January 2019: Fact in Fiction
~ Cathy Skendrovich ~
CTR asked:
How much of your real life bleeds over into your books? And do you worry that someone will be able to tell the fact from the fiction?
Cathy Skendrovich said:
Lots of little aspects of my life bleed over into my books. Authors are told to “write what you know,” and I know myself best. My heroines often resemble me. For example, in Prisoner of Love, Lucy Parker was on the short side, wore glasses, and was plumper than the model-thin women currently admired. I’m short, wear glasses, and was never considered thin.
Sophie Bellard, my female pirate in my Pirate’s Bride series, is headstrong, a direct link to me in my youth. She’s also impatient, which I battle to this day. However, I sometimes like to give my heroines attributes I wish I had. Say, height. Or long hair. Long hair drove me nuts when I had it, but my heroines, like Sophie, wear it gracefully.
In Undercover with the Nanny, Kate Munroe is much more like me than my other heroines. While she is tall and I’m not, her temper is similar to mine. She doesn’t trust easily, she does not suffer fools well, and she’s very independent, all traits I share with her. I’d venture to say that she is the most like me out of all my books.
As far as worrying, yeah, I sometimes worry that people I know will think that what happens in my books is from real-life experiences. For example, some of my “intimate” scenes are pretty hot. What if my kids, or their friends, read my books and start thinking, “That’s Mom?? She does that?? Ewww!” The ideas might scar them for life.
Seriously, though, it’s not a big concern of mine. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t want my minister reading my books; he might get the wrong impression, and I would be embarrassed. But not because my books resemble my life. Just that I thought them up this way.
Real life similarities are what make readers return to authors. The more I write my book in a way a reader can relate, the better chance I have of making someone a life-long reader of mine. And that’s the end goal, after all. So, if you find a little of me along the way, enjoy. I won’t tell you if it’s me or not.
– Website – https://www.cathyskendrovich.com/
– Twitter – @cskendrovich
Prisoner of Love
[Romantic Suspense]
It was supposed to be a girls-only weekend in the California mountains. But when Lucy Parker is carjacked by an escaped prisoner, her fun weekend takes a nightmarish turn. Now she’s caught up in a dangerous world of stolen money, vicious drug dealers, and murder, and the only thing keeping her alive is her oh-so-hot captor.
Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, undercover cop Jake Dalton wants answers-now. Worse, he’s dragged Lucy into the mix, and she’s now guilty by association. With their lives on the line, the race is on to get to Las Vegas before they’re killed…and they’re running out of time.
Available in Ebook:
More Authors Dish about their facts in fiction.
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