When looking for ideas for a story there are certain ‘triggers’ that help to illuminate the concept. When I began “Three Times Removed” I needed to present Maggie’s children and think about how they could develop in future books.
These sketches were the inspiration. They were done by a family member who was a wonderful artist and illustrator of children’s books, Sally Cutting. They were done on a family holiday to northern Spain, on a rainy day when these two children needed entertainment. Sally devised a drawing competition: she would sketch them sketching her. Look at the concentration on those faces!
These sketches turned into “Alice” and “Jack”. At the time of writing this post the two characters are aged 18 and 15. I look forward to their further development and thank the ‘originals’ for allowing me to use these sketches of them.
We lost Sally to a sudden, devastating disease almost a year ago. She is greatly missed.
