The lovely graceful passionate gentle men

Okay, so I know where I got my influence for strong women...the question is where did I pick up my penchant for gentle emotional men. Heck, even when they lose their tempers, these guys are gentle, graceful, and lovely. And yeah, my husband is like that as well.

But where the heck did I get this image?

GASP! I think it's from a real person. As a kid I knew a sweet little soul in Jamaica called Lancelot Bell. What a dear soul he was. I think that's where it came from. One of those childhood friendships that was broken apart by time and circumstances. So maybe this is a case where the literary love for these characters came after the actual human person -- art echoing life.

Okay, we have to mention Hamlet. One cannot mention Carole's loves without mentioning Hamlet. The lord thing comes in there. All my loves are royals. And Hamlet's angsty and religiosity definitely affects them. Hamlet was a seminary student at Wittenberg, Martin Luther's breakaway university. So yeah, that's in there as well. My characters are always religious...even the non-religious ones.

I suppose I should mention the types as well. In my stories there are three types: the dark-haired angsty one, the blonde angsty one, and the ethnic angsty one. Yeah, I'm pretty shallow that way.

And yes, I'll admit it: I'm in love with Norman Bates from Psycho (as depicted by Anthony Perkins, mind you. Not the Vince Vaughn loony.)

So yeah, although Hamlet, Parzifal, and the others had their moments....my sweet Lancelot Bell came first. God bless you, Lancelot, wherever you are.