Describe yourself, a character and your book in 5 words or less.

This has to go on record as the shortest blog I've ever written.  Honour's Debt is the first book in my Honour Series and Bellaport and Maddie are the main characters.

Joan Vincent-- resourceful, persistent, loving, positive, sensible

Honour’sDebt -- unacceptance, rollercoaster, danger, risks, romance

Quentin Bellaport, Viscount Broyal --brave, dependable, resourceful, quick-witted

Maddie Vincouer--audacious, resourceful, brave, dependable, tenacious

My Process for Writing (Z Minor)

Doesn’t matter if it is a short story or a novel – they all start with an idea. Some ideas are big like an historical fact or could be just a couple of words. Anything to start me thinking of characters, plots, and what if.

Once I take the idea I start thinking title. I have to have a working title, I think it keeps me grounded in the story. I must admit the title usually doesn’t change over time it takes to write the story – be it years, months or just weeks. In some ways I believe the title is most important as it can draw readers to your finished book.

After the title comes the characters, big and small. I heard one teacher call them fat characters - very developed, and skinny characters - they come on to the page and go off without much fanfare. Names of my main characters I have to have before I start writing. Other characters names I find as I write them into my story. I get names from phone books, there still is a use for phone directories besides being a great door stop. I also use magazines and baby books names. I have a good assortment, some even tell the origin of the first name and what nationality they are from. Last names I find in phone books or sometimes I find them looking at the assortment of books in my office. Many times I might not even need a last name, it all depends on the story line.

I also do an in-depth interview of my main characters before I start writing. I want to know something about them and their lives up to the point the story starts. Gives me ideas as to how they would react under certain circumstances. I ask about their families, what they like or don’t like. What is their pet peeve? - you can bet whatever it is will find its way into the story one way or another.

I usually write two to three chapters to see if I think I have a good work in progress. If so, I write the first draft straight through. By the end of the book I really know my characters and how they reacted to the plot etc. I go back and start the rewrite process and many times I use information found in the later chapters to flesh out the story more and in the process it can give it more depth. I have also started to do a little more plotting with the rewrite. I make sure all the loose ends are tied up, is the plot believable, and add anything that seems to move the story to a strong conclusion. All this works for me. Best of luck with your writing.  

Z. Minor

Author of Historical Romantic & Contemporary Suspense Novels

Pirate, Ghost, Pilot, Magician's Son (Melissa Robbins)

                Hmm, that title reminds me of the book Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but really they are all my characters. Where do they come from? Simple answer. All around me from all walks of life and sometimes I don’t even know where they come from.

               One character, named for an ancestor of mine, appeared in a dream, probably after researching her genealogy. She was a ghost who wanted my heroine to solve the murders of her family that happened decades before.

                When I was a teenager, I created a character, because of my sad crush on Jim Hawkins. Yes, that Jim from Treasure Island. I crushed on a book character! Annie was Captain Flint’s granddaughter trying to break free from his pirate legacy.

                My son and his heart condition inspired another hero. The two share similar features, but my hero is WAY naughtier than my son. As writers, it’s important to let our characters make mistakes and remember that some teen boys don’t think like middle-aged women who know it’s wrong to break into houses, etc. 

                Some of my characters exhibit traits I wish I had. The extroverts I wish I could be. One beautiful blonde springs to mind. Vivian can wrap any man around her finger with her looks and sultry voice. Her friend, one of my heroines, tries her best to be like Vivian and she fails miserably at it and always seems to get herself into even more trouble.

                Many of my characters are Royal Air Force pilots from WW2. What a bunch of naughty boys! These brave men loved every day like it could be there last. My Connor is like that. Doesn’t care what his commanding officers think or for that matter anyone else. Doing what he isn’t supposed to do is what usually keeps him safe. Connor almost never sleeps without a woman by his side, but does he do that because he loves women or to frighten away the nightmares?

                Another character I’m currently creating has a family life quite different from my own or one I grew up with. His father is a magician and his mother is his father’s assistant. The family travels across Europe mesmerizing the nobility and commoners with a great magic show in a time just before WW2 when the political atmosphere is crumbling around everyone. He goes from living out of a suitcase to staying in one spot. Where did he come from? I’m not 100% sure. His older brother is a classmate of another hero of mine. The first chapter (or maybe it's a prologue) came to life one very early morning when I lay in bed awake. 

  

              The most important thing about characters is to welcome them when they do appear. I swear I suffer from multiple personality disorder, but don’t all writers?

Where do your characters come from? by J Vincent

Happy Valentines!  A tad late as is this blog.  Well, maybe more than a tad but better very late than never.  I was dealing with some severe pain issues as the start of February.  That is improving at last. I find I can now concentrate enough again to string words into sentences. Or so we shall see.

Iaon Gruffudd  Bing Image

Characters can come upon me at any time--I write historicals so, male or female, they are alwaysdressed differently in my mind than in today’s world.  Redcoats and naval blue--what's not to love?

  Sometimes, like with Jamey Vincouer, they just appear fully fleshed and ready to do battle.  As with many in the Honour series I “knew” them when I saw them.  Sometimes this was just in my head.  But I do remember that with Samuel Goodchurch, aka “Preacher” due to his bible quoting tendency, that I had a vague idea what he looked until I saw a man at church one evening. It is rather embarrassing to have your husband ask you why you were ogling a stranger during church services.  Good thing I didn’t have a camera with me.

Bing Image

Other times it takes a while.  I’ll see a photo or someone on tv or in a movie and they stay with me.  Over time they morph in looks and develop a personality all their own. I don’t believe I have ever drawn anyone whole and complete from real life.  Rather I combine characteristics and personality traits that I admire or don’t as the case may be to form new individuals. Many I believe are made up of parts and pieces of the thousands of characters I’ve encountered in the books I have read.

Sometimes the story comes first and the characters are magically plotted along with it by whatever strange function the brain uses.  This used to really worry me for sanity’s sake until I learned it happens with other writers.

For characters that just “appear” whole and complete except their growth during a story I seldom do a character chart.  But Lucien Merristorm, the hero in Honour’s Redemption proved to be an extremely difficult character for me when it came to his growth arc.  Lucian had been on a downward spiral through the previous three Honour books and I thought I knew him well.  When it came to his own book I ran into a brick wall about half way through the story.  In the end I did a character chart which didn’t help. In the end I did an emotional change/growth chart as I followed the synopsis. This enabled me to get a much firmer grasp on Lucien and I finished the book which will be published later this year.

Do you ever imagine characters or lives about characters from books you've read?

Where do my characters come from? (Kate O’Hara)

I’ve been writing for less than a year, so am a novice at the various elements of structure like character and plot development. I also have to admit to feeling a bit like a fraud in that my writing is memoir driven. A disclaimer preface in all my books states: The following story is like many movies today—based on “true” events. Literary license allows me to leave out some of the boring parts and enhance some others for your entertainment.

So, the obvious answer to the source of my characters is real life people. Luckily, I am of an age where most of the characters I have written about are long gone and can’t be either flattered or embarrassed by inclusion. Each of the characters is based on someone specific with name changed (of course). I don’t always make these characters as well-rounded as they were in real life, but emphasize certain traits to tell the story from the perspective I have chosen. A few of the characters are composites of several people who played a similar part in propelling the plot along. In all cases, the characters are people I thought were important enough in my own life to earn a spot in print.

Character names come from a variety of sources, of course. I like to give a nod to my current friends by using their first names for characters. This is always with permission, of course, and their approval to be associated with such a character. My tall, dark gun dog judge friend in Washington lent her name to the petite, blonde ballroom dancer in one story. Another writer with an unusual first name was pleased to become a rather flamboyant character in my “Seeker” series of short stories. I always send her clips of the stories where I use her name to make sure she likes them.

I’m past seventy and the “Greek Fire” series I write takes place in the 1960s. I found myself checking for obituaries of those people I wanted to include so I wouldn’t “out” them or some of their less glorious behaviors from that era. Recently I discovered that one minor character I had outlined for a little subplot was alive and still in the media. Even though I had not seen him in nearly 50 years, I took a few minutes to call and say hello. He barely remembered me, of course. I wasn’t even a blip on his radar at the time, but he did have an impact on my life back then. I opted to cut him and the whole subplot from the story rather than take a chance someone would recognize him in his wilder days. You’re welcome, Don. J

Where Do My Characters Come From? (Z Minor)

Where Do My Characters Come From?

Z. Minor

Author of Historical Romantic & Contemporary Suspense Novels.

First I have to have a title for my novel and determine what year the story is going to take place before I can think of any characters and their names. Names have to fit the time period especially historical novels. I have discovered doing research over the years, people and their actions haven’t changed much. Since the beginning of time people have loved, hated, cheated, and killed for numerous reasons. The landscape and style of clothes may change, but people and their motives not so much.

Some bestselling novel I have recently read came from recent headlines. Newspapers, newscasts, and magazines not only supply plot ideas but names, character’s motives, and locations for stories.

Once I have settled on a main plot. I can start thinking about the characters who will have an active role and help to shape the outcome of the story. They can be from any walk of life, rich, poor, male, female, and of course children. Animals add another dimension and will also need a name.

Character names come from baby books. Phone book are especially great for last names. If I hear an interesting name I write it down for a later date. I usually only start writing a story with the names for my main characters.

Juletta, my husband’s grandmother’s middle name, is the name of my contemporary heroine in “Artful Deception.” One of Juletta’s friends in the story is named Ray. She has known him since grade school, and calls him Raymo throughout the story. I believe this adds a personal touch just like everyday life.

I do an interview with my main characters and some secondary characters, but only if they appear throughout the entire novel. The depth of the interview depends on how important they are to the story. Some of my main character interviews are done before I start writing a new story and some are done no later than three chapters into the book. By then I know how important the character is going to be and if the story is worth continuing to write. Some interviews I do when a character appears as I am writing a scene.

The interviews usually cover their childhood or some aspects of it, their likes and dislikes. How they got to where they are, when they appear in the story. Lastly what are their dreams for the present and future? In some cases, I want to know how they plan to get where they want to go. Any information that will help me to give the characters added dimension. Most of the time I don’t use many of the facts I garner from the interviews and the reader will never know them. However, I need them to create a believable character.

Names for secondary characters I find when I need a name after I have written them into an important scene. Actions of characters I take from everyday life. Historical newspapers, like “The London Times”, has given me insights into everyday life during its publication. There are many books that show the life and time of a given time period. There are also dictionaries such as “Dictionary of the Old West” 1850 to 1900 which can help with dialogue.

Names are interesting to me and I have found them while on vacation, reading a book, and meeting new people. My characters actions are many times from something I have seen, read about, remembered from way back when, or heard second hand. I am a people watcher as I think most writers are.

So Beware!! Your actions and your name just might just find their way into one of my books.

Casting Your Characters (Penny Rader)

Since we've been talking this month about who we'd cast to star as our characters in the event our book was made into a movie, I thought I'd poke around the Internet and see what I could find on the subject.  Below are snippets from a few articles about casting characters.  I hope you find them useful (and click the links to read the entire articles since I only clipped a few bits from each article).

Diane Lane Bing image

Advice: Casting Characters

“… typically I try to cast someone who I’m not super familiar with, because I’m looking for a physical model, not a personality model. So you should avoid casting people you know really well, like friends, classmates, family members, or favorite actors. This will help ensure that your character’s behavior is not influenced by the person or a role that they've played, if an actor.”

Robert Downey Jr Bing image

Cast of Characters (DL Thurston)

‘Casting my characters is a trick that I picked up when working on a spec television pilot.  It’s probably a natural extension of writing for the screen, but is less obvious in writing for the page.  Casting characters allowed me to see them in more depth.  Allowed me to impart mannerisms better than just having the characters as raw constructs in my head.  Since I've started using this trick, I've seen and heard of other writers doing the same, often to very positive effect in the writing process.”

 Casting Characters (Carole Bellacera)

Christina Applegate Bing image

“As a child, I was into paper dolls. Not those kind you could buy at the local five and dime like Patty Duke and the Lennon Sisters. Those were boring. I liked the kind I cut out myself from old magazines. I'd sit for hours with a pair of scissors and a pile of my grandmother's McCall's, and soon, I'd have a roomful of exciting characters. Of course, at the time, I didn't realize that's what they were—those stacks of paper dolls. This was just a way of entertaining myself—making up stories about these wonderful people I cut from magazines. I'm 41 now and a professional writer. But I still cut out paper dolls—from magazines, newspapers, sales catalogs—wherever I see an interesting face or intriguing body. Why? Because someday these people will become my characters.”

Mark Wahlberg Bing image

Casting Your Characters (Merry Farmer)

“So why bother casting your characters at all?

“Because whether you know it or not, writing is a sensual game.  You get the best results when all of your senses are engaged.  I feel like I’m able to describe actions and expressions and even motivations so much better when I have something physical and visual to pin them to.  In the past when I've created characters without knowing what they look like they've always turned out two-dimensional and lacking.”

Sandra Bullock Bing image

Character Development for Visually Oriented Writers; or, Be Your Own Casting Director (Kaye Dacus)

“Character Casting goes deeper than just finding images of people who look like our characters. Those of us who are compelled to find Real World Templates (RWTs) for our characters are looking for inspiration—for emotions, actions, and body language in addition to how they look. We use RWTs as one of many building blocks for character development.”

Characterizations: Try the Casting Approach (Steven Jordan)

“Like certain memory exercises, applying an actor to your characters is a good way of giving yourself a mental image of their character aspects, and how they would act or speak in particular situations.  If you know what kind of character you plan to create, and a particular actor in a particular role epitomizes that character, they become an easy memory cue to how to approach the character.”

Hugh Jackman Bing image

I Know Your Face: A Casting of Characters (Jennifer Melzer)

Lacey Brown Bing image

“Of course these castings aren't always concrete. Sometimes they change. When I first started writing Trystay, who doesn't physically appear in Edgelanders but will in future stories, I kept seeing him as Nikolaj Coster-Waldau with an almost Jaime Lannister arrogance and wickedness, but over the last few months, as I've actually started spending more time with him on the page, he’s mish-mashed into a cross between Coster-Waldau and Tom Hiddleston that works so well in my mind I want to just keep writing scenes with him because I can’t get enough.”

Keanu Reeves Bing image

Meet Dreamlander’s Cast of Characters (K.M. Weiland)

 “’Casting’ characters, à la the movies, is one of my guilty pleasures. Aside from just being plain out fun, it also offers the bona fide writing benefit of a real human being against which characters have to measure up, as well as built-in inspiration.”

Natalie Portman Bing image

 Screenplay Writing 101: Casting Your Characters on the Page (Will Stape)

“The IMDB … can operate as your casting central to help realize character development.

“Say your lead character is a youngish, Italian American. He is from the northeastern part of America. Why not visit the IMDB and peruse some vintage shots of the great Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro. Their roles in classics like The Godfather, Serpico, Mean Streets and Taxi Driver preserve youthful charisma. Browse over still shots of them in movies, recall their cinematic power. Immersing yourself in great films will offer up ideas for your casting challenges.”

Note from Penny:  You can find the IMDB here.

Jim Caviezel Bing image

Visualizing Characters—The Benefits of Fantasy Casting (Alexa Chipman)

“About halfway through a first draft, or before the second, I do a round of fantasy casting. By then I have written a character long enough to know what their personality is and what they look like. While using a rich internal imagination is important, having actual visuals to glance at while writing scenes can add a spark to the writing. I found fantasy casting helpful when writing sequels, or if I have not written a POV character in a few chapters and need to get back inside their head. Sometimes I fantasy cast for personality—that smirk a photo has, or their haunted eyes, but mostly it is for the actor who is closest in looks.”

Emma Stone Bing image

When They’re Dull as Dirt: Thoughts on Casting Characters (Stacia Rogan)

“I started actively casting people in the roles of my characters. I did so not necessarily based on looks but based on attitudes from previous roles I’d seen them star in or interviews I've seen. My main character is now embodied by Emma Stone. Do I really picture her as a fiery redhead? It’s not what I had in mind, no. But you can bet Emma Stone isn't going to wake up in the hospital and say “Huh, guess I crashed my car or something. Bother.” Physical looks are secondary but casting some sass should at least liven things up again.”