Cindi Rogers
asked
Tracey Garvis Graves:
Hello! I just finished The Girl He Used to Know! Wow. Amazing. I am just wondering if you modeled the Annika character after someone with ASD or Fragile X Syndrome? It was interesting to me that her Dad had some of the same tendencies, common in a Father that carries the Fragile X gene. Your research and the details were so descriptive! Thank you for writing this book. It really touched me.
Tracey Garvis Graves
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Hi, Cindi,
Thank you so much!! I'm thrilled that you thought it was amazing. That is wonderful to hear. When I first started outlining the book and trying to get a feel for the characters, I had a difficult time figuring Annika out. I knew she looked at the world differently than Jonathan - that was the core conflict. But I didn't know why. As I spent more time on the manuscript, I realized that Annika would never change to make her world view match Jonathan's. It wasn't because she didn't want to; it was because that was the way her brain was wired. I wanted to write a story where the hero loved the heroine just the way she was. I felt like that would be a much more interesting story to write. So, no Fragile X but definitely a woman who was on the spectrum and who also had a lot of anxiety. I did have to do extensive research and it was very important to me that I show the reader what a wonderful person Annika was and how everyone she encountered realized the special gifts she brought to the relationship. I really loved Annika and Jonathan and their love story.
Best,
Tracey (hide spoiler)]
Thank you so much!! I'm thrilled that you thought it was amazing. That is wonderful to hear. When I first started outlining the book and trying to get a feel for the characters, I had a difficult time figuring Annika out. I knew she looked at the world differently than Jonathan - that was the core conflict. But I didn't know why. As I spent more time on the manuscript, I realized that Annika would never change to make her world view match Jonathan's. It wasn't because she didn't want to; it was because that was the way her brain was wired. I wanted to write a story where the hero loved the heroine just the way she was. I felt like that would be a much more interesting story to write. So, no Fragile X but definitely a woman who was on the spectrum and who also had a lot of anxiety. I did have to do extensive research and it was very important to me that I show the reader what a wonderful person Annika was and how everyone she encountered realized the special gifts she brought to the relationship. I really loved Annika and Jonathan and their love story.
Best,
Tracey (hide spoiler)]
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Nov 26, 2020 07:22AM · flag
Nov 26, 2020 07:23AM · flag