Candace Havens | Secrets and Siblings

I grew up an only child, and I really liked it. (Smile) Except for the fact that I love to play board games and cards, and I didn’t always have a playmate.

But I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of siblings.

That’s why there are four Caruthers sisters and one brother in my new book "The Demon King and I." I wanted to write about that interaction between siblings. I have first hand experience after watching my own children, but I also did some research by hanging around and learning to understand how my friends interact with their brothers and sisters.

Take my friend Shannon’s comment about how one of her brother’s dresses. We were Christmas shopping a few years ago and she talked about how she bought him some decent clothes so he would wear something besides a t-shirt and jeans. It was her subtle way of telling him to grow up. I didn’t realize it, until just this moment but that sort of ended up in The Demon King and I. (Please, don’t tell her.)

I watched as another friend interacted with her two sisters. That dynamic was very interesting because the middle sister, my friend, has become the peacekeeper in the family. There is this constant battle for her to keep everyone happy, though it seldom works out that way.

My two best friends, Shannon and Rosemary, have become like sisters to me. We even have our own little family dynamic, though I’m pretty sure we are much kinder to one another than most siblings. But we can talk about anything, which is something I love.

So I want to know about you and your siblings. Are you like my kids, who grump at each other constantly but when the chips are down they are there for one another? They both have this thing that they can give each other a hard time, but no one from the outside better say anything derogatory. So tell me. And do you share secrets with your siblings?

Candace Havens
www.candacehavens.com/