When I was writing Hope’s War, an unexpected character walked into the novel and wouldn’t get out. That character’s name is Ian Smith and he was based on my nephew.
In the novel, Ian was one of Kat’s few friends who stuck by her in the midst of the media storm over her grandfather’s alleged activities in World War II. When I started writing that novel, I thought it was going to be about whether Kat could love her grandfather if he had done something horrible in the past. The novel turned out to be about whether one can judge by appearances.
When I wrote Hope’s War, the real Ian was in high school and was very much into Goth culture. The Ian in the novel was all these things too, although in the book, Ian was a classical pianist. My real-life nephew Ian was into acoustics and vocals.
In the book, there was a scene where Ian gives a concert and is then offered representation by a talent scout — for his look, not his music. Shortly after the novel came out, that same thing happened to the real Ian. He was in a number of TV commercials for his Goth persona.
After the book came out, Ian began to play keyboard (Industrial, not classical piano!)
As part of my research for Hope’s War, I interviewed Ian extensively about Goth culture, but also interviewed his friend A. We would often meet and go out for ice cream and talk for hours on end.
Just around that time, the two formed a group called DYM. Over the years, they’ve generated a loyal base of fans. Just recently, they launched their first album on a German label. The group is DYM and the album is Invilid and this week, it has entered the DAC (deutsche alternative charts).
Congratulations, DYM!
That’s so cool. Say congrats to him from me. Music is a lot like writing in that regard: it takes patience and a real stick-to-it attitude to get anywhere. I love how life imitated art. 🙂
Thanks, Karen! I’m thrilled for them, and while I’m not into industrial music, the album is quite good.