December 10th 2015

Friends

In the beginning when I was writing my book I was greatly influenced by the people around me at the time and they contributed to the creation of the characters in differing amounts. Some were loosely based on friends and some were caricatures of people I seemed to encounter from time to time. There were also a couple of characters that were a mix of people all in one and some were just incarnations from my imagination. I am happy to divulge some of those identities but, naturally, not all. Again, they are merely the base for building the character and have no real similarities as far as the plot is concerned, but it often helps to picture these people in order to write about their counterparts.

Nanako 

is based on my good friend and artist/illustrator Nana Sakata. We previously worked together for 6 years and have remained friends ever since. Nana has recently become a mum for the first time!




Abigail

is based on another good friend and fellow singer Ali Manifold. We also had worked together and remained friends even though she is often in the UK with her partner Mike.






Annabella

is based on a friend and former supervisor Angela Magistrale. I haven't caught up with her for a while now but hope to do so in the new year.




Bart


is based on another former colleague and mate Marcus Burton. I haven't seen him for ages but I still get updates through Nana and Facebook occasionally.






Lana

is a bit of a mix of people but I took the name from friend and colleague Alanah Willis.





Ramon

is based on friend and former member of the Australian Ballet - Yosvani Ramos. Yosvani is currently in the US travelling around in The Nutcracker. Luckily he is a big social media user and keeps everyone well informed of his daily adventures.




Ruth is based on my first ever singing teacher, now passed away, Florence Taylor. Florence was a real powerhouse and would teach in Kent street Sydney many long days. She was tough and strict but she cared a lot about her students.

Maggie is based on a few people too as there were many oldies to draw upon for this character :-)

Dimitri is based on Ivan (cant spell his last name) - the best theatre manager I ever worked with.

As for the rest...

Quaaralia is based on...  Frieda is based on.... Wendy is based on... Terrence is based on...

That would be telling :-)

James