I want to share with you my visual inspirations for my main characters
Fisher Roberts
Hunter Long
Mmmm mmmmm good!
In case you haven't heard my story of how I was inspired to write Leo, I'll tell it again. Pull up a chair. Here, let me make some tea or coffee for you. Comfortable? Good.
It was last year and my daughter Sarah wanted to see Inception. I wasn't sure that I wanted to, but since she'd gone to see Sorceror's Apprentice with me, twice, I gave in and agreed to go. Which led me to thinking about Leonardo di Caprio and other films we'd seen him in (such as Shutter Island, which was really good). When we were in the theater, I heard a voice in my head tell me that Leo must be a vampire, because he never ages! "Did you know Leonardo di Caprio is a vampire?" he said.
I realized it was a new character speaking to me, but I had no way of writing down his words inside a darkened theater. So I repeated them to myself throughout the film, so that I'd remember them. Inception was a really good film, and I kept thinking about it on the drive home. I knew I needed names for my couple (I already realized that it would be a m/m romance story). Cillian Murphy's character in the film is Robert Fisher, a name you hear quite often, being a pivotal character. I flipped that and voila! Fisher Roberts. Now I needed a name for his cohort. Driving home, I devoured all the billboards and ads I could see. There was one that had to do with hunting, which I am not particularly in favor of, and it hit me - not hunting, but Hunter. A strong name and a good one. So Hunter Long was born. It was his voice which had spoken to me in the theater. When I got home, I started writing about Fisher and Hunter. It didn't occur to me til some time later that their names paralleled one another - a hunter and a fisher. It wasn't intentional, it just happened.
Here's the cover for Leo, designed by the gloriously talented Reese Dante. She did an amazing job, I can hardly keep from staring at it!
Blurb: Leonardo di Caprio is a Vampire
“Tis the night before Halloween, and Fisher Roberts wishes it was over, not being a fan of this or any other holiday. But he tolerates it because his roommate/best friend Hunter Long takes a childish glee in all things Halloween. And Fisher has a vested interest in keeping Hunter happy. If only he could find the nerve to tell his childhood friend that he loves him, and has for a very long time.
Fisher thinks Hunter is carrying things a bit far this year, though. First Hunter claims to be a vampire, and he just won’t let the silly joke go. Then he forces Fisher to go to a costumed Halloween party which Fisher would rather avoid, especially when he realizes where it’s being held, and whose house it is. Things at Fisher’s job might just be going south, too, when he receives a mysterious summons to report to the editor’s office the next morning. And then Fisher goes and does something stupid—like kissing Hunter!
Bad leads to worse when Fisher ends up at the Halloween party from Hell, and he learns something that threatens to destroy his and Hunter’s relationship forever. Running from his fears, Fisher encounters a strange young man with an unusual resemblance to Leonardo di Caprio, who shows him things he never realized before, truths about his life and the people in it.
Can Fisher find his way back to Hunter, and can he find the courage to do what his heart wishes?
Excerpt: Leonardo di Caprio is a Vampire
“Did you know that Leonardo di Caprio is a vampire?”
Fisher Roberts stopped in mid-chew of a mouthful of fibered cereal to cast a wary, disbelieving glance at his best friend and roommate Hunter Long on the other side of the table. Wary, because he wondered what in the world Hunter was going on about so early in the morning. Disbelieving, because he only had so much time for breakfast before he had to get going to work, and he had a bad feeling that Hunter was trying to eat into that time. Why he wanted to do that was beyond Fisher. Of course, a lot of things about his roommate were beyond Fisher, despite the fact that they’d been friends since they were—well, too young to actually remember how long they’d known each other. But for as long as Fisher could remember, he and Hunter had been best buddies. And he’d learned over the years that, with Hunter, longevity did not equate to knowledge-ability, far from it.
Now, Fisher could react in one of two ways. He could ignore his roommate and keep eating. Pretend he’d heard nothing. But from past experience, that would only cause Hunter’s performance to escalate. Which would entail taking more time to decipher what he was saying, and in the process make Fisher even later to work. Or he could simply bow down to the inevitable and give in by asking him the question he was doubtless waiting to hear. Even if it brought about that smug smirk he was so fond of wearing.
Fisher finished chewing, swallowed, and managed not to roll his eyes as he reached for his juice to kill off what was left in the glass. Waste not, want not. “What do you mean?”
Hunter Long might be six foot two and possessed of a body that many a male model would kill for—at least that’s what Fisher heard the girls who flocked around him say—with the palest of blue eyes that twinkled all the time, and a smile that could and did light up a room. But honestly, he had the capacity to be an overgrown child at times, and this was one of those times. Fisher chalked it up to it being that time of year.
“Well,” Hunter replied, “look at him, going on forty, and he looks just like he did what, fifteen years ago? It only stands to reason he must be a vampire. They never age, you know. I mean take a look at us. We’re almost his age, but over the years we’ll grow up to be little old men and he’ll still be playing sweet baby-faced guys even when he’s collecting social security, know what I mean?”
“There are no such things as vampires,” Fisher made his typical logical reply, “and just because it’s Halloween tomorrow night, and you’ve got the house all decorated for it, doesn’t mean you have to bring it to the table. Know what I mean?” He arched a no-nonsense brow at the other man. This was not Fisher’s favorite time of year. Neither was Christmas, come to think of it. Or any other holiday. Ironic that he should write articles for a living that meant he was forced to expound on such seasonal topics for Midwest Home and Fantasy, a regional online magazine with a growing fan-base, when he had no real interest in them himself, being a practical, no-nonsense kind of a guy.
“I’m a vampire.” Hunter smiled, leaning across the table toward Fisher. “Want to see my fangs?”
I hope you enjoy Leonardo di Caprio is a Vampire! I look forward to your comments! Feel free to ask questions!
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