My brother and I grew up as best friends. We did everything together, from playing make believe games to combining my Barbies with his G.I. Joe men in order to storm the Barbie Dreamhouse.
Ken was such a wuss.
As we aged, our games became more complex. We created elaborate missions as spies. Our most inspired involved a man named Rorak. He was a problem, and our organization was contacted to bring him down before he killed a lot of people.
He had escaped prison and intel had it that he had poisoned a water source in Big Bear, California during a high traffic season. The poison required a catalyst to activate it. People would drink, be fine, go home and them– BAM! Some would drop dead. No trace of what caused it.
But we knew.
So we tracked Rorak. We even had Wanted posters. We hiked throughout Big Bear, interviewed shop owners (under the guise that we were looking for a friend.) We were armed and ready to do serious damage if we found this guy. (Our weapons include high-tech, very rare, invisible guns… it’s all the rage.)
We were super secret spies on a mission.
If you’ve read Forbidden Mind or Forbidden Fire, this might seem a little familiar.
Lucy
Luke and Lucy were largely inspired by my games with my brother. They are a tight-knit sister/brother duo who go on secret spy missions for a group called Rent-A-Kid, using their para-powers to help them on the way.
Luke can walk through walls and Lucy is a walking lie detector. Of course, they are both trained in martial arts and Lucy is also very skilled at the whole computer hacking thing. (Ok, when I wrote her I engaged in some serious wish fulfillment here!)
While Sam, a mind reader and the main character in the Forbidden Trilogy, inspired loyalty in many, and her love, Drake, is hot, and very powerful, Luke and Lucy have been the overriding favorite for a lot of readers. So much so, that half of Forbidden Fire is from Lucy’s point of view and they have their own plot line.
I find that the spice of real life can add some much needed flavor to my fiction.
Do you enjoy reading books whose characters are loosely based on real life relationships?
