Hello, my lovelies! Happy Cinco de Mayo, and I hope that May the Fourth was indeed with you.
Behind the Scenes
Making Tavric a character with SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) was not in my original plan. It just sort of happened, and here’s how:
I don’t really write grumpy characters. The brooding hero isn’t something I’ve felt like I could really delve into and make realistic because I’m so obsessed with healthy relationships. The closest I’ve gotten is Rhys from Missing Lily, but he turns so quickly into the sweetest, most thoughtful guy ever that it doesn’t feel like it counts.
Well, with Tangled Sails, I purposely thought, “I should do a grumpy/sunshine dynamic.” The sunshine was easy. Once Lyri is out of her tower and exploring the world, it’s not hard for her to be constant sunshine. But Tav? Honestly, he didn’t really turn out grumpy, but that was my initial intent. I wanted to create the grumpy/sunshine dynamic, but the challenge, of course, is figuring out why someone is grumpy. Originally I thought, “social anxiety!” That could be a good, realistic reason for someone to be mistaken as grumpy. So I started writing him with that in mind.
Here’s the problem. After a while, I read over what I had, and I went, “Huh, that’s not social anxiety.” It wasn’t the people that Tavric had a problem with. It was all the sensations that came with being around people, and also with being a member of the royal family. I realized that I hadn’t tapped into a character with social anxiety, I’d tapped into a character with SPD. It was the overwhelm of noise that made large gatherings miserable. It was the discomfort of stiff fabrics he had to wear as part of his royal ensemble. It was the feeling of too much that made him want to crawl out of his skin and run away from it all.
The ocean was where he found respite. The waves were soothing white noise that he didn’t have to pick apart and distinguish. The wind didn’t poke or itch. The orderliness of running a ship was controlled as opposed to the tittering chaos of subjects constantly clamoring for his attention.
So while my goal had been to create a grumpy character, I decided to let that go. Instead of grumpy/sunshine, Lyri and Tav are lively/reserved, and that works for the story. In fact, I feel like it turned out pretty perfect, all things considered! And hopefully it gives a little representation to those who deal with SDP in their daily life.
Clean Romance Highlights
Anabelle Raven has a kickstarter you might be interested in!
Cozy romantasy fairytales with adult MCs, slow burn romance, love that beats the odds, & found family that rallies together!
Lady Agatha Speaks her Mind is a new release by Elisabeth Aimee Brown
If anyone else had been her fairy godmother, Lady Agatha’s birthday party would have gone swimmingly.
Jen Atkinson just released the AUDIOBOOK of The RomCom Remake.
She’s plotting a romcom. He’s playing without a game plan.
But sometimes the best love stories are the ones that don’t follow the script.
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