Inspirations

Liam O'Donnell

So I think I might do this for a couple of characters. I’d like to talk about the character inspiration and the character’s journey, and let’s start with a fun one, our favorite Irish hottie, Li O’Donnell. 

I like to start writing a series by kind of laying out what I call the team. In the case of Masters and Mercenaries, it’s an actual team, and I start with some archetypes. In Liam’s, case he was supposed to be the playboy. Ian’s the boss with secrets. Sean’s the one who wants out. Alex and Eve are my troubled couple, and Jake and Adam are the ones who are haunted by their past and looking for a future. And Liam was also there for some international flair. 

While I don’t always have an actor or model in my head, for Li it’s very clear. Colin Farrell is my Liam. From his dark hair, to that accent, to his sexy smirk, Colin is the template. At the time I first came up with the idea for M&M, Colin was also a pretty big party boy. I find it deeply interesting that the actor and my character have kind of grown in the same ways. 

Li is introduced in The Dom Who Loves Me as a former Irish intelligence agent in a kind of semi-hiding situation. You don’t get the whole story of why Li hides his Irish accent until his book, A Dom is Forever. He’s kind of loud and a little rude, and is there to provide some balance to the whole Sean’s in love and Jake and Adam are obviously looking thing. Li is the playboy in his prime, enjoying way too young for him women and a whole lot of hot wings. Why hot wings? Not sure. Just felt right. 

You see a little more depth from him in The Men with the Golden Cuffs when he has a conversation with Jake and Adam about how alone he is. In a lot of ways, Liam kissing Serena in order to show her that Jake and Adam feel for her is an act of love. 

Then we get to his real heart in A Dom is Forever. Avery, in many ways, is his perfect heroine because he needs someone with as pure a heart as possible. He’s seen so much, and it would be easy for him to fall into darkness. It’s why in the alternate world I write about in Stealing Summer, there are wanted posters for the Fae version of Liam and Avery. In that world Avery’s not so good, and they become Bonnie and Clyde with pointy ears. But obviously that’s another story. 

One of my favorite scenes I’ve ever written is the scene where Avery tells her story and Li is so overcome by what she’s gone through he tosses the op and tells her the truth. 

Liam’s life is so deeply molded by the women in it. While the men in his life—his brother, Ian and the team—influence him, it’s the women who change the real course of his soul. First his mother in not so good ways. Then Eve as his therapist, convincing him to open up. She’s the reason he’s ready for Avery. His wife is the biggest influence, but don’t discount Erin. Over the course of the rest of the series, Erin Argent, later Taggart, becomes his partner and close friend, and together they form the intellectual heart of McKay-Taggart—a place it might not seem possible in the beginning. 

Now Liam lives in happy delusion, his kids and family all around him. He does a lot of the work of running McKay-Taggart these days. He’s a loving Da, and still so in love with his wife. But he should stay away from bees. 

Related books:

A Dom is Forever