Hope Valley strikes again!

Hope Valley. Hm. I'm beginning to (almost) think it's a real place! Believe me, I wouldn't be surprised if I was up in Skagit county and I found it living and thriving on a slightly more realistic level. But, don't worry, I wouldn't be looking for it and I don't think it's anywhere around, either. It's just that I wouldn't be surprised, truly.

People like the O'Haras are directly based on my family and friends, but they've taken their pencils (remember yesterday?) and written themselves. My sister with a quiet personality, Susie, suddenly turned into mischevious Becca O'Hara who is a prankster and funny while she's at it. I--and actually this didn't change me much--turned into the girl who is the only one who likes children's choir for the singing and motions, Katy O'Hara. My friend Evonne who is also quiet and pretty docile (in a good sense if "docile" can mean an insult) turned into Eva Wang, a quiet girl who is just apalled at what Becca comes up with sometimes. My friend Rachel turned into Leah Nelson, the girl who is mischevious on a smaller scale and actually quite good. Finally, a teacher I once had (choir director, actually), Rhoda, turned from an Asian woman with a heart of gold, a way with kids, and big ideas, turned to Rhody, a frusterated choir director who can't seem to tame Becca and who has big ideas and always wants to practice.

These changes are not meant to make fun of anybody, but to take certain personality traits (Becky is a little trickster sometimes, I love to sing, Evonne is quiet, Rachel boisterous, Rhoda has big ideas that sometimes take a long time to learn, etc.) and exaggerate them, to make them funny, but not for ridicule, instead, to make new people with slight traits. A lot of my characters are based on people. Hope Valley was supposed to be the strongest, and it was by accident that they were veiled in exaggeration and fiction, but some people in my other story (there's a person named Amalia, besides Miriam and her friends Yolanda and Sian) are based partly in reality, partly in fiction, and then veiled purposely to hide their real bases. It's fun to do--and I must say, if you start with people you know, you can really understand your character.
Saro