I’m about a quarter of the way through my holiday story featuring Rosie Frankenhoffer and it dawned on me just how completely her personality has taken over the narrative. Like all of my characters, I have a pretty extensive backstory on our favorite millionaire author, one that is surprisingly full of tasty tidbits that generally never see the light of day. They inform how I write her, of course, since they form the various motivations behind her actions on the page. But I generally never get a chance to pull one or two of those to the forefront and hang a story on them; I mean, as much as I love her as a character, Vas is really the star of the series. It wouldn’t do to have her overshadowing him, now would it?
Still, I have left plenty of hints behind for how Rosie feels about Vas and Alex, and the guys have pretty much returned the favor by more or less adopting her. I love the dynamics of their relationship, especially the various contradictions inherent within it. Considering Rosie started off as a suspect in a murder investigation Vas was running, having a deep friendship develop from such an inauspicious beginning is incredibly unlikely. Yet that’s exactly what happened — despite the fact that I’d originally cast Rosie as, essentially, the guest star in Pariah with absolutely no intention of her reappearing in a future story. So I was just as surprised as Vasily when that call came in from her cardiologist during Ditched; the rest, as they say, is history, for I can no longer conceive of any Vasily Korsokovach novel without her appearance.
Having her as a featured player is another thing entirely. I had no idea she had so much to say; the words have been flowing faster than my still-recovering wrist is capable of handling, but slowing down seems nearly impossible. The theme of the tale is, unsurprisingly, how those we choose to include in our lives often become just as near and dear to us as our siblings and parents. It holds even more import for someone like Rosie who through her own choices finds herself flying solo in the twilight of her life. Realizing you need others is hard; accepting them, often harder. Holidays like Christmas always seem to make such thoughts even more poignant; maybe I’m alone in that, but I often think of those I’ve lost either to time or neglect, and always wonder what I should/could/might have done differently. Some of that is bleeding into Rosie’s reflections, but not all of it — she’s a strong personality, so I’ve pretty much just stepped out of the way and let her go.
If you’d like to be the first to get your hands on the story when it drops, be sure to subscribe to my blog or newsletter. I can’t wait to share the story with you and this journey as I write it. The manuscript should be done by the next time I post, so stay tuned.
And yes, the title is Chosen Family.
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