saintly veterinary staff at the Black Trail Animal Hospital are, again very loosely, based on my actual veterinarians and her crew. They are, in fact, saints. The thing is, I found out after I wrote the book that my vet is a hard core Christian, so I'm not sure how flattered she'd be to know this. I haven't mentioned it.
Which librarian would I be? Well, if I got to choose I'd probably go with "none of the above." It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, and unless you're Carolyn or Michael the retirement plan sucks. That said, Peter (math and cooking) was probably closest to me in real life (comp. sci. degree, like to cook). If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with Michael--I spend a lot of time hanging out with my dogs, and I love critters in general. I'd love to hang out with big cats, but I'd feel a lot safer if somebody made the introductions.
Thanks for the question, and I'm glad you liked the book!
Scott
As far as characters who were influenced by people I know--hmm. For the most part, the actual librarians were pretty much 100% fictional. I mean, like any character in any book by any author, they were all derived from me in one way or another, but for the most part the connection was pretty tenuous. Off the top of my head, I don't remember pulling from real people for those guys. Mostly.
There is one exception, however: Carolyn. Early on when I was writing Mount Char, I happened to be in the E.R. of a hospital when a guy having a heart attack came in. It was very Hollywood. A dozen or so doctors and nurses buzzed around, but I gather that it was problem for a specialist. There really wasn't that much they could do.
The specialist in question, a cardiologist, got there maybe 10 minutes later. She wasn't a big woman, she didn't yell or even say much, but the force of her personality just hammered the room. You ever seen those videos where a shark swims through a school of fish? It was sort of like that. Everything in that room just reacted to her. It was about the most badass thing I've seen in real life. I thought about that a lot when I was working on Carolyn.
Erwin is very loosely based on a guy I went to school with. He (the guy's name is Jason) is quite the character himself--absolutely brilliant, a Lt. Col in the Army, a Ph.D in microbiology (or some such) and bone-dry funny. I'd based a character in an unpublished book on him years ago. The Erwin character in Mount Char is based more on that previous character than the actual guy, but you can still see a little resemblance if you squint.
The saintly veterinary staff at the Black Trail Animal Hospital are, again very loosely, based on my actual veterinarians and her crew. They are, in fact, saints. The thing is, I found out after I wrote the book that my vet is a hard core Christian, so I'm not sure how flattered she'd be to know this. I haven't mentioned it.
Which librarian would I be? Well, if I got to choose I'd probably go with "none of the above." It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, and unless you're Carolyn or Michael the retirement plan sucks. That said, Peter (math and cooking) was probably closest to me in real life (comp. sci. degree, like to cook). If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with Michael--I spend a lot of time hanging out with my dogs, and I love critters in general. I'd love to hang out with big cats, but I'd feel a lot safer if somebody made the introductions.
Thanks for the question, and I'm glad you liked the book!
Scott
More Answered Questions
Isaac Sherman
asked
Scott Hawkins:
Hi! My wife got me into the Library at Mount Char and while I'm only about halfway through, I know I'm going to need more. I don't see a lot of recent activity from your blog and was wondering if (hoping!) the sequel was still in the works or if that's not likely? Sorry if this has already been answered, but I'm new to Goodreads and haven't found a good way of searching through the questions.
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