I feel so silly sometimes because I find myself smiling or even laughing at some of the things I have my characters say or do.
Many of the characters are cobbled together from people I’ve known in my life. My parents were a lot of fun when we were kids, and it was easy to portray Susan’s mom and dad as fun-loving and to have her mother laugh so much. Some of Susan’s friends mirror the best qualities of some of my friends over the years.
I intend to create a character with some of my father-in-law’s characteristics and personality. That’s him in the picture above. June 11, 1947 was the day he was discharged from the service. He had been stationed in Germany, and this picture of him is from the day he returned to the States.
I love this picture. He’s not really smiling, but his face conveys joy, and I see the twinkle in his eye. That is one good-looking man. I find it humorous that my husband has been a natural blonde his entire life, yet our nephew is the spitting image of this picture.
My father-in-law was the postmaster in a small town for most of his adult life. He enjoyed life and was a kind and generous man. After he died, my husband had the portrait tattoo of him placed on his arm. I think the artist did a wonderful job matching the picture.
My husband memorialized his dad on his arm. I’m going to put him in one of my books.
Breezy Books 
the other half wants a pic of our son on his shoulder but I pointed out that if the tattooist gets it wrong he can’t rub it out and start again lol your hubby has a great tattooist
Portraits are tricky, that’s for sure. My husband searched for months to find an artist who could do the job well. We drove two hours and spent nearly the entire day having it done. I hope you get your phoenix one day!
that is such a cool story. I’m not sure I put anyone I know in my characters, but I probably do and just don’t see it. (you didn’t think I would forget about you did you? haha)
I wasn’t sure how to write characters I didn’t know. I even used some real names to make my writing easier and then went back and changed them at the end of the book. But I did make sure I changed enough about their personalities and things they did so they weren’t 100% the real person. I think it was my third book before I started writing completely new characters with their own attributes.