How I came up with Jack

The idea for this novel was born out of fantasies I had when I was a teenager. Therefore, it’s also the oldest character I’ve ever carried with me.    

When I was a teenager, I used to dream about ‘the one’ — as many girls probably do. As I was always daydreaming and fantasizing, I wanted to make him more real and named him Jack. I can’t remember how I came up with that name exactly, but I do know I chose it because the name sounds very strong, dark and dangerous. I would imagine him as this handsome and mysterious man with dark hair and dark eyes.

I started putting him in storylines I played out in my head, and I very quickly decided that one day, I was going to write a book named Jack. It was going to be a book that was dark, but also romantic. Jack was going to be the dangerous and mysterious man. And of course, there was going to be a girl who caught his eye.

I walked around with this idea in my head for over two decades. I finally wrote Jack in 2022.

In my novel, Jack is known as a serial killer, but of course, he is not your average psychopath. How else would he be able to fall in love with a girl? So, I had to give him a motive that readers would understand, and maybe even sympathize with.   

The story is told from Melanie’s point of view — the young and beautiful girl who catches Jack’s eye. Throughout the story, Jack pursues her and tries to prove that she can trust him. Melanie, however, resists him and is, understandably, afraid. But little by little, Jack wins her over.

It was extremely fun to write this novel, and to finally explore the words Jack would say and the things he would do. I think I also succeeded in keeping Jack fairly mysterious by the end of the novel, which is something I love doing with my characters (I did it with Alyssa’s character in my novel Alyssa as well).

The novel intertwines danger and desire, and I loved portraying Melanie’s emotional journey as her feelings for Jack grow.

My goal for this novel was mostly to write a love story with a side of danger and mystery. It all centered around this Jack character, who had lived in my head for so long.

This novel scratched an itch and has made me want to explore darker themes. Psychopathy is one of them. I’ve become fascinated with writing a novel from the perspective of a psychopath. It would definitely be an interesting project to work on, as I’d have to dive as deeply as possible into the mind of such a character.

I think there are probably two types of people: those who understand why I find that exciting, and those who think I’m weird. Which one are you?