When Characters Come Alive

When Characters Come Alive 

By Christina Consolino

One of the most memorable characters in my debut novel, Rewrite the Stars, is Pickles Martin. A gray-haired retiree who volunteers at the Walloon Lake Branch of the Crooked Tree Library, she’s connected to several characters in the story, including a main character, Sadie, and her love interest, Andrew. Pickles plays a small but crucial role in Sadie’s life and the story, but her effervescence and sprightly attitude have won readers over (or so I’m told).

Pickles comes on the scene quietly. Over a pot of tea and plate of scones in library break room one day, she tells Sadie, “If I’d been a boy, I’d have been named Dill.” In that moment, Pickles slips inside Sadie’s heart and burrows there. She joins the ranks of Sadie’s confidants, providing wisdom, companionship, and friendship to a complicated, confused character. Pickles Martin might be a secondary character in the book, but in my mind, she has her very own story to tell.

That story hasn’t been written yet, but like Sadie’s, it involves two great loves: her first husband, Paul McKinnon (Andrew’s father) and her second, Henry Martin. Those two are so minor, and only one (Henry) is ever mentioned by name in the book; they’ve been gone from this earth for years, but each remain alive in Pickles’s heart. 

And apparently in my head too. At least Henry. While on vacation at Walloon Lake last year, I was out for a run and followed a simple half-mile loop so I could grab water from the porch of the house we were staying in. That loop went right past the cottage that Sadie and Theo rent out in Rewrite the Stars. On my second pass by the house, the scent of cologne filled my nostrils. Not too pungent, not too masculine. Nice and clean. I smiled.

On my third pass by the house, the scent grew stronger. As a writer, I think of all things in terms of characters and stories. Was this Andrew’s cologne? Theo’s? They played the largest roles in Sadie’s life. Which one could it be? 

The answer found me on my fourth loop: an older man with a blue jacket, a military baseball cap, and glasses rode on a trike (complete with basket at the back) toward me.

“It’s a great morning to be outside, isn’t it?” he called.

I turned the corner and followed him. After all, he was taking the same loop I was. “It sure is.”

“I wouldn’t be able to make it up this hill like you are,” he said.

“And I’d have trouble on a bike! Running is much more my thing.”

He winked. “I have a little help here. This is electric.”

We chatted as I ran and he rode his trike. When I asked about his hat and thanked him for his service, he told me he’d been in the Navy and was happy to serve. We parted ways, but not before his eyes twinkled in the hazy morning light. Just like Pickles’s eyes do. In that moment, as I watched him ride away, the realization hit: I was outside of Pickles Martin’s house, and I’d just met Henry Martin. 

Later that day, when my family was having dinner with our friends Kathy and Frank, who live at Walloon Lake all year, I asked them if they knew the man.

“Today was the first time I’ve ever seen him,” said Frank.

“Doesn’t sound familiar,” said Kathy. 

I didn’t see Henry after that, and I’m not sure I will next summer, but I come back to this memory often and ponder what he’s doing and where he’s going. Pickles talks about the magic of Walloon Lake, and it’s something Sadie believes in too. And you know what? I’m happy to put myself in that camp as well. Maybe next year I’ll have the chance to meet Pickles.

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