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Finding yourself hidden in your own book

11/7/2013

Building Attraction - Monique McDonell - Coverhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GD0B4UQ

People often ask writers how much of their stories are based on their own lives. In my own case I’ve drawn on aspects in all my books because it is easier to write what you know. In some cases it’s experiences I’ve had in others it is aspects of my personality.

For Building Attraction I honestly didn’t think there was much of me in there at all when I wrote it. That’s a funny thing actually. As an author you just write and then of course you have to draw people, scenes and settings from somewhere but a lot of what happens can be quite unplanned.

Then I went back to look at it with fresh eyes as I did the edits.

Have I worked in a PR consultancy very similar to the one in the book? Why yes, yes I have.
Does that boarding school resemble the school I attended, not that I was a boarder, complete with nuns that used to chase down the peeping toms? Why yes, yes I did.

So I guess I drew on more of my experiences than I might have imagined.

I’ve never been a rural girl working to save my farm. I’ve never been responsible for teenage siblings either but still, there are elements of me in this story as well. It’s amazing what you discover when you read a book, even your own.

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