Here's Lyddi

It's a wonderful feeling to develop a character... after months of writing the story, to finally know what she really looks like! I've had images in my head as to how she wears her hair, but until I actually drew her, I didn't know what her little pixy face looked like. I haven't put all the line detail in this yet, and this is only a portion of the first page of the book, "Lyddi and the List."

The character, Lyddi, is characterized after me, but modeled after my beautiful granddaughter, Makana. And the name Lyddi comes from my newest granddaughter, Lydia. So, I've really kept it all in the family this time!

Our children and grandchildren give us a rich source for stories and characters, so long as we writers and artists realize that some of our fascination lies in the fact that the children are related to us! Some serious scrutiny needs to take place before you try to publish those stories. One of the most difficult decisions to make is changing something "real" to something "invented" in order to make the story or character work. Makana was a tiny  bit miffed that the character Lyddi bore her sister's name. In the other story, "Kana and the Missing Kio", she was disappointed that her name was used, but not her image! Poor Makana just wasn't "Hawaiian" enough.