I can hardly wait until Thursday, when Sadie releases. My sincerest hope is that you’ll love the story even half as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Usually, I wait and share the inspiration for my characters after the book releases, but I just had to share Sadie and Harley John with you today!
Let’s start with Sadie.
She first appeared, way back in the book Marnie, when she was only eight years old. When I wrote that book, I chose Johnny Sequoyah as my inspiration for the character. She looked exactly how I pictured young Sadie in my mind. That face, to me, said she’d known struggle and hardship, but she also had spunky to carry her through – which is exactly how Sadie was at that age.
When I thought about what Sadie would look like all grown up, I was pretty happy to discover Johnny is grown up now, too!
Isn’t she lovely? And I could so easily picture her as our grown-up version of Sadie.
This picture not only inspired a scene in the story, it’s one that Harley John often recalls.
Harley John has been in love with Sadie since the first time he saw her on the playground. Of course, she let him think she detested him, but he eventually broke through her defenses
He’s a sensitive old soul kind of person and when I was looking for a visual that represented him, I knew I’d found just the one when I saw this photograph.
Alex Saxon is exactly how I picture Harley John. Exactly!
I could easily picture this as Harley John, and it’s no wonder Sadie fell in love in him.
Especially when he smiles.
You can find more of the images that inspired me as I wrote Sadie’s story on my Pinterest board.
Also, I wanted to share the song I listened to while I wrote the story. It’s just incredible, performed by Caleb + Kelsey. If you’ve never heard, look up the lyrics. I think Harley John and Sadie would definitely approve of this as their song!
