Janelle Evans

The relationship between Rory and Jake was easy for me to write. It was like reliving my first year of high school. I too had a crush on a senior, and though are friendship wasn’t a secret one, he, like Jake, was completely oblivious to my infatuation.

He took me with him to all kinds of places, even taught me how to drive a stick in his very nice Mustang, but at the end of the day he’d pat me on the head and call me his “little buddy.” Yeah, it made for some very frustrating first-year moments, but I always think fondly on this first crush. A senior thought I was cool enough to hang out with. It gave me all kinds of confidence—a precious commodity for anyone who has to traipse the halls of a high school.

Now, to be honest, I’ve always wondered what it would’ve felt like to be kissed by him, so when I wrote Rory’s Choice this was the one experience I made sure Rory had 🙂

I’ve had several people ask why I named the lead protagonist Rory. It’s a favorite name of mine. I actually picked it out years ago as the name I would give to my daughter. However, when she was born, I took one look at her and knew the name wasn’t the right one for her. Rory went back into my vault of favorite names, until it finally found a place here in my first novel.

The lead protagonist for every book I write comes from this mental vault of mine. Some of the names are linked to past people who left a mark on me, while others are names I simply love the way they roll off the tongue. ‘Rory’ stems from both categories. As a young girl I knew a boy named Rory. We didn’t hang out all that much, but I always thought his name would be fantastic for a girl—and I was right. It was awesome to finally give somebody the name Rory, even if she’s someone who only lives and breathes within the pages of a novel. She has lived up to my every expectation.

I love hearing people adore the Grandpa Kelly character, though he was not part of my original outline for the novel. It was supposed to be Ryan that caught Rory and Jake together at the lake, but the old codger popped up instead. It was weird, but when I tried writing him out of the story everything stalled. I couldn’t continue.

After about a week of this stalemate, I decided to just go with Grandpa and see where it took me. The bugger hijacked my novel, and I couldn’t be happier. His appearance, though unexpected, created arcs in the story I hadn’t even realized in my original outline, adding dimensions that wouldn’t have been possible without him. I guess my subconscious knew better than me what my story really needed.

This event taught me a great lesson in writing. Every book needs a beginning and an ending, but it’s best to let the characters lead you through the moments needed to reach the final destination.

And if right about here you’re thinking, this crazy woman talks like her characters are actually alive. To me, they are. I have a mental picture of what they look like, and on some days I can even hear the tenor of their voices in my head. Okay…now I really do sound crazy, but it gets results in my writing so I’m going with it.