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?

Fill in the Blank(s)

Yes, that's a blank sheet of paper, which is pretty much where I was on ideas for characters, plot, conflict...  You name it.

Usually, as I'm finishing the last half of one book, the next idea starts bugging me.  For the first time I can remember, that didn't happen.  I turned in the last Desperation book almost a month ago.  So where are all the ideas that bounce around, already taking space in my head?  Where's the heart of the next story idea?  The characters for the next story?

The answer to that has been "nowhere."

I have a basis:  A Texas ghost town.  I have the names of three heroes and three heroines.  Oh, and babies.  There must be babies.  But I don't know who these characters are, much less hunting for photos of what "stars" might represent them in my head.  Smack!  This doesn't happen.  I was at a loss.  I was in a panic.

One evening, Patricia Davids and I were doing some brainstorming on her WIP.  (Go, Pat!)  When we finished with that, I threw out my basic idea for the ghost town series.  She asked me questions I had no answers for.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  It took a few weeks, but I finally came up with some answers, although they weren't very solid.  A week ago, with Pat and Theresa and Melissa, things began to come together.  Four heads are definitely better than one!  (May blessings rain upon you, P, T, & M!)

But one of the elements I chose needed some research, so last night I decided to do a little of that.  One thing led to another, and...  Do you have any idea how many real ghost towns there are in Texas?  Oh, my stars and garters!  And the stories behind those towns--the history of them--are sometimes fascinating.

Now that I've found the answer to that element I needed and even more, plus a suitcase full of photos of Texas Hill Country, the story is beginning to form.  Ideas for a scene or two are slowly starting to sneak and twist through my mind.  Short snippets of conversations between characters, along with a little introspection (character thoughts) are whispering.  Those characters are starting to take shape and will hopefully come to life soon on the written page.

Is it what I'd imagined originally?  Not quite, but what's replaced those first pitiful ideas are much better and finally taking form.  At least I hope so, especially on the 'better' part of it.

So that blank page above?  It's full of scribbles and notes now.  It's starting to come together.  It won't be long before I'm hunting for photos, not of ghost towns and underground caves, but hunky cowboys and their feminine equals.

Wish me luck!

Faces of The Bones in the Box (Melissa Robbins)

When I saw this month’s topic, I envisioned showcasing my Murder Decoded ensemble cast.  Who doesn’t like oodles and oodles of cute guys as my pilots?  However, my secret identity, as a mom who is sewing costumes for a local children’s theater production my daughter is performing in, has left little time to write and search for perfect pictures of my ensemble cast.  Most of the pictures I have are real pilots, WAAFs, and actresses from the 40's.  Instead, I introduce you to two new faces.  Last month, I finished my short story, The Bones in the Box and submitted it to the third Sisters in Crime Guppies anthology.  Cross your fingers, they accept my story. 

 My heroine, Charlotte “Charlie” Graham finds a Nazi skeleton in her grandmother’s cedar chest.  How did he get there? Who stabbed him?  Nanny Vic?  Ashley Greene has that beautiful girl next door look that is just perfect for Charlie. 

When I decided to write The Bones in the Box, one of my critique partners pleaded and begged me to use Tom Hiddleston.   I obliged because Tom could easily portray my Tom Montgomery’s enthusiasm.  Perhaps he is a little too enthusiastic about the Nazi skeleton.  Yes, they share the same name.  ;0)  Charlie enlists the Edinburgh University graduate student to help sort through her grandparents’ house they abandoned in 1945.  Can Tom’s WW2 expertise help Charlie solve a seventy-year-old murder?   

Original Cast Members of Sapphire & Gold (Penny Rader)

Sapphire and Gold

This month's topic is Your book is a movie!  Who is your dream cast?

When I first dreamed up Sapphire and Gold, a Colonial American historical romance, here's who inspired a few of my characters:

Nick Mancuso - Bing image

   







Derek Tremaine (hero)  - a sea captain on a quest

Morgan Brittany - Bing image

                                                                   






Alexandra Whittaker (heroine)  - a healer on the run

Robert Goulet - Bing image

   





Bartholomew Taylor  (villain)

Michael Bolton - Bing image

Travis (hero's best friend)

Kirstie Alley - Bing image

                                                                           





Jillian











Since this story first started rolling around my head 20+ years ago, Derek and Alexandra and the other characters would have to be recast for a movie being made today.

I can see these two as Derek & Alexandra:

Anson Mount - Bing image

Natalie Portman - Bing image

I'm drawn to pictures - for characters, for settings, etc.  How about you?  Are you a visual person, too, or are you lucky enough to have all the parts of your stories pop into your head without the help of images?

Who Will Play the Part?

Back in the day when I was a newbie writer, I had no idea that I would need photos of the main characters of my books.  Like Pat, I saw them in my mind, and they didn't necessarily look like anyone but themselves.

But Harlequin requests that we do something called Art Fact Sheets for the covers of our books, and I was suddenly thrown into the need to find photos of what I thought my hero and heroine looked like.  Yikes!  I found magazine photos and lurked on model sites for the "right" person.

After finally getting into the habit of choosing photos early on in a project, Harlequin changed the rules.  They want photos of "known" persons aka Hollywood people.  Not that they're going to use the "stars" we send for our covers, but they must be as visual as I've become, when it came to characters.  Feel free to compare the real deals with the covers.

 From the Desperation, Oklahoma, series aka Hearts of Desperation:

A NANNY FOR THE COWBOY

 I first noticed actor Eric Winter on the one-season-only GCB, when he played the character of Luke Lourd, son of Carlene & Ripp Cockburn (Kristin Chenowith & David James Elliott).  He was the perfect hero for A Nanny for the Cowboy.  Luke Walker hadn't had an easy life.  His parents were killed in an accident near the end of his sophomore year in high school, and he and his older brother, with a little help from their sister, managed to turn a struggling ranch into a profitable one.  He also had some trust issues, thanks to a wife who walked out on him shortly after their son Brayden was born, leaving Luke to raise the little guy on his own.  Desperately desperate in Desperation, he agrees to interview a nanny that his sister recommended and, well, you know what happens in romance.  You might also recognize Eric Winter as Craig O'Laughlin in The Mentalist, and Jason McCallister in Brothers and Sisters.


DESIGNS ON THE COWBOY



Whether it's those eyes that grabbed me or what, Colin Eggelsfield was the perfect Dylan Walker for Designs by the Cowboy.  Poor Dylan carried around a lot of guilt over his parents' accident, shortly before his graduation from high school, and someone needed to save him.  Enter Glory Caldwell Andrews, former cheerleader and prom queen at Desperation High.  After growing up with an emotionally abusive step-father, then marrying an even worse abuser, Glory returned to Desperation, hoping to make a mark as a decorator.  What she made was a mark on Dylan.  I saw Glory in my mind almost immediately.  The inspiration for her came from actress Clare Kramer, known by Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans as...wait for it...Glory, a god from a hell dimension.  No, not a cheerleader or prom queen.  But it wasn't the character of BVS's Glory that drew me, but more her determination to destroy the world.  Glory Andrews wasn't out to destroy anything and was obviously the complete opposite of BVS's god from a hell dimension.  Clare's All-American good looks did the trick.  BVS's Glory would never own a shopped named Glory Be Antiques and Decorating, but Dylan's Glory does.  Clare also appeared in the movie Bring It On.  She's now the executive producer of several cable series.


THE COWBOY MEETS HIS MATCH

Originally, a book about Erin Walker, older sister of Dylan and Luke Walker, wasn't a part of the plan.  I don't remember how it came about, except that I liked Erin.  She is basically a reincarnation of a long ago heroine of mine that I'd always liked.  Although not the same character by name, location, back story or GMC, the two had similarities.  Both were barrel racers who traveled the country from rodeo to rodeo.  Oh, and both had two younger brothers.  And their parents had died in an accident.  Smart-mouthed and sassy, both of them.  So Erin got her own book, a completely different character...except for those similarities and adjusted back story.  Lots of adjusted back story.  While still writing Designs on the Cowboy, I spent my mornings walking at a nearby park, letting my mind wander.  It wandered to the opening of Erin and Jake's story, and as soon as I got home, I wrote the beginning of that first scene.  Actress Keri Russell, who played Felicity in the TV series of the same name, also appeared in the movie, August Rush, and can soon be seen in a new movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  But who work for Jake Canfield, the hero?  Not at all difficult and another GCB actor, David James Elliott (you should see him in a cowboy hat!), better known to many as "Harm" (Cmdr. Harmon Rabb, Jr.) in JAG.  Now in his 50s, he's a little too old to be Jake, but the younger version of him was perfect.  It's a reunion romance, with a surprise in the middle, and there's more "reunioning" than it might appear at the beginning of the story.  No cover yet, but it should be available in a couple of months.  The Cowboy Meets His Match will be out in August this year.


TO LOVE A COWBOY (working title)
The last book of the Desperation series (book 10)


You may not recognize the actress on the left, but if you've been paying attention to one of HBO's most-watched series, you might recognize the one of the right, even if only from previews.  Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen on HBO's Game of Thrones.  As soon as I saw the real Dani/Emilia, without Dani's long, blonde hair, I knew she was Desperation's Lucy Dawson, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks--or so she believes--an on and off waitress at Lou's Place, the local tavern and now an out-of-work EMT.  With a secret.  Desperation newcomer and single dad Bowie McClure believes he's seen an angel, when his 6-year-old son breaks his arm, and Lucy arrives at his ranch to attend to the boy.  But Bowie lives with guilt over the death of his wife, 6 years before.  David Giuntoli (Nick Burkhardt of TV's Grimm) has the perfect haunted look in his eyes that I imagine Bowie would have.  And what a hunk! Working title for the book that will available early next year is To Love a Cowboy.  We'll see if it sticks.


Is it easy to find the right actor to fit a character?  Sometimes, but not always.  Before I dive into the next book, which I hope will be a much shorter--like 3 books--series, I'll have to start hunting again.  Of course, it might help if I knew who the characters will be, other than their names!  I'm open for suggestions of your favorite actors.