For as long as I can remember, I’ve found characters in the unique places. I do my best not to limit myself to what I explore. Because of those parameters, I’ve let a variety of things in my life inspire me.
In my first published books, there were a pair of unusual characters who proved to be very different. For those unfamiliar with them, I’m going to introduce Chatter in this post and save the other for the next one.
This unassuming sunshine napping bundle was our cat, Paisley. He was born behind a dumpster and dropped off at a vet where our neighbor’s daughter worked as a tech. The daughter brought him home, and they bottle-fed him for the first several weeks of his life.
In a moment of weakness, our family met and fell in love with this kitten. We had always been a dog family, but there was something about the wildness of Paisley which drew us to him. He possessed one true love in our house while tolerating the rest of us.
When I started writing Big Beasts, I envisioned a Bengal tiger sized lop eared cat with all the spunk I’d see terrorizing our house and stalking about our backyard as a prince. However, he also is the staunchest defender and tracker of Kylie. Though sometimes distracted by his stomach and naps, Chatter would never her leave to fight alone.
For that reason, Paisley gets a place of honor in these works. Hopefully, everyone will get to see his evolution in the sequel, appearing soon.
Enjoy the Journey. We’re all on it together.