Here you'll find pre-publication updates, diary entries and behind the scenes information on the writing and editing of the novel. Additionally, subscribers will have the opportunity to participate in pre-release sweeps and giveaways. As always, welcome your feedback and suggestions so feel free to contact us and let us know your thoughts.
July 27th: Casting The Recipient.
The characters who populate "The Recipient" became living and breathing people in my mind as I wrote them. To help flesh out the look and feel of each of them, it was helpful to me to have a visual representation for each of them. It added a lot of nuance to their character. Writers often turn to people in popular culture - just as a casting director would look to acting talent when casting a movie. It's a fun little thing to do and it really does help in writing them.
As I was writing, the pin board in my office became filled with all sorts of images - some clipped from magazines, others taken from the internet. Whether it was people or places or objects, it didn't matter. Anything that helped me to visualize the look and feel of the story, I pinned on that board. So, here, for the first time, is the "cast" of The Recipient. A group of people who embody the look, the mannerisms and the presence of the characters.
As the protagonist at the heart of The Recipient, Casey Schillinge is introduced just as she is receiving her life saving heart transplant. Casey is a young woman who is about to make her mark on the world but, in the aftermath of her surgery, she becomes disturbed and troubled as the effects of her horrible nightmares take their toll. Lionel Broadbent, a much loved character from my first novel The Hambledown Dream, returns in The Recipient as Casey's grandfather who is brought in when Casey's well being spins out of control. The two form an unlikely duo as the mystery of Casey's terrifying nightmares unfolds. Casey Schillinge was inspired by an anonymous model photographed by honored while Lionel Broadbent was inspired by British actor Geoffrey Palmer.
Simeera Fedele (L), Casey's brilliant heart surgeon and mentor, watches with growing concern at Casey's increasingly erratic behavior and feels powerless to do anything to help her. Prishna Argawaal (R), is a dogged police detective who suspects Casey is not all that she seems and goes to extreme lengths to catch Casey out. Simeera Fedele was inspired by British actor Arnold Vosloo while Prishna Argawaal was inspired by British actress Shelley Conn.
Casey's parents Peter & Edie Schillinge. As Casey's descends into an apparent madness, Peter does all he can to help her and supports her unfailingly. Edie, however, becomes increasingly estranged from her daughter and cannot reconcile the life that Casey has chosen to lead. Peter Schillinge was inspired by Australian actor William McInnes while Edie Schillinge was inspired by Australian actress Claudia Karvan.
Scott "The Sasquatch" Taylor, one of Casey Schillinge's closest friends, helps her to navigate an increasingly dangerous underworld as answers slowly reveal themselves, the further she investigates the reasons behind her nightmares. In the eyes of a portrait by Amadeo Modigliano, Casey Schillinge senses something deeply disturbing that is fuelling her nightmares. She feels her obsession with Modigliani's portrait is not her own but rather, it belongs to someone who resides in her terrifying dream world.
The cosmopolitan city of Melbourne, Australia becomes a character in and of itself as the events of The Recipient play out. As the author's, home town, Dean was keen to return to Melbourne - as he did with The Hambledown Dream - to draw it vividly in the story.
DFA.
Very cool, Dean! They all look a lot like I pictured too. Ha, another Australian friend sent me the DVDs of the excellent show "Spirited," so I recognized Claudia Karvan right away. May this casting become reality someday. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Molly. Over the past few years, I've spoken to many authors who employ this same little indulgence when crafting their characters. Pinterest gas certainly helped in nailing down the look and feel of people and places.
DeleteAnd I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I fantasize about what my stories might look like "on screen".
Claudia Karvan is one of my favorite Australian actors. She features in an ABC TV series down here called "The Time Of Our Lives" which had been really well received.
You'll note another actor from that series in William McInnes who I used as a template for Casey's Dad Peter. I've employed him before, when I was writing "Gifts of the Peramangk". He served as the inspiration for the cruel station owner Penschey and I based that on a performance McInnes turned in, in a mini series called "My Brother Jack". In that, he played a damaged and brutal WW1 soldier. It was such a powerful and frightening performance but it cemented him as a truly stellar actor - capable of many varied and nuanced characterisations.