How Writers Create their Characters?
A common question for writers is where they get their ideas for their characters. Common answers are the characters are based on someone they knew or someone they saw in a café or a restaurant.
In the case of Gil Leduc, I got the idea for the character from a guy working at a video store. He was polite, intelligent, but I thought he could be contradictory at times. I looked in a guidebook on Paris and saw a guy who resembled the video store employee. Alas, I created the character, Gil Leduc. In 2007, after I wrote the two original versions of my first books, I returned to France. On the train headed from Paris to Niort, I saw a young man who resembled Gil.
Jan Barrio is based on a teenage girl I saw at the Fort Niagara swimming pool. A tall girl who tied her long dyed blond hair in a ponytail was with a group of teenagers. She had an olive complexion. She wasn’t overly bossy, but by her body language I could tell she was the one in charge of the group. She pointed to an area and placed her beach bag down. The other kids placed their stuff near there as well. When she went into the swimming pool, the other kids followed her. With her temperament I figured she could be origin of a Spanish speaking country.
Jan’s sister Tiffany and Cindy Manuel, who is featured in The Purity Ring Murders and Intercepted, come from a bicycle episode in Niagara Falls, New York. I rode down Lindbergh Avenue and two teenage girls were ahead of me. They looked at me and giggled. Tiffany, the dark-haired girl, pointed to Cindy, the brunette, and said, “Hey mister, she likes you.”
Later I saw an advertisement in a clothing magazine which showed two teenage girls who resembled those two.
Valerie Cartier who is featured in my novel Summer Danger is based on an elderly lady who I helped with a heavy suitcase on the train heading from Paris to Niort. She, like me, was going to Royan.
Other characters I created have been based on pictures in magazines or catalogs.
Gil Leduc
Gil Leduc is a tall, slender teenager with black curly hair and brown eyes. He usually dresses casually but does not mind wearing suits to church and to formal events. He was born in the city of Tours, France, where his grandfather served as a detective and his uncle is the chief inspector of the police.
Gil moved to San Francisco when he was five years old. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Niagara Falls, New York. His father teaches French at Niagara University, while his mother teaches at the local high school. He also has a brother who is a police officer in San Francisco.
People see Gil as polite and intelligent, but he can be contradictory at times. He likes basketball, American football, swimming, and bicycling, but can't stand baseball. He likes to read and write, and his favorite subjects are English, history, and foreign languages. He plans to enter a career in law enforcement.
In France, he enjoys the castles and gardens. He also likes to drink hot chocolate and eat croissants at cafés where he can watch people. His favorite foods include chicken and rabbit dishes.
Jan Barrio
Jan is tall with long dyed-blond hair and green eyes. Her father is of Mexican descent and her mother was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, making Jan the oldest of three sisters with deep ties to the Spanish-speaking world. Besides English, she speaks both Spanish and French.
Jan has a take-charge attitude and people often see her as a natural leader. She plays softball and basketball, and she swims. She works as a lifeguard and loves beaches. She has traveled to Argentina, San Diego, San Francisco, and Phoenix, where she has relatives.
Her father is a police officer and her mother is a nurse practitioner. Following in her father's footsteps, Jan hopes to pursue a career in law enforcement. Her favorite subject in school is history, and she enjoys salads and chicken dishes.
Tiffany Barrio
Tiffany is the middle of the Barrio sisters. She has long, black hair and deep brown eyes, and she knows she's beautiful. Others often see her as a big flirt and a bit annoying, though her charm is undeniable. At one point, she had aspirations of becoming a model.
She enjoys going to beaches and playing softball. Her best friend is Cindy Manuel. Looking to the future, Tiffany hopes to work with young children. She has a taste for chocolate desserts and Mexican food.
David Linblad
Dave is a tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed teenage guy who showed entrepreneurial spirit early on by starting his own lawn service after moving to Warren, Pennsylvania from Niagara Falls, New York. People see him as a friendly guy who likes to work with his hands.
He enjoys baseball, basketball, and American football, and has played all three sports in high school. In Warren, he plans to join the Warren Police Explorers, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a police officer in Niagara Falls.
Dave has strong European connections — his mother is from Germany, and he has visited several German cities. He speaks German and knows some Swedish, and hopes to one day travel to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. He also plays guitar, has an interest in classic rock, and loves to cook. His favorite foods are German and Italian.
Cindy Manuel
Cindy is a teenage girl of average height with long brown hair who lives in a big house in Warren, Pennsylvania — complete with an inground swimming pool. She has two sisters. People see her as friendly and outgoing, although she can be smart-mouthed at times.
She works at a sub shop in Warren and hopes to build a career in broadcasting. She enjoys reading and writing. Her favorite dog breed is the Welsh Corgi, a dog she has cared for before. She plays softball and swims, and has played softball for her high school.
Cindy has traveled with her family to England and Ireland and hopes to visit France and Germany in the future. Her best friend is Tiffany Barrio. She enjoys Italian and Mexican foods as well as ice cream.
Emily Stiggsson
Emily is a tall, blond-haired seventeen-year-old who lives in Niagara Falls, New York. She is a close friend of Jan Barrio.
Emily is a genuinely friendly girl who likes talking to people. People sometimes see her as bossy.
She is the older of two sisters.
Emily’s father is a carpenter and was originally from Gerry, New York and is familiar with Warren, Pennsylvania where the family has relatives. Her mother is a detective lieutenant with the Niagara Falls Department.
Emily hopes to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a police officer. Currently, Emily is a member of the Niagara County Sheriff Explorer program where young people learn about careers in law enforcement.
She likes history and English and speaks Swedish and Norwegian. She has visited Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. She attended the Scandinavian Festival in Jamestown, New York. She likes Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, Oslo, Norway, and the beaches of Sweden and Denmark.
She watches Swedish cop shows such as Beck and Maria Wren.
A tradition in Sweden she admires is coffee and cinnamon roll time.
Her part-time job is a waitress at a coffee shop in Town of Niagara, New York.
She has been a member of her high school’s swim team.