This month we have a very basic topic --how do you go about developing your characters for a story? How much time do you spend or does it just happen in the writing process? What inspires it?
Oh, characters – my favorite subject! Of all the components that go into creating a story, of whatever length, it’s the characters that get my juices flowing. I’ve always been lucky in that my characters simply present themselves to me. I can see them, I know their names, and then I go from there.
Even though I have this very visual start I still complete my basic character outline. I start with looking for images that are as like my characters as possible. Even though I mostly write historical I will comb through glossy magazines, stock photo sites like Dreamstime.com and 123rf.com for these images. If the face is right I can imagine the costume they would be wearing. As an example, Lord Lucius Clifton, Earl of Avondale, looked remarkably like French actor Vincent Cassel whose movie list is extensive but might be more
recognizable for his roles in Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen and Black Swan. He was also, for a time, the face of an Yves Saint Laurent's men's fragrance.
recognizable for his roles in Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen and Black Swan. He was also, for a time, the face of an Yves Saint Laurent's men's fragrance.
I know their family backgrounds, their relationships, their strengths and weaknesses, their likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. I know where they went to school (unless they were tutored at home), I know who were their childhood friends and what influences they had when they were growing up. I do not do this for my whole cast of characters, only the major characters which makes life much easier for me by the time I start writing.
Lord Randolph and Lady Serena Buxton, the characters in my Cold Gold novella set in California, would not let go so I continued to write about them. Plus, I had queries from readers as to what happened to them when they returned to England and did they ever have children? Sorry, if you want the answers to those questions you’ll have to read the books. That first story was set in 1907, the subsequent tale, On Borrowed Time, was set in 1913 and the final part of what turned into a trilogy was Shell Shocked set in 1918. Those novellas appeared in one volume as The Buxton Chronicles.
Such is the way my mind works, when I started writing my first Regency, His Dark Enchantress, I wondered if there was a way I could link Serena back to the Cliftons: Lucius, Earl of Avondale and his younger sister, Juliana. Juliana was so intrusive while I was writing Enchantress that I promised her a book of her own which I did with His Ocean Vixen. I linked Serena’s family tree back through a whole set of characters and marriages that I may, or may not, one day choose to bring to life on the page.
These characters are like my best friends. Once they are in my life I’m reluctant to let them go. Although I have used the same characters in several of my books, each is written as a stand-alone. My current work-in-progress is another Regency, the third in my Berkeley Square series and this has been so easy to start because I have all the information I need on these characters, Lady Olivia Darnley and Lord Peter Skeffington who first appeared in His Dark Enchantress.
Do they surprise me sometimes? Always. Just as in life, something always crops up that throws them a curveball and presents a fear for them to overcome. As I write, I’m always looking for the opportunity to up the ante for them. Sometimes I just plain don’t like the characters I create but always try to give them some kind of credibility by including snippets of their backstory to at least explain why they are the villain or villainess of the piece.
Check with these authors to see what they have to say on the subject of their characters.
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-YV
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.
Marie Laval http://marielaval.blogspot.co.
Rhobin Courtright http://www.
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-YV
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.
Marie Laval http://marielaval.blogspot.co.
Rhobin Courtright http://www.
