Behind The Scenes of All That Shines with Diane Bator

Behind the scenes by Diane Bator

Book one of my Glitter Bay series was inspired by wandering through second-hand shops, which is something I enjoy. I live in a small town in Ontario, Canada where we actually have several. I’ve found a number of great items over the years, but never a body like Laken did in All That Sparkles. 

Then came book two. My plan from the start of the series was to have Laken and Sage Miller purchase the building the Sweet Eden Tea House was in and move Vintage Sage, their second-hand boutique, into a bigger, brighter space. Laken being a former fashion model divorced from a B-list actor, planned to move out of her sister’s home and into the spacious upstairs apartment above the new store.

For her part, Sage was happy with the status quo and not eager to renovate, clean, move and so on. She was one of those people who was happy with her little life and didn’t want one thing to change let alone everything at once. She started off book two a bit cranky and became downright enraged when she learned her sister Laken had hired a fashion designer friend to come and help them do the interior design work for their new space.

That’s when things went sideways. Sebastian Hayward III showed up with his protégé, Hamlet. Double trouble for Sage, especially after Sebastian is murdered and she’s stuck with Hamlet. Then Hamlet makes a huge revelation. He is transgender and wants to be called Quinn. In spite of everything else she’s had to deal with, Sage takes Quinn’s news in stride. Quinn Evans has quickly become one of my favorite characters and is responsible for Sage’s huge character arc in All That Shines. She’s drawn Sage out of her shell bit by bit and even got her to model in a fashion show. So where did she come from?

I work in the box office of a professional theatre and we were hosting our first ever drag queen show. Honestly, I’d seen drag queens on television and in Key West, but they’d never been a part of my day to day life until then. A man walked into the box office one day and asked for a ticket for the show. Our procedure was to ask for name, address, phone number and the like in order to process a ticket. That’s exactly what I did. 

He replied his name was Tiffany. I had a half-second to think “Is he joking?” before I asked for his last name. We became friends after that and I was so fascinated to watch her take on the world that she became a huge inspiration. If it wasn’t for meeting her, I never would have created Quinn.

I won’t give too much away, suffice it to say Quinn will become a recurring character in Glitter Bay. She has a lot more up her sleeve than I’ve revealed so far. And I can’t wait to see what!

Learn more about Diane Bator at penspaintsandpaper.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.