These characters are so real to me, I'm dreaming about them. They're the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. I've turned into the cliched absent-minded writer. However, while I worry that my kids think I'm literally glued to the computer, my elder son tells his teacher that my job is to go down to the shop to buy bread. Keeps things in perspective.
Above is the inimitable Diana Rigg playing Emma Peel in The Avengers, the inspiration for my heroine in The Dangerous Duke. She's intelligent, courageous, beautiful and has a mean karate chop. And she can't resist making a witty riposte in the most dire of situations. My heroine is all that without the martial arts expertise, though a couple of female boxers do figure in the story. More on that later.
And here's the inspiration for my hero;)
More on him later, too.