What are the ingredients we knead and stir and bake into characters? How do these people end up knocking around inside our brains, anyway? Where do they come from?
Some of the sparks that grew into Marguerite in Forbidden Rose were real spies.
Consider Marie-Madeleine Bridou. (She ended up Marguerite in the book instead of Madeleine as a nod to The Scarlet Pimpernel. Jo waves. Hello, Scarlet Pimpernel.)
Read about Bridou here, here, and here.
She chose the code name Hedgehog because, as one of her colleagues put it, “it’s a tough little animal that even a lion would hesitate to bite.”
You will be pleased to know Bridou worked for a publishing company. Heroic people, those who work in publishing.
I love that the idea of naming the contacts in Marguerite's network after animals came from real life!
ReplyDeleteArt imitates life, I suppose.
ReplyDelete