As a reader, I often wonder how much of the characters I love are based on their authors’ lives.
I imagine Sara Paretsky as an outspoken champion of those who struggle, just as is her character V.I. Warshawski. I wonder whether John Sandford has a lot in common with Lucas Davenport, the main character in his Prey novels. (Maybe better if he doesn’t, depending which one you’re reading.)
I wish I could live in Three Pines and want to visit the town in Canada Louise Penny modeled it after.
If these authors are like me, they borrow here and there from real life. They probably exaggerate flaws and good qualities of their characters a little or a lot for dramatic effect.
Certainly the main character of my new series, Q.C. Davis, is quicker with words than I.
She says the things I think. Not only that, she says them now, while I think of a great response half an hour later. Or in the middle of the night when I’m still running that snarky comment someone made to me through my head.
Not that I do that, of course. Because that would be unhealthy.
All of which leads me to the point (yes, there’s a point, sort of) of this article, which is to share a few of my favorite Q.C. Davis quotes from the second book, The Charming Man.
Those who know me well will see a few similarities between me and Q.C., mainly that she really dislikes coffee. And she’s a lawyer, though she works at it full time and I don’t. So she’s a little more weary of lawyer jokes than I am.
- Hot coffee I at least understood for the warmth. Cold brew left me puzzled.
- Words matter, and which you use often determines the answers you get.
- If some god had arranged for Marco’s thirteen-year-old son to lose his father or for me to find the man I loved dead on the eve of us moving in together, I was a fan of a random and godless Universe.
- …if you want people to tell you things it’s good to keep everyone’s confidences.
- Everyone makes fun of lawyers. Until they need one.
I confess, the last one’s my favorite even though I don’t spend most of my time practicing law. I might put it on a T-shirt. Or a mug.
