Temptation
Added 2019-05-24 14:00:03 +0000 UTCThis post isn't really about the illustration. It's more about my writing process.
So, back in the days when Book 4 was still called Christy, I wanted to show Paul in a bit of a funk. I called it his "running on empty" phase, a name that comes from the Jackson Browne song, but also from the scene in Forrest Gump that features it.
At the time in the story, Paul was at a crossroads in his life and didn't know what to do. So he just ran. He was tired of random girlfriends, tired of random sex, and he wasn't looking for more of either. He wasn't looking for a girlfriend at all, but Wren kept throwing women at him, because she thought she knew what he needed. (She was wrong in one sense, right in another.)
Paul really needed someone to inspire him, but also someone to ground him. He needed someone to fill the emptiness. He didn't know it at the time, but he needed Christy. It took him a while to figure it out, but I think he did okay. Eventually.
Anyway, that was Paul's "running on empty" phase. When I originally dreamed up the sequence, I didn't have names or even personalities for most of the women Wren tried to set him up with. They didn't matter. Literally. He wasn't interested in any of them.
Colleen was different. For some reason, she became real. So I picked a model for her (Muse) and turned her into a real character instead of a cardboard cutout who simply moved through Paul's life.
I like Colleen. And I think she'll be a recurring character in future stories. She's too much fun to leave in the past. Don't you think?
Anyway, that's the story of Colleen and how this scene came to be. I hope you enjoyed the background.
And if you're just here for the T&A, enjoy that too.
- Nick
