Meet the Cast of the Rising Elements Series!

Happy Wednesday! I'm heading out of town for the weekend, so I'm sharing this week's post a few days early. Surprise!

The cast of the Rising Elements series is dear to my heart, and I thought it would be fun to share some fun tidbits about each character. Don't worry - I won't bore you with the generic bio stuff like dates of birth and background info. Instead, I'm going to share a random quirk about each character... AND where I got the inspiration when I created each person. ;) Let's get the ball rolling!

Everly Ryan

This has been my inspiration photo for Everly since the beginning. She looks very kind and innocent but if you've read the books, you know she's tough as nails!

Favorite Quirk: I just love her snark. It's a defense mechanism against the harsh world she's lived in the past few years, and it is SO FUN to write!

Character Inspiration: Everly isn't based on a single person, but I was initially inspired by Alicia Vikander's portrayal of Lara Croft in the 2018 Tomb Raider movie. That's where her job as a bike messenger originally stemmed from!

Aki

I just love this photo. I don't know where the original credit comes from because I found it on Pinterest years ago, but it's beautiful!

Favorite Quirk: Aki wears white gloves at all times. Throughout the entire book 1, Everly never sees him without spotless white gloves and a tailored suit. He is suave like that. ;)

Character Inspiration: When it was time to create characters, I needed a mentor figure that was a direct opposite to Everly's character. He is controlled and logical where she is wild and impulsive. He's the yin to her yang!

Shadow

This has also been my inspo photo for Shadow since the beginning. :)

Favorite Quirk: Because he's a shifter, Shadow has a few canine tendencies even when he's in humanoid form. For example, he tends to scratch behind his ears with his foot. (Okay, I'm kidding. But he does sniff the air a lot!)

Character Inspiration: Let's just say that Shadow is the way he is for a specific reason. That's all I'm entitled to say about that. ;)

Mina

One of my beta readers pointed out to me that too many of my main characters looked human, so Mina's new look was born!

Favorite Quirk: Ironically, she's the most "Fae-looking" character in the group, but she loves all things human. She wears old band T-shirts and loves to learn about human inventions.

Character Inspiration: Mina's humanophile nature actually came from an idea one of my beta readers had. Her caretaker nature was inspired by my mother-in-law, whose love language is food.

Gideon

Last but not least, one of my favorite characters to write!

Favorite Quirk: He always has a bottle of whiskey in his hand, and he never wears shoes. ;)

Character Inspiration: Gideon is my husband's favorite character. We came up with the idea of an archer who was too drunk to ever hit a target... except he could move the target so he never missed.

... And that's it! There are many other characters in the Rising Elements series, but these five are the main ones... and my favorites. Which one sounds the most interesting to you? Let me know in the comments!