Love is the only thing by Sheila Claydon

Check out my books on the Books We Love website

Although my books have heroines in them, this is a tribute to a real life heroine.

A few days ago I attended the funeral of a very dear friend. She was 93 years old, and if I am lucky enough to reach such a great age myself, I would love to leave behind the same legacy. We met 25 years ago, and from that day on I have always wanted to be like her. She has always been my ultimate heroine. 

Although there is always sadness when someone dies, the memories  recalled and the stories exchanged sometimes offset the grief and this was certainly the case at Shirley's funeral. 

Why, despite her death, is she my heroine? It's simple. She loved people so people loved her.  Her default setting was to think about others, which meant that visiting her was always a joy. Yes, the hot drinks and chocolate biscuits (never plain) were welcome, as was the white wine (after 6 unless it was lunchtime), but the real pleasure was Shirley herself. She was so interested in everything, and who doesn't enjoy a conversation with someone who genuinely wants to know how you are feeling and what is happening in your life. Also, and this is perhaps the most important thing, she never complained. While she had a never-ending supply of sympathy for others, she rarely talked about herself, and if she did it was about happy things, not about the pacemaker she had to have fitted, or her failing eyesight.

Listening to her adult grandchildren recall their childhood visits and holidays with Nanna was heartwarming too. She has left them with so many wonderful memories. The annual family holidays in Greece with anything up to 20 adults and children participating sounded idyllic and yes, the white wine featured there as well. Then there were the bedtime stories, the walks in the woods and on the beach, the meals, the fun.  Making sure that other people enjoyed themselves and had fun was one of Shirley's greatest gifts. 

Her other great gift to her friends and family was her insistence on remaining independent. When her sight failed and she could no longer drive, she moved to a ground floor apartment in the centre of the village so she could continue to do her own shopping and meet friends for coffee or a meal without inconveniencing anyone. Then, at 90, too frail to continue alone, she sold up and moved herself into a care home, still in the centre of the village so she could carry on with her social life. This was despite the fact that both her daughters wanted her to live with them. 

Once settled in the care home she had more visitors than anyone else, and those family holidays continued even though they were now a bit closer to home. Christmas and Easter and many weekends were spent with the family too, and in between she saw old friends and made many new friends. 

I know she was supported by a strong faith, but only once in all the years I knew her did she mention it, and that was when she told me how much she was enjoying her Bible study class and learning how to meditate. She started these new activities when she was 91!

Finally, and the greatest proof of all that love is what everyone craves whether of the two-legged or four-legged variety, was her relationship with dogs. There were always dogs in her life. Her own when she was still able to care for them, and later other people's. For 8 years she provided daycare for one of my dogs while I was working and the intense love between them was mutual. In fact the last time I saw her was when I took my latest dog to see her. In my house the dog is not allowed upstairs (not always enforceable if the grandchildren are around!), and she is certainly not allowed on the beds. When we visited Shirley at the care home, however, they both snuggled up on the bed together without any reference to me whatsoever. 

In addition to all of this, Shirley remained extremely pretty even in old age, and very elegant too. Despite losing most of her sight she continued to dress beautifully, and her hair and nails were always immaculate. This was also part of her attraction. As well as her loving kindness she made sure she was as good to look at as possible despite her extreme old age.

As the priest said at the funeral, 'everyone here now has a Shirley shaped hole in their lives, but it is a hole that is filled with loving and joyful memories.' 

What a way to live, and what a way to go. No wonder she was and will remain my heroine.

Statistically I don't exist by Sheila Claydon

I received a letter from the Office for National Statistics. It said I had been selected from the UK's Royal Mail's list of addresses to form part of a sample that represents the entire country. What it really means is that it's a mini census about a specific issue and the information given helps government departments, local authorities and charities make decisions about how they will spend their money.The European Union also uses the results as do schools and universities.

I know it works because a number of years ago a much needed local traffic system was approved as a result of a similar survey. This one, however, was not about transport and roads, it was about employment.

A man wearing a identification card on a cord around his neck duly arrived and, once he'd got his computer to work, started asking the questions. The first ones were easy. Name, age, household, health, da-di-da-di-da. So were the next ones about qualifications, past employment, retirement, tax benefits etc. Things started to get tricky when we started talking about the present though.

It didn't seem like a difficult question. Are you still in any form of paid employment? But it was.

Yes, I'm a self-employed writer.

A fair bit of hemming and hawing and then 'There isn't a writer category on the list."

Try author.

Ah yes there is one for author. I can slot you in there. Do you work full time or part time?

Part time.

Would that be mornings or afternoons, or part of a week?

All of those...sometimes.

Could you be more specific?

No because there's no pattern.  I work flexibly. I might write almost full time for a week and then, because of other commitments, not work at all for two weeks.

By full time do you mean Monday to Friday?

No. It could be Monday to Sunday or, in another week, just the Wednesday.

Do you work in the evenings?

Yes.

How many evenings do you work?

It's impossible to quantify because it depends on what else is going on in my life.

Do you work at night?

If you mean right through the night then no but I sometimes work really late.

Would you say you write every day?

No. As I said it's flexible but I do look at my work related emails every day.

So would you say that's two hours a day or is it more than that?

Far less than that usually but occasionally I have to follow something up immediately and that might take a bit longer.

So can I put two hours a day?

I was feeling sorry for the guy by then so I almost nodded because I really, really wanted him to be able to tick a box. I didn't though because it wouldn't have been true.

So fellow writers (or authors if you prefer) how would you fare if the very nice man from the Office of National Statistics visited you? Would you fit into his nice orderly boxes or are you like me, an 'if and when' writer who has to take her chances when she can?

I'm not sure what the government and all those other worthy bodies are going to make of my answers. I guess they won't even see them, they'll just see a minor blip in the employment statistics that will eventually be published.  In the meantime maybe I should try to work in a more orderly fashion. After all it would be nice to be able to tick one of those boxes.

One of my heroines had to tick boxes. That was Claire in my book Reluctant Date. She was ticking boxes on an Internet Dating site though, and that's a whole other story.

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All my books are available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1nTIbfS and at http://bookswelove.net/#

On the Casting Couch with Margaret Tanner

Books We Love author Margaret Tanner is the first of the writers who have agreed to sit on my Casting Couch in 2013. As she mostly writes about the tough, hard men who lived in frontier Australia, it is interesting to discover how she 'finds' them, and what she expects them to endure. Margaret's take on working with her characters is as challenging as the characters themselves, and it is fascinating to discover that she prefers tortured heroes with dark secrets. 

Happy New Year and thank you for agreeing to sit on the Casting Couch Margaret. It’s always a treat to talk to a multi-published author and discover how she casts her characters so, assuming you are sitting comfortably, let’s begin.

* * *

Which characters are the hardest for you to develop? Is it the hero, the heroine, the villain, or the secondary characters?

The secondary characters by far. I love a villain, the blacker the better. My heroes are always tortured men with dark secrets.

I'd love to know the psychology behind that choice Margaret! Do these tortured characters start the story for you or do you work through the plot first and then cast the characters later?

I usually have a basic plot first, then the characters grab me by the throat and won’t let go until I write their story.

Wow, they certainly are strong and tortured men aren't they! Can you give an example from a published story?

'Savage Possession' is a good example. Two feuding families. I thought of what would happen if a man got the chance to take his revenge against the daughter (in this case the granddaughter) of his mortal enemy, only to discover that the hatred he had carried around in his heart for years was based on a lie.

That sounds like a very insightful story and one I want to read. When deciding how your characters should look, do pictures inspire you or do you think of someone you know? Or perhaps you just rely on an active imagination?

I rely on an active imagination, but my characters have to be amenable to all the torture and drama I plan to put them through before they get to their 'Happy Ever After.'

You really do like them to be tough don't you! Do you have a system for developing their character traits? I know some people use Tarot or Astrology while others produce detailed life histories. There are also writers who allow their characters to develop as they write. What's your method?

I don’t do any of the things you mention. I somehow get an image in my mind and I work with that. If I close my eyes I can actually see my characters in the flesh, so to speak.

Can their goals usually be summed up in a word or two, or are they multi-layered? Do they change as you write the book? Could you give some examples?

I couldn’t let my main characters get away with just one goal as it would be too easy for them. So, I guess I would have to say they are multi-layered. Most of my heroes are tough, hard men. As I write historical romance set in frontier Australia, they have to be tough to tame a rugged, hostile land. It is the heroine’s influence that eventually softens them.

I'm so relieved to see a little softness creeping in at last!  How do you discover your character’s specific goals? Are they based on back story or do other elements influence their motives?

I think they are mostly based on the back story, but the environment in which they live plays a big part as well. Frontier Australia, like frontier America, wasn’t for weaklings. Only the strong survived.

Times were certainly different then, as shown by the characters you write about, so, last but not least, do you like them? Are they people you would want to spend time with?

I love all my main characters. I wouldn’t be able to write them if I didn’t. They take over my mind, become my friends until their story is done, then they let go of me and ride off into the sunset so I can start on a new story with new characters.

That is so fascinating Margaret. As someone who regularly visits Sydney and enjoys the wonderful lifestyle of modern-day Australians, I definitely need to search out of some of those rugged and fearless men you write about if only to remind myself how hard life used to be on the frontier all those years ago.

* * *

Margaret Tanner is an award winning multi-published Australian author. She loves delving into the pages of history as she carries out research for her historical romance novels, and she prides herself on being historically correct. No book is too old or tattered for her to trawl through, no museum too dusty. Many of her novels have been inspired by true events, with one being written around the hardships and triumphs of her pioneering ancestors in frontier Australia. She once spent a couple of hours in an old goal cell so she could feel the chilling cold and fear.

Her favorite historical period is the 1st World War, and she has visited the battlefields of Gallipoli, France and Belgium, a truly poignant experience.

Margaret, who can be seen here standing beside a historical statue to promote the fact that she writes historical fiction, won the 2007 Author of the Year Award at AussieAuthors.com. She also won it for a 2nd time in 2010. In addition, Frontier Wife won the 2010 Reader's Favorite Historical Romance Award and Wild Oats was a finalist in the 2010 EPIC awards for best historical romance.

Many of Margaret's books have been published by Books We Love. They are available from Amazon at http://amzn.to/136cA26 and you can also visit her website at http://www.margarettanner.com

Back to the Casting Couch

Casting your hero can be tricky. Is he right for the plot you have been mulling over for weeks? Will he like the heroine? Will she like him?

Over the next few months a number of writers have agreed to sit on my Casting Couch to discuss the different methods  they use in their search for the characters who populate their books. Whether they use magazine advertisements, astrology, or something else entirely, their techniques give a fascinating insight into the writing process and the writers themselves

Today author Sydell Voeller joins us on the Casting Couch to share the tricks of her trade.

Thank you for agreeing to sit on the Casting Couch Sydell. It's always a treat to talk to a multi-published author and discover how she casts her characters. Assuming that you are sitting comfortably, let's begin.

* * * * *

Which characters are the hardest for you to develop? Is it the hero, the heroine, the villain, or the secondary characters?

My secondary characters are usually the hardest to develop.  Each one must forward the plot in some manner and interact significantly with the heroine and hero.  In other words, if I can go through the script and eliminate a particular character or two and never miss them, then they didn’t belong in the story in the first place.  I’ve sometimes found myself losing my story’s focus by allowing secondary characters to be present extraneously—but thankfully, I always catch that problem before my final drafts.

When an idea strikes, do you work through the plot first and then cast the characters, or is it characters first? Or does it vary? Perhaps you develop the plot and the characters together.

For the most part, I develop the plot and characters together. I typically begin my plotting by deciding what inner and outer conflicts will stand between the hero and the heroine—the core problem that will keep them apart until the story’s resolution.  I try to dig deeply into their psyches to understand what makes them tick—their greatest dreams, their worst fears, their vulnerabilities, their goals and aspirations in life.

Can you give an example from a published story? 

Yes.  Take, for example, my latest re-released e-book Daisies Are Forever, published by Books We Love. The outer conflict was easy in this case. April Heatherton, my heroine, is not only interested in local history and teaches history at school, but she has a special interest in the ancient forests that define the North West.  Behind her home stands a tract of timber containing an unmarked pioneer woman’s grave.  Heather learns that this forested site will soon be going up for a logging auction.  Heather is fired up to stage a peaceful demonstration against the loggers in order to preserve the grave. The hero, Matt Spencer, is a hard-working logger—and in this day of increasing displaced loggers, he needs to keep working.

The inner conflict, on the other hand, is more personal, much deeper.  It portrays our characters’ drives, dreams, motivations, and emotional needs.  For years, the unmarked grave has provided a special place for April—a place of retreat and personal renewal, plus an indirect connection to her grandmother.  In her eyes, losing it would be akin to losing her soul. Matt’s inner conflict, on the other hand, smacks of family and commitment, continuing the tradition set down for him by his father and grandfather.  After all, logging is Matt’s legacy.

When deciding how your characters should look, do pictures inspire you or do you think of someone you know? Or perhaps you just rely on an active imagination or another method entirely.

In the earlier years of my writing career, especially when I was writing YA fiction, I often used pictures to draw inspiration for portraying my characters.  Later after I branched off into adult contemporary romances, I used a combination of both pictures and my own imagination.

Do you have a system for developing their character traits? I know some people use Tarot or Astrology. Others produce detailed life histories. There are also writers who allow their characters to develop as they write. What's your method?

I have tried using Astrology at one time, but I didn’t stick with that.  I guess I felt I had to squeeze my character into too tight a mold, or perhaps that method just didn’t resonate with me for other reasons.  But to answer your question more specifically, (and as I said earlier), I know my character’s basic traits by first determining his or her core conflicts.  I’m always delighted, though, when my character’s behavior takes new twists and turns.  Real people are contradictions and so should our characters portray contradictions as well.

All characters have goals. Can your characters’ goals usually be summed up in a word or two, or are they multi-layered?  Do they change as you write the book? Could you give some examples?  

Most of my characters’ goals can be summed up in a phrase or two, or maybe one sentence.  And yes, sometimes the goals change out of necessity.  For example, in Her Sister’s Keeper, published by Books We love, my heroine, Logan, is determined to care for and protect her little sister, Kim, who is wheel-chair bound. (Prior to the opening of the story, Kim was partially paralyzed due to the plane accident that not only caused her disability, but killed their mother as well.)  Since their father is no longer alive, Logan must now step up to the plate and assume full responsibility for her sister. Yet despite her good intentions, Logan’s goals are misconstrued and she becomes overly protective, thus indirectly sabotaging Kim’s chances for rehabilitation. By the end of the story, Logan must redefine her goals in order to give Kim her best chance for recovery—plus allow Logan her best chances for a romantic commitment to the handsome young Dr. Dellinger with whom she works.

Motives drive a character. How do you discover your characters’ specific motivations? Are they based on back-story or do other elements influence their motives?

I believe back story has everything to do with motive. In taking another look at Her Sister’s Keeper, the back-story about the plane crash motivates Logan to protect her sister against further traumas.  And on a broader scope, in most traditional romance stories, the core motivator that threatens to keep the heroine and hero apart stems from their individual back-stories. Perhaps their demons are divorce, the death of a spouse, a broken engagement, or having been stood up at the altar.  What better motivators to make our heroines and heroes turn and run!

And last but not least, do you like your characters? Are they people you would want to spend time with? Assuming they are not just a paper exercise, which of your characters would you most like to meet, and why?

Yes, I do indeed like my characters, and I strive to create characters my readers will like and care about as well.  In regards to which characters I’d like to meet, that’s a tough one.  I do know for sure, however, that I’d like to meet my heroine Lisa Prentice in Summer Magic, also published by Books We Love.  During her travels with the circus, she encounters so many fascinating adventures involving the performers-especially the dashing young aerialist Michael-and the circus animals, including Ebony, her favorite show horse.  Logan’s widespread travels with the circus also add to her appeal as a character.  I’m sure she could share with me many intriguing tales that reach far beyond the story itself!

My next favorite character is Vanessa Paris, my heroine in The Fisherman’s Daughter, another of my BWL titles.  I like her intelligence, spunk, flirtatiousness, strength of spirit, and especially her strong dedication to helping to find her father who is missing at sea.  Finally, since I love any kind of reunion romance, I like her push-pull attraction to the hero whom she had a crush on in high school, and her misgivings about falling for him again.  On the balance, I think she’d be a delightful character to hang out with!

Sydell Voeller writes contemporary romance and Young Adult fiction

You can check out her books on her website at sydellvoeller.com or at bookswelove.net

The Casting Couch

Is this how you cast your hero?

Visit my Casting Couch  to discover the different tricks  writers use to find the characters who populate their books. Whether they use magazine advertisements, astrology, or something else entirely, their techniques give a fascinating insight into the writing process and the writers themselves

Today, multi-published writer Janet Lane Walters tells us how she does it

How do writers cast their characters? Mine are usually inspired by a photograph. I see an interesting face and the writer in me begins to weave it into a story. It's very satisfactory because I can make complete strangers into just about anyone I want. Occasionally it isn't a photo but someone in the media although never, so far, anyone from the big screen. And even more occasionally, although I never admit to it, a real live person I meet. What I can't do, however, is start with a list of personality traits and build from there. My character has to have a face before I can begin to know them although I guess that deep down I am probably looking for a face that fits with who I want them to be. Realizing that my take on character development is idiosyncratic to say the least, I began to wonder how other writers find their characters so I decided to ask them to visit my Casting Couch to find out.

Janet Lane Walters is the first visitor to the Casting Couch, and with 35 published novels, 4 non fiction books, 2 ghostwritten non fiction books and ten novellas to say nothing of numerous short stories and poetry, who better to answer my questions.

Hi Janet and thanks for visiting the Casting Couch. Now, assuming you're sitting comfortably, which characters are the hardest for you to develop? Is it the hero, the heroine, the villain, or the secondary characters? 

I can usually nail the hero and heroine, though sometimes they give me trouble, and I have little problem with the villains. It's the secondary characters that sometimes give me fits. Unless I’m writing an ensemble piece where all the characters have a significant role in a story, my secondary characters try to take over, and that isn’t their role. When I was writing A Double Opposition, characters like the twins, Pop and Megan, wanted to take on a larger role. I spent a lot of time looking at their parts of the story and toning them down.

I’ve also read stories where the secondary characters seemed more important than the major ones. It always disappoints me to learn that the story isn’t theirs. That’s what I must keep reminding myself.

I really identify with that Janet,  and I know I've made that mistake in my own books too...but back to the casting couch. When an idea strikes, do you work through the plot first and then cast the characters, or is it characters first? Or does it vary? Perhaps you develop the plot and the characters together.

I admit to all of the above. When I began writing Code Blue the villain arrived full of himself and of his plans for revenge. The other characters changed as I wrote the book. Julie was to be the heroine but that didn’t make the story move along. Once the heroine changed to Susan, a perfect foil for the villain, the story took off. I guess in this case the characters came first and last.

Can you give examples from the stories you’ve written?

When I began the Affinity series, published under my alter ego, J. L. Walters, the characters came first. They remained essentially unchanged since they were based on my grandchildren at the time. The plot came later and turned from a single book to four.

The plot for The Temple of Fyre came before the characters. I told the entire story in my head with no names and no personalities except for good woman, bad woman, good man, as I outlined the plot. No names until I sat down and decided what kind of people would take on these roles and what their natures would be, and gave them their Astrological signs.

That is so interesting. I've heard of writers who use Tarot or Astrology but never met one before. 

Yes, I always use Astrology to cast my characters. I’ve been involved in it for years. I used to do charts for people and then interpret them, so using it to develop my characters seems a natural thing to do.

I don’t go as far as some people and cast an entire chart though, and I only do it for the major characters. What I do is look at the Sun, Moon, and Rising Sign. This gives me three facets of the character’s nature and it also provides me with clues as to their goals and the motives behind their desires. The Sun is their inner nature. It’s what they are inside. The Moon gives me their emotions and tells me how they react to situations. The Rising Sign gives me the face they show the world. Conflicts can arise in any of these areas of course, and so can their desires and the reasons for this.

So Astrology tells you who your characters are but surely you still have to discover how they look. Do you use magazine pictures, base them on someone you know, or do you just rely on an active imagination?

I rather envy writers who can look at movie stars or magazine pictures and say that’s just what their characters look like. I don’t even use my friends, neighbors or acquaintances when I am deciding how my hero or heroine looks. For me, it’s imagination and writing the words down, though I will say my heroes usually fit a type. Most of them are tall, with broad-shoulders and trim bodies. Hair and eye color will vary. My heroines can be different and unusual but they are always beautiful to the hero, even if they are plain.

All characters have goals. Can you sum up your characters' goals in a word or two or are they multi-layered? Do they change as you write the book? 

I usually have at least one goal for each of the main characters and also for some of the secondary ones, especially if their goal is in opposition to those of the main characters. Sometimes they will have the kind of goals that make them think if I gain this, then I’ll reach for this.

Can you give an example from one of your published books?

When I was writing A Double Opposition, my heroine’s goal was to find a way to remove her twin sons from the bad influences they had found in the city. Her second goal was to do a good job on a hospital unit where there was trouble. She wasn’t thinking about finding love or marriage. Her final goal comes after her sons go missing and the hero helps her find them. It is then that she realizes there is a chance for a second love and for a family.

Motives drive a character. How do you discover why your characters have specific goals? Is this all based on back story or do other elements influence their motives?

I often don’t know what my characters’ back stories are when I begin to write. That usually comes after a draft or two when suddenly I know what is happening. The book I am writing at the moment, Lines of Fire, begins with the hero at his father’s deathbed. The scene began before the story was plotted or the character developed. I didn’t even know the hero’s name but the deathbed scene gave me his motivations and these remained throughout the book, although with some slight changes as other characters impacted on his life. In this case the back story played an important part.

In other stories the ‘why’ doesn’t occur until I have at least a rough draft of the story. Then there’s an ‘aha’ moment as I learn what drives them toward a goal that may, or may not be, attainable.

Listening to how you cast your characters has been very interesting Janet, but there's still one more.  Do you like them? Are they people you would want to spend time with? And, as I'm assuming they are not just a paper exercise, which of your characters would you most like to meet, and why?

 Do I like my characters? Absolutely and while I write I live with them. They’re always in my head. As to which one I’d most like to meet, I have met some of them already. They’re my grandchildren but that’s not a fair answer to this question.

Right now I’d like to meet Alric who hasn’t seen print yet. Why? Several reasons. He’s a dueler and that reminds me of the days when I was fencing. He also sees the lines of fire and that fascinates me, even though I made it up. He’s handsome and brave too. But when I’m writing, I always want to meet my heroes and heroines. I’m rather fickle.

Thank you for spending time on the Casting Couch Janet. It's been great to talk to you.

If you would like to learn more about Janet Lane Walters visit her blog at http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.co.uk or read more about her on the Books We Love website