A Joyful Ring Character Inspiration

I had an amazing time creating the Birke family and the fictional town of Lovely, Oregon, in the Silver Bell Sweethearts series.

I thought you might like to see the inspiration behind the characters in the first book, A Joyful Ring.

All I knew when I began pulling together ideas for the characters in this story (and series) was that I wanted the Birke family to have blond hair and blue eyes.

Then I started look for actors with those traits and the one that jumped out at me was Trevor Donovan for my character of Gunder Birke.

I don’t think any explanation is necessary as to why Trevor was perfect inspiration for Gunder.

He was just how I pictured the hero.

If you’re also a Trevor Donovan fan, be sure to check out my friend Caroline Fyffe’s book-turned-movie — Where the Wind Blows!

When I was thinking about Risa’s character, I wanted her to be  beautiful, but also strong. She’s had a hard life and the ugly town of Lovely might be her last chance to finally make her dreams of stability and a home of her own come true. I chose Abigail Cowen as the inspiration for Risa’s character.

I loved envisioning Risa in all her different moods with her many different expressions, thanks to the photos I found of Abigail.

The town of Lovely, which exists only in my head, is fashioned after various mining town photos I studied that felt appropriate to the era.

When I was getting ready to start writing this book, I realized Dan + Shay had released a new Christmas album.  I listened to one song, then another, then bought the whole album, and listened to specific songs for each book in this series. You can check out these wonderful Christmas songs on It’s Officially Christmas by Dan + Shay.

For Gunder and Risa’s story, I chose the song Christmas Isn’t Christmas. It’s is so sweet and heartwarming, and I hope you’ll love listening  to it.

For more character inspiration, check out my Pinterest Board.

And if you haven’t yet, be sure you order your copy of A Joyful Ring.