The Characters of One Night in Daytona Beach

Like many other authors, I like to find an actor or actress who embodies the character I’m creating. This gives me not only a face, but a voice and a body as well. I can picture the person walking and talking, as well as facial expressions, as I write. I had the actress who plays Jamie Humphrey firmly in my mind when I started. I wanted someone tall, curvy and a redhead.

It wasn’t a hard leap to picture actress Deborah Ann Woll, from Daredevil and True Blood as the long and lovely Jamie. She was exactly what I wanted and she jumped off the page at me, daring me to change her. I didn’t.

Draven was a little more difficult, but I did some exploring on-line and decided that I couldn’t find anyone better than Tyler Hoechlin from Teen Wolf. I hadn’t intended to make Draven’s character, Raven, a hybrid vampire when I began writing, but that evolved as I wrote. It seemed to fit, since Tyler already plays a werewolf.

Buddy was also easy. I was watching reruns of The Crazy Ones on Netflix and I fell in love with Hamish Linklater. He fit the role of Buddy perfectly. I hadn’t expected Buddy to take as big a part as he does in the story. I anticipated that he wouldn’t be more than a voice on the phone, but he had other ideas. Of all the characters, I find him the most endearing.

I’ve been asked in the past if I do character sketches before I start writing. Other than sometimes having an actor in mind, I don’t. In fact, I plan very little of my stories. Instead, I jump in with an opening sentence, or a vague What If, and run with it. Not everyone is comfortable with that style of writing, but it works for me and I’m all for using what works.

© 2015 Dellani Oakes

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