Ask the Author: Susan Joy Clark
Answered Questions (2)
Susan Joy Clark
As a Jane Austen fan, I suppose I should answer Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, but I actually tend to like the clergymen/romantic heroes in Jane Austen -- Edward Ferrars and Edmund Bertram. I'll say my favorite couple is Eleanor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars from "Sense and Sensibility."
Eleanor Dashwood is a bit like me. She keeps much of her emotion to herself, is calm and steady and tries to have a pacifying effect on the people around her. Edward is a gentle, kind soul, a little shy, and such a contrast to his arrogant and pushy sister. Eleanor's sister Marianne makes fun of Eleanor for what seems to be her complacent understated affection for Edward. "You like him? You greatly admire him?" In truth, Eleanor and Edward have a slow-building beautiful friendship, and their relationship will need this basis in friendship. Of course, Lucie Steele comes into the story to cause complications, and it is very satisfying to see Eleanor and Edward finally come together in an engagement at the end of the book.
Eleanor Dashwood is a bit like me. She keeps much of her emotion to herself, is calm and steady and tries to have a pacifying effect on the people around her. Edward is a gentle, kind soul, a little shy, and such a contrast to his arrogant and pushy sister. Eleanor's sister Marianne makes fun of Eleanor for what seems to be her complacent understated affection for Edward. "You like him? You greatly admire him?" In truth, Eleanor and Edward have a slow-building beautiful friendship, and their relationship will need this basis in friendship. Of course, Lucie Steele comes into the story to cause complications, and it is very satisfying to see Eleanor and Edward finally come together in an engagement at the end of the book.
Susan Joy Clark
Usually my ideas start out small and then snowball. It's hard to explain the entire creative process.
I suppose the character of Jack Donegal is a "type" that has been in my head for quite some time. I like the dreamy inventor type and creative types of all sorts. I enjoy stories about true life inventors or great minds of the past that have some quirks also.
My father is a retired electrical engineer and inventor with 44 patents. One day, a coworker of his suggested that he would make a good toy and game designer, but my father worked in a completely different area. I suppose I found toy design more relatable than what my father actually did which sparked the idea of a dreamy toy inventor. The character is, however, not at all equivalent to my father. Jack Donegal is really my invention, and he is not exactly like anyone I know in real life.
My Jack character first appeared in a short story, and I didn't think about making it a mystery until a friend suggested it to me.
Somewhere along the line, I decided Jack needed a friend who was almost his complete opposite, more complementary than similar, and Andy Westin was born. I now feel I like Andy just as much as I like Jack.
I also returned to a light and humorous style I used in college when writing stories for my friends and family.
Their adventures came from ... I don't know where! Once I had the characters, it was easy to build a story around them. The story incorporates a lot of my little interests in antiques and nostalgia, art and art history, foreign languages, etc., etc.
I suppose the character of Jack Donegal is a "type" that has been in my head for quite some time. I like the dreamy inventor type and creative types of all sorts. I enjoy stories about true life inventors or great minds of the past that have some quirks also.
My father is a retired electrical engineer and inventor with 44 patents. One day, a coworker of his suggested that he would make a good toy and game designer, but my father worked in a completely different area. I suppose I found toy design more relatable than what my father actually did which sparked the idea of a dreamy toy inventor. The character is, however, not at all equivalent to my father. Jack Donegal is really my invention, and he is not exactly like anyone I know in real life.
My Jack character first appeared in a short story, and I didn't think about making it a mystery until a friend suggested it to me.
Somewhere along the line, I decided Jack needed a friend who was almost his complete opposite, more complementary than similar, and Andy Westin was born. I now feel I like Andy just as much as I like Jack.
I also returned to a light and humorous style I used in college when writing stories for my friends and family.
Their adventures came from ... I don't know where! Once I had the characters, it was easy to build a story around them. The story incorporates a lot of my little interests in antiques and nostalgia, art and art history, foreign languages, etc., etc.
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