People often ask writers how they come up with their
characters. Are they based off real people or are they entirely fictional? For
me, it’s normally a mix of both. I might give a character the first name of one
friend or the last name of another. The bad guy might have the same name as the
nasty customer I had to deal with at work that day. And sometimes characters
completely create themselves. But I have to admit, that the characters in
Phantom were inspired by the people around me more than any other book I have
written. I thought it would be fun to introduce some of the people who helped
make Phantom one of my favorite novels so far.
Rebecca Hope-Rebecca
is the main character, and she gets the lead role of Christine in the play. She
isn't really based on anyone in particular, but I did give her a few of my own
characteristics. In the first chapter, I mention that she was normally hiding
in the orchestra with her violin instead of trying out for a role. That was
totally me in high school. I was always
too shy to try out for the musicals, even though I really wanted to. But unlike
Becca, I was actually a much better violinist than a singer anyway, so I was
better off where I was. She also shares
my nervous energy, and of course, we are both obsessed with the Phantom of the
Opera in all its incarnations.
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| Laura Deluca & Jay |
Jay Kopp - In my
book, Jay Kopp is the class clown. The one making jokes at all the wrong times,
and who thinks he is a whole lot cooler than he really is. The real Jay Kopp is
not much different. Instead of the class clown, he is the office clown.
Here is a man who is in his forties, but
still makes faces behind the executive president's back while he's handing out
awards. A man who every single solitary day, walks out the door at closing time
and yells, "Stick a fork in me, I'm done."
A man who has somehow wound up with the
nickname of "Muffin" among his female coworkers.
Some of his other shenanigans include tapping
a picture of my husband (than new boyfriend) all over the office, including the
toilet seat, and dressing up as Flavor Flav, and no, it wasn't Halloween. As
you can tell, our little group had a tendency to stray away from corporate
etiquette and we loved every minute of it.
All that being said, Jay is actually a really sweet guy, a hard worker,
and a wonderful husband and father.
I
think I stayed pretty close to Jay's real personality in my book. I just made
him thirty years younger.
Mr. Russ - Mr
Russ is the school janitor. He's a little on the dirty side and he’s definitely
not all there. Again, he is based on a real person, but I can't say his name
because I don't want to get sued. When I was working, there was an old man who
worked in one of the buildings on the same street. I would run into him at Wawa
all the time, and he decided he had a crush on me. Finally, he came in the
office one day with a pack of tickets for the Lion King on Ice, and wanted to
take me and my children. Ummmm...creepy!
Of course I told him as nicely as possible that I couldn't do that, and
explained I was in a relationship for the hundredth time. He got a little angry, I got a little freaked
out, and thus I had to turn him into the creepy school janitor in my book. His
name is different, but his physical description is right on. If you read this
book, you'll understand why he made me nervous.
Carmen Webber
- Carmen is one of Rebecca's best
friends. When I created Carmen, I was really thinking about one of my best
friends, Viv. I gave her a lot of Viv's
personality traits, but when it comes to her looks, I was thinking more about
her daughter Sarah. Sarah is closer to Carmen's age. So she sort of wound up being a combination
of them both, but she definitely has a little more attitude than either of
them. On a side note, their last name is
Zarfati, which is also the name of one of the characters in my Destiny series.
Debbie O'Neill & Wendy Wright - Both of these girls
got their first names from people I worked with. Wendy is the class snob, and there was a girl
at one of our offices in North Jersey that always had an attitude when she
called. Plus she sounded like a valley girl. I was trying to decide on a name
for Wendy and she happened to call that day in a particularly miserable mood,
and so she became my b***h. With Debbie,
it was more a physical thing. Someone
was leading a meeting and she looked exactly the way I envisioned Debbie, so
she took her name.
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| Darlene and Matt |
Darlene & Matt:
Darlene is a good friend and was my former
High Priestess before she moved out of state. She opened her arms to me when I
was new to the Craft and completely on my own, and I learned a lot from her.
When she didn't get "a part" in Destiny, I promised to put her name
in Phantom. She took it a step further and asked me to add in her best friend
Matt as well.
So I made them someone's
parents. What's funny is, I never really intended to include any parents in the
book, but adding Darlene became a big part of one of my favorite scenes.
Meeting Darlene & Matt is a fun part of the book, so I can't say too much
more. But if you met the real Darlene, you would definitely find that she and
her namesake have the same remarkable ability to speak in complete paragraphs
without taking a single breath.
Tom Rittenhouse: This is the guy who gets the role of Raoul,
the hero. Tom is very much like my first real boyfriend, even though I don't
think I realized it myself until I read back through the book when it was done.
He was a surfer. He was the star of the high school musicals. He even had hopes
of being an actor someday. He did get a few small parts in TV and Broadway in
college, but as far as I know, he gave up on Hollywood and is back home
now. Darron from Destiny has some of his
characteristics as well. I think since he was my high school sweet heart, and
my first love, he comes back to haunt my high school characters...
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| Tempest |
Tempest: Tempest
is a Gothic Belly Dancer. I consider myself truly blessed to have not only met
Tempest, but to have shared Sacred Space with her on a few occasions. About
three years ago,
I was introduced to
Tempest through my best friend and coven sister, Donna. She was taking her
belly dance class at a local gym, and convinced me to come along.
The class was fun, but was nothing compared
to watching Tempest perform live. When she begins to move, it’s like she is
magically transformed into the Goddess herself. Her movements are fluid and
graceful. Her costumes (which she often designs herself) are enchanting. She has
created her own version of Gothic Belly Dance that is elegant and breathtaking.
It literally brought tears to my eyes. Even as a writer, I find it hard to
express just how amazing it is to watch her perform.
Tempest is one of the most beautiful women I
have had the privilege to meet. It is a beauty that emanates from her soul and
is transferred to the fluid movements of her body. All the wisdom of the ages
is expressed in the poetic motions of her dance. She is a true artist.
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| Justyn |
Justyn Patko (AKA-Lord
Justyn) - When I tell people that Lord Justyn was based on a real person, most
of them look at me like I'm crazy. They think he's my imaginary friend.
But, nope, he’s is real. Like my character,
the real Lord Justyn is a Gothic Pagan who also happens to be a musician and an
actor.
I have never spoken to Justyn
outside of cyber space. We met on MySpace before I met my husband. I don't even
remember how. But I do remember how all his notes would have a little old world
charm in them. We would talk about books and movies, and, of course, magic and
the Craft. He even read Destiny way before it was published. I would be lying
if I said I didn't have a little crush on him. But in the real world, when we
lived in different states and I was a single mom, there was no way it could
have worked. Not to mention the fact that I am several years older, and not
really the cougar type. Maybe in another time or another life it could have
happened. But in
this life, I could
only make him into one of the most amazing characters I have ever created. It
all started because I was writing him an email while Andrew Lloyds's Weber's
musical was playing the background. I started to think how great he would be in
the role of the Phantom...one thought led to another, and Phantom was born.
Finally, Justyn’s last name came from my friend Jared Patko.
He was handsome. He was fun. He was hilarious.
He was an amazing artist. He also suffered from severe Bipolar Disorder.
In 2009, Jared took his own life. I had just started writing Phantom when this
happened, and I wanted to immortalize him in some small way. I had promised him
I'd use his name in a book eventually, and he had hoped to draw the cover art.
Phantom is also dedicated to Jared as well as the real Lord Justyn.
Well, that pretty much sums it up. It’s amazing how even the
smallest things that people do and say can touch our lives and bring about
inspiration. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for these folks will
probably depend on who lives, who dies, and who the killer really is. But
you'll have to read Phantom to find all that out. I have to wrap up this post
with one of my favorite quotes. "Be careful, or I'll put you in my
novel!"
The “Phantom” was a musical
phenomenon that Rebecca had always found enchanting. She had no idea that her
life was about to mirror the play that was her obsession. When her high school
drama club chooses “Phantom” as their annual production, Rebecca finds herself
in the middle of an unlikely love triangle and the target of a sadistic stalker
who uses the lines from the play as their calling card.
Rebecca lands the lead role of
Christine, the opera diva, and like her character, she is torn between her two
co-stars—Tom the surfer and basketball star who plays the lovable hero, and
Justyn, the strangely appealing Goth who is more than realistic in the role of
the tortured artist.
Almost immediately after
casting, strange things start to happen both on and off the stage. Curtains
fall. Mirrors are shattered. People are hurt in true phantom style. They all
seem like accidents until Rebecca receives notes and phone calls that hint at
something more sinister. Is Justyn bringing to life the twisted character of
the phantom? Or in real life are the roles of the hero and the villain
reversed? Rebecca doesn’t know who to trust, but she knows she’s running out of
time as she gets closer and closer to opening night. Only when the mask is stripped
away, will the twenty first century phantom finally be revealed.
Excerpt can be found here: http://authorlauradeluca.blogspot.com/2011/11/excerpt-from-my-young-adult-novel.html
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Author Bio
Laura "Luna" DeLuca lives at the beautiful Jersey shore with her
husband and three children. She has been writing stories for as long as she can
remember. Old high school friends would tell you she was always scratching in
her notebook instead of paying attention in class and the children she used to
babysit for always loved to hear her scary stories at bedtime. In addition to
writing fiction, Laura is also the sole author of a popular review blog called
New Age Mama. She is an active member of her local pagan community, and has
been studying Wicca for close to eight years. She loves writing young
adult novels, because it keeps her young at heart. She is the author of three
published works including Destiny, Destiny Unveiled, and Phantom, and has
several more projects in the works.
Author Links:
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