Jody Holford | When Art imitates Life

My daughter was reading my upcoming release, MORE THAN FRIENDS when she laughed out loud and said, “Mom, dad brings you food all the time when you’re writing, just like Owen does for Gabby.” Then she asked if I meant to do that and I thought…yeah, I probably did.

Sometimes, though, I don’t mean to. I don’t think anyone can write, not from an
emotional perspective, without giving up pieces of themselves. If I had to look
closely at all of my characters and the worlds in which they live, I’m certain
there are elements of my own life.

The outside reader might not pick up on these “pieces”, but people close to me certainly do. Another example was when my daughter read my last release, FALLING FOR KATE. In the story, Kate never lets a song finish. This is something I do. It drives my daughter nuts. But to me, the song is over once you get to the last few bars. And I want to see what else we can listen to.

I didn’t intentionally think, what little habit of mine could I insert into this
moment? My characters were in the car and she was restless. The result was her
fidgeting with the dial. Repeatedly.

I know that I don’t model my characters after specific people. I don’t get an
image in my head of a friend, say, and then describe my character in that exact
way. But habits, tells, and little idiosyncrasies? Yes, I pick up on those, even
without meaning to. Any people watcher does. When it’s a conscious inclusion,
I’m careful not to make it glaringly obvious. But using these real life moments,
I think, makes the book and the characters more real.

Maybe all authors do this to some extent. How do you write without life bleeding
into your fictional worlds? I certainly can’t read that way. If I’m in a book,
I’m all the way in. I feel what the character feels, want what they want, and
can’t wait to resolve the conflict. This is maybe why we feel like the
characters are our friends. Why it hurts so bad when someone’s heart breaks.

While not everything I write imitates my life, it does aim to mimic real life. Relationships and interactions on the page have to be genuine. They have to matter so that the reader cares about what happens. Whether it is art imitating life or the other way around, I think it is important that there isn’t a hard line drawn in that sand. We need a bit of the real and the unreal to balance us and make us feel connected.

Have you ever read something in a book and wondered how the author knew so much
about something? Then wondered…was it just research? Is this a passion of
theirs? Have you ever read a book and then wanted to explore something you
stumbled upon in that book? I like learning those little things about authors.