Meet My Character: Patricia O'Neill

My writer-friend +AmyBeth Inverness (bio below) invited me to participate in the Meet My Character blog hop. Of course I jumped on the chance. What author doesn't want the chance to tell you about their characters? We're worse than RPG gamers that way! You can see Amy's post here.

I have a book upcoming with Curiosity Quills in early 2015, so I'm dying to tell you about it anyway. Thanks for the excuse to talk about Patricia, +AmyBeth Inverness 

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Patricia O'Neill. She's fictional, but very real to me.

2. When and where is the story set?

The story takes place in 2013, the year I was writing it, or some nearby year, in Springfield. Springfield is my made-up town with a very nonspecific geography, in the tradition of comic book towns like Metropolis and Gotham and Central City. I named it Springfield because nearly every state in the United States has a Springfield, plus, I like The Simpsons. My Springfield is a medium size city surrounded by suburban neighborhoods. 

3. What should we know about him/her?

Patricia is fifty-eight years old when the story begins. She loves her single life, running her corporate department with an iron fist. When she starts having skin issues, she doesn't think anything much of it. After all, she's a natural redhead. She's always had skin issues!  But this itchy patch between her shoulder blades is truly driving her crazy, and her doctor has not been able to give her any relief. So, she goes to see her lifelong friend, Dr. Cindy Liu, who specializes in women and aging. 

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

The short answer? Dr. Cindy Liu.  Cindy gives Patricia a cream to apply, and not only does it not help, it causes some kind of chemical reaction. Before long Patricia is covered in scales and armored skin that can deflect bullets. Obviously, this puts a damper of some of her other life plans. As the story moves on, we learn that there's more going on with Cindy than it first appears.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

Patricia is one driven woman. In the course of this novel, her immediate goal is to understand and deal with what has happened to her. When she meets up with other women who have developed comic-book problems/powers, she wants to stop Dr. Liu before someone gets hurt. 

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

It's called Going Through the Change. A short story featuring Patricia (a version of which is a chapter in the book) was published here. 

I've also blogged about the process of writing this one quite a bit. 

• Here's a post about starting to write it. 
• Here's one about the difference between writing this and writing my first novel, His Other Mother (unpublished). 
• Here's one about writing the friendship between Patricia and Linda. 
• Here's a scene with Patricia from the sequel, still being written. 
• Here's the first chapter of Going Through the Change, featuring Linda. 

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

I'm under contract with +Curiosity Quills Press  and everything is going swimmingly so far. I don't have an exact release date, but expect to be able to send you out to buy it in early 2015.

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Thanks +AmyBeth Inverness for tagging me.


A writer by birth, a redhead by choice, and an outcast of Colorado by temporary necessity, AmyBeth is a creator of Speculative Fiction and Romance. She can usually be found tapping away at her laptop, writing the next novel or procrastinating by posting a SciFi Question of the Day on Facebook and Google Plus. When she’s not writing, she’s kept very busy making aluminum foil hats and raising two energetic kids and many pets with her husband in their New England home.



I'm tagging some fellow Curiosity Quills writers. Check them out next week!

Ann M. Noser
Vicki Leigh
Clare Dugmore
Jori Mierek