It happens with every novel. A few chapters in and I find myself falling in love with one of my characters. Typically, it’s a supporting character; someone who is so fascinating and intriguing, he or she threatens to take over the book.

This was the case with Myrtle Brubaker, a somewhat minor character in my new novel Mind Fields. Myrtle is a tough-talking, sunflower seed-spitting cab driver in her sixties. “I love bourbon, a good horse race, and Nancy Sinatra,” she says to the main character Adam when they meet for the first time. To say she’s rough around the edges is an understatement. However, with each scene she appeared in it became more apparent to me that despite her tough exterior, she had a big heart.

I fell for Myrtle Brubaker. To me she was a seemingly simple woman with complex thoughts and ideas. Often, she was the voice of reason in the novel, giving usually unsolicited advice to Adam. She encouraged him to make the right choices and to trust his instincts. She was his Jiminy Cricket, his conscience.

I just finished writing my next novel, a romantic spy thriller titled Love in the Shadows. While writing the book, I introduced a character into the story named Louisa Russo. At first glance, she appeared to be a plump, doting grandmother, serving as matchmaker of sorts by bringing the main character, Quintin, to meet the love of his life. But a deeper layer exists with Louisa as she’s actually an experienced spy, the grand matriarch of a family of undercover agents. While she only appears in a handful of scenes in the novel, I’m already planning to bring her back for the following two books in the trilogy.

I’m now in the process of writing a new novel, Backstrokes, a romance about a classical pianist and a lifeguard falling in love. Already, I am smitten with Penelope Ashford, the pot-smoking flute-playing prodigy whose sardonic personality serves as a great juxtaposition to the main characters constant optimism. The fact that Penelope is socially awkward, lacks a filter, and is a hippie at heart only makes her that much more endearing to me.

With every character I create, I feel an affinity for them grow deeper throughout the creative process. However, some such as Myrtle Brubaker, Louisa Russo, and Penelope Ashford, end up stealing my heart.