Nick Crane

It’s no secret that Nick Crane has always been the hardest character for me to write. In fact, His Heart was the hardest book I’ve ever written. As I sat down to start getting ready to publish His Heart, I realized something. Nick wasn’t at all how I wanted to write him. In fact, Nick is a classic scenario of not listening to your characters as a writer. Fighting them. Trying to write them as what they aren’t. Read on to learn all about Nick.

When I first started writing Nick, I envisioned him as a good cop. I planned on writing him as nothing more than a side character. Jason Crane’s friend. Best friend. Like… Close enough to Jason to not only be his friend and Head of Security, but also as family to him.

But that was absolutely not what Nick wanted. In fact, he spoke to me a little bit like Taylor and Nikki did. He wanted his own book. So… I decided to write him his own book. But I started it based on my vision for him. The good guy. The guy who got burnt out as a cop and moved to private security.

Again, though, that was absolutely not what he wanted. It’s not who he was. But I fought it. Hard. I had my vision for him. I wanted him to be a little bit like Jessa. The quiet storm. Kind of in the background unless he needed to show his true colors. Everything Nick is not.

So when I started to get His Heart ready for publishing, I realized it needed a major rewrite. Kind of the like Billion Dollar Love Story. And it all started with Nick. I listened to him. He’s a lot darker then I wanted him to be. He’s far more dominant then I envisioned him. And he’s more of a protector than even Ryan is. Ryan protects the world. His family. Nick? Nick protects him.

Nick is sort of like the sun. All encompassing. Life wouldn’t exist without him. And in the case of the Crane Family, the family wouldn’t be as strong as they are without him. He’s the one who keeps everyone in check. He’s the one who keeps everyone sane. He’s the one who makes sure the face of the family is just as taken care of as the rest of them.

But he has a side to him that could be downright demonic. He’s possessive. He’s dominant. A little inside secret? Like all of my male characters, he’s based on one of the two greatest men I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling mine. And let me tell you. Once I started listening to Nick, he became this amazing lead character that deserved not only his own story, but also deserved to have his place in the Crane Family forever memorialized with words.

Nick quickly became the amazing character and man he both wanted and deserved to be. I’m so proud to introduce Nick to you. The real Nick. The Nick that was always meant to be.