Jill Woodbine was your protagonist in her novel and The Femme Phantom is your main hero in Hidden Harbor Mysteries. Was the gender of your heroes a conscious choice or did the story come first?
Jill’s story was supposed to be about someone with an inquiring mind willing to look deeper into things than your typical survivor. She’s a newly-minted journalist and trained to ask questions and question those answers. She’s young and smart, but also very clever – which is a different thing than smart. I wanted people to underestimate Jill to give her room to investigate. I hate to say it, but given the nature of HG World and its people, being “a girl” made it easier for her to slip under the radar of management. Jeb, Hank, Jack and others don’t see women as threats. That’s what had me leaning toward Jill over, say, Bill.
Was that an early decision? I ask because the romance with Red Molly is central to moving Jill from the first half of the story into the second. Would Molly have changed gender? (more…)
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