5 Romance Book Authors Reveal Their Characters' Muses

A great romance author creates a picture in the reader's mind as we read their words. Being as descriptive as possible—whether it be characters, locations, or scenes—puts us, the readers, into the situations to experience what we're reading. The vision has to start somewhere, and for many authors, the vision for the characters in her books come from actual people.

An author's muse can be a single photo of a person, place, or thing, a song that inspires them, or their perception of a public persona. I asked some of our favorite authors to reveal who inspired their characters in their books. Some are surprising, and some are spot-on what we had pictured in our mind as we read their stories.

SL Jennings

Fear of Falling—Blaine aka Mateus Verdelho

Tattooed and pierced Brazilian model, Mateus Verdelho, is the sexy muse for S.L. Jennings's main character, Blaine, in her book Fear of Falling. And if he doesn't make you want to pick up this book just to have Mateus live in your mind for a few hours, I don't know what's wrong with you.

Alice Clayton

The Redhead Series—Jack aka Robert Pattinson & Max Irons

Alice Clayton explains who she pictures as Jack while she writes her bestselling books in The Redhead Series:

“It’s embarrassing to admit, but I have muses for every single character I write. And not only that, in my head they are all already movies so I always cast in my head when I’m writing! For Jack Hamilton in The Redhead Series, while it was most certainly Robert Pattinson when originally written, now he is 100% Max F*cking Irons. I can’t tell you how perfectly this guy fits Jack. Sexy but funny, charming in that way only an Englishman can be, he is my Jack.”

TJ Hamilton

Buying Thyme—Tom aka Mr. Hamilton

TJ’s husband was a real hot-ass model back in the day (lucky wench), so of course she would use him as the muse for her main love interest in her crime trilogy.

“Well as corny as it sounds, I draw a lot of my husband into the hero of my Thyme trilogy. My husband is my leading man. So why wouldn’t he be my muse… the good, the bad & the hot! The naked one is my fave from a GQ shoot he did years ago… drool!”

Tessa Bailey

Protecting What’s His—Willa (see collage)

Tessa Bailey is quickly making a name for herself as an author who pulls no punches when it comes to hitting us hard where it counts: in the love scenes. In a fantasy book, we want to be attracted to both the hero and the heroine. It doesn't have to be a sexual attraction, but we have to want to allow the character to live in our mind for the duration of the book, and to do that, the characters should be attractive to us. Tessa pulls that off incredibly well in her books.

“I’m working on an NA book right now (or at least the proposal). Willa Peet is the heroine. Hopefully you’ll remember her from Protecting What’s His (Ginger’s little sister). Here are the pictures I’m using as my muse for Willa. I usually use pictures as a muse, occasionally song lyrics, almost always courtesy of Jack White. The song Love Interruption would be the song inspiring Willa currently.”

Tara Sivec

The Chocolate Lovers Series—Carter aka Ian Harding

As a finalist in the Smut Book Awards on Smut Book Club for Hottest Everyman, Carter Ellis is the guy next door you can't help but want under your own roof. The mega-hilarious Chocolate Lovers series is not about billionaire dominant alpha males or a hot-ass motorcycle biker club; it's about regular people with whom we can relate and want to be BFFs.

5 Romance Book Authors Reveal Their Characters' Muses

See where the inspirations for our favorite characters originated