Lori Roy – Guest Post

Where Do Characters Come From?

I’m often asked if my characters are based on real people, and when I say no, I am sometimes met with doubt. “It’s fiction,” I say. “I made it up.” And a few times, I have received the great compliment of someone saying…“But it seems so real. Why is that, do you think?” To this latter question, I usually shrug and repeat, “I made it up.” I recently had this conversation with someone who had read an advanced edition of UNTIL SHE COMES HOME, and when again met with doubt, I decided to give it some thought.

One of the things I most enjoy about the writing process is the hands-on research.  When I knew Grace, one of my main characters, would struggle to master the art of pierogi making, I decided to give it a try. I watched a YouTube video, purchased all the ingredients and set out to roll, stuff and boil pierogi. Because I added too little flour, the dough stuck to my fingers in large white clumps, and so the same clumps stuck to Grace’s fingers. When I rolled the dough too thin, Grace rolled the dough too thin. When I over stuffed the crescent-shaped dumpling and the potato filling bled into the hot water, Grace did the same

Another of my characters, Malina, would take a hammer from her husband’s garage because she was certain she would need it for protection when venturing out on a particular night. Would she be able to manage that hammer with one hand, I wondered, or would she need two? And so I rummaged around my husband’s workshop until I found a weighty hammer and I gave it a few swings—first one-handed and then two-handed.  I would definitely need two hands to maneuver the hammer with confidence, and so Malina would need the same.

And then there was Julia. When I knew she would face the fear that the worst had happened to her twin nieces, I thought back to an afternoon several years ago when I was sitting in a Kansas City mall and saw a woman run screaming from the Gymboree store. I don’t remember the name she was screaming, only the sound of her voice and the way her hair was suddenly tousled and her face red, her skin damp.  She had lost her toddler. The woman ran only a few steps before she spotted the little one near the exit. But that scream, which I will never forget, is the same one Julia uses and the same one Malina hears.

Finally, when wanting to show a great friendship between two women, I thought about the friend who I have coffee with a couple of times a week. She makes me laugh until my sides ache and tears run from the corners of my eyes. This is the type of friendship I wanted for Grace and Julia. Grace is the one who does the laughing. Julia is the one who triggers it.

Having thought it through, I realize that perhaps people have been right to doubt me.  When next I am asked if the characters are based on real people, I will say there is a little bit of me in each of them, but when all is said and done, I made it all up.

Until She Comes Home
Lori Roy
Released: June 13, 2013

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In 1958 Detroit, on Alder Avenue, neighbors struggle to care for neighbors amid a city ripe with conflicts that threaten their peaceful street.

Grace, Alder’s only expectant mother, eagerly awaits her first born. Best friend Julia prepares to welcome twin nieces. And Malina sets the tone with her stylish dresses, tasteful home, and ironfisted stewardship of St. Alban’s bake sale.

Life erupts when childlike Elizabeth disappears while in the care of Grace and Julia. All the ladies fear the recent murder of a black woman at the factory on Willingham Avenue where their husbands work may warn of what has become of Elizabeth, and they worry what is yet to become of Julia—the last to see Elizabeth alive.

The men mount an around-the-clock search, leaving their families vulnerable to sinister elements hidden in plain sight. Only Grace knows what happened, but her mother warns her not to tell. “No man wants to know this about his wife.” Ashamed that her silence puts loved ones in harm’s way, Grace gravitates toward the women of Willingham Avenue, who recognize her suffering as their own. Through their acceptance, Grace conquers her fear and dares to act.

On Alder Avenue, vicious secrets bind friends, neighbors, and spouses. For the wicked among them, the walk home will be long.

Lori Roy’s debut novel, BENT ROAD, was awarded the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author, named a 2011 New York Times Notable Crime Book, named a 2012 notable book by the state of Kansas, and was nominated for the Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award. BENT ROAD has been optioned for film by Cross Creek, with Mark Mallouk to adapt and Benderspink to produce. Her second novel, UNTIL SHE COMES HOME, will be published June 13, 2013. She currently lives with her family in west central Florida