THE PROCESS-DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER FOR THE FIRST BOOK

              Roger Hillstein, the lead character in My DIARY My LOVE began out of a silly conversation. Nikkole and I were talking actually, I was talking, and she was just making fun of what I was saying. I said to her, tongue-in-cheek, that a younger woman is far more understanding than an older woman is. Nikkole, of course, looked at me and in a sarcastic tone replied, “Sure they are, whatever you want to believe.”

              I continued to drone on and said, “In a May-December relationship, not all young women are after money, some young women are very understanding, and are there when a man needs someone to talk to!”  Our conversation went on for several minutes, with both of us attempting to be the “straight man” in our banter.

              Soon, the idea was born. The premise built upon the idea of a man, Roger, who has worked his whole life, being just that naive about life socially? Is it possible? He meets a woman, Stephanie and she takes him for a ride. Nothing new, many stories have been written with the same idea. We started writing and Stephanie did not disappoint us, but we began feeling sorry for Roger. Then we said, “Who cares, it’s a book, of course he can be that green.” We moved forward and created Stephanie, who at first, was going to be a very experienced “gold digger.” The combination was intriguing, but soon Stephanie’s character became rather boring. Been there, done that.

              We were 40 pages into the story, approximately 12,000 words, when we decided to trash a major part of the beginning, and start all over. We changed Stephanie’s persona, and as the story progressed, Stephanie became the main character. She became a dynamic individual, who was not only worldly, but also lived life according to Stephanie’s rules. As the story unfolded, Roger soon discovers that the woman, who has come into his life, is no ordinary woman, and with her mentoring, discovers that he is no ordinary man.  

              With Stephanie’s new, interesting, character, the story continued to evolve, and we were excited to see where the characters would lead us. Personally, they did not disappoint.