You see, a few weeks back the proprietor of a restaurant told me that one of his patrons is convinced that he and I are having an affair because I mentioned his restaurant in some of my books. She went even further, stating that she thought the romantic interest in the Black Swamp Mysteries series is actually this restaurant proprietor.
Never mind that Dylan Maguire of the series is Irish and the restaurant owner is American;
Or that Dylan has thick black hair and hazel eyes and the restaurant owner doesn't;
Or that Dylan is 29 years old and the restaurant owner is close to 20 years older than that;
Or the fact that, actually, come to think of it, they bear no resemblance to each other at all.
Fiction is actually just fiction. The people are unique. I may take characteristics from one person or another but just as you might have the same mannerism as your parent, you are still uniquely different individuals. So are the characters in my books.
There are things I like about a lot of different people, that eventually made up the character of Dylan Maguire.
I like Eduardo Verastegui's thick black hair and his occasional five o'clock shadow.
These men were the basis for Dylan Maguire's character. From Pierce Brosnan, he got the positive outlook and charm of the Irish; from Joe Manganeillo, the ability to fight when it's called for; from Eduardo Verastegui, a sexual appeal that would help to make him irresistible to Vicki Boyd.
Plus little characteristics and personality traits that would seem to fit his character and the scenes he's in.
He is uniquely Dylan Maguire and no one else.
