The characters from IN THE NICK OF TIME

Sometimes it's fun and important to imagine the characters as so completely real, they begin to talk back to you. Often, people will say to me, "Andy is my 'favorite' character", and others will say, "No, Roger," or "No, Miranda!"

While Andy is the main character and the focus of the novel, it seems that readers too glean some sense of identity from Andy's friends. For me, when creating them, I loved thinking about them in real time: What do they eat? What do they wear? How do they walk? What makes them angry? What makes them sad? The list goes on and on.

Whenever I get a role in a play, the same process occurs. Who is this new character? How does he walk? How does he hide his embarrassment? How does he show his happiness? What is his favorite food, song, movie, book? It is a blast using the clues from the script to decipher the character.

Much of that theatrical 'training' becomes the same foundation for creating characters. A great shout out to Ken Hornbeck and Peter A. Carey for some of those theatrical juicy tidbits!

Healing and IN THE NICK OF TIME

So many people have commented on the healing quality of IN THE NICK OF TIME. While my intent was to tell a terrific time travel novel with rich characters who exhibit various emotional responses to the surroundings and events that occur to them, there seems to be, unconsciously, a thin veil of healing in the pages. Forgiveness is a common theme I feel drawn to as well; again, it seems to reveal itself in unplanned ways!

The adventures of Andy Mackpeace (and his friends Roger and Miranda) are not easily handled. Choices are made at times that are not always for the best. I like the idea of characters, especially Andy, transforming from his mistakes.

In IN THE NICK OF TIME, the maturing process happens to all three characters, their own sense of empowerment is strengthened, and as a result, their sense of community and belonging is deepened.

That's the powerful alchemic response called 'healing'.

Grandma Geri would have been proud. :)