The Making of Chloe Kassidy

Special Guest Post by Author Cari Kamm:
 
The Making of Chloe Kassidy

“It was much easier to control the outcome in photography. Heartbreak couldn’t be retouched.” – Chloe Kassidy

As someone who has worked in the beauty industry for over a decade, who has a master’s in clinical nutrition from New York University and currently works in corporate social media management with clients in the beauty, fashion, and restaurant industries . . . how the heck did I create a character that’s a professional photographer?  I can say that I did pull it off considering my editor is a Photonovelist! Heather Hummel gave me the seal of approval.

Life inspires me to create a character. I don’t necessarily “hear voices in my head” as someone that would require medical attention. Ha! My imagination is always alert. It’s on twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. Yes, even when I’m sleeping.

In an instant, I can go from sipping my cappuccino, to walking along a tree-lined street, while sitting in a movie theater, to having lunch with a friend, if inspired by a sound, a person, a smell, or even a shadow, my mind will wander off and absorb something specific in a moment. That moment can lead me into a story idea or a personality for a character.

My protagonist Chloe Kassidy has just been accepted into one of Manhattan’s most exclusive art exhibits, Love Through Light. However, with her singular dedication to her career, she soon realizes that in sacrificing her personal life, she has never been in love. A hopeless romantic who is terrified of heartbreak, Chloe begins to enlist the help of her circle of friends to learn about love through their very different stories and experiences.

So why a photographer? I felt it would be a creative career that would allow the story to be told through the lens and allow Chloe to remain safe. To create a photographer, I had to declare myself as a photographer. For almost six months, I researched online photography and equipment blogs. I attended gallery openings, watched YouTube videos, and did several searches on photography terms and definitions. I highlighted words that could also be applied to love. Finally, I pulled out my Canon (I could finally use!) and behaved as a photographer. I walked the Brooklyn Bridge, through Central Park and sat in restaurants to create the voice of Chloe Kassidy. I took pictures everyday! Throughout my own daily life, a moment may capture me and I think, “Wow... my character would eat that, do that, say that, adore that.” All of the scenes in FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY were shot throughout the two years it took to write it. Lastly, I have family members that love photography as a hobby and one that is a professional photographer. I asked them personal questions such as “What do you feel when you’re shooting?” or “How does it feel when you’re capturing a moment?”

Chloe Kassidy and I shared similar feelings of failing, of not finishing, or not getting it right. She prepared for her exhibit opening and I work to complete the novel.

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY was inspired by the notion that women grow up with ideas of true love and destiny, For Internal Use Only approaches those ideas with a decidedly twenty-first century viewpoint. By incorporating problems inherent with today’s dating world, this book is meant to enlighten readers to stop chasing fairytales and start creating their own. My goal was to write a humorous love story with an edgy and dramatic twist that gives each of us a new fairy tale to look forward to: our own.

Cari Kamm has worked in the beauty industry for over a decade, building brands, working behind the scenes, and even selling her own skin care line. She has a master’s in clinical nutrition from New York University. Kamm currently works in corporate social media management with clients in the beauty, fashion, and restaurant industries. Living in New York City with her mutt Schmutz, Kamm loves finding inspiration in the most unexpected places, being a novelist, and convincing her fiancé that ordering takeout and making dinner reservations are equal to cooking. More information can be found on her website, CariKamm.com. To check out the book trailer, click here: http://tinyurl.com/bdr7bfn.