I live in a make-believe world

 Okay, not literally, but vicariously through my characters.  I decide where they live, name their towns, or sometimes I let them live in a real city/town.  I prefer small towns, maybe because I’ve always wanted to live in one. I especially like towns with Victorian houses and apparently so do my characters, because I use them a lot.  I often say I must have lived during the Victorian area, probably as a mean old nanny. I’m sure I wasn’t the lady of the house, and by house, I mean mansion. Queen Anne Victorian homes are my favorite. I love the round turrets, all the gingerbread, and wrap around porches. It was always my dream to buy one and restore it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be and I’m past the point of wanting one now. But I digress. 

Back to my make-believe world. I’d like to say I choose my characters, but truthfully, they choose me.  Sometimes I even get to name them, but if they don’t like the name, well believe me, they misbehave until I change it. And, yes, that’s happened several times. Just because I like a name doesn’t mean they do. The last time it happened it wasn’t even a main character. She was only in the story for a short time, but boy was she stubborn. She refused to talk to me and anything I wrote was garbage, better known as dreck in the writing world.

As I’ve said previously, I write many different of genres, from Women’s Fiction to Romance to Mystery and even Paranormal. Most of my books are a combination of romance and another genre. As a reader, I’ve always favored mystery and romance, so it only made sense to combine them.  Mine would be classified as cozy mysteries. The gory stuff takes place off stage. 
 I also love ghost stories – not evil mean ghosts though. One such story is Shadows in the Attic and another Time to Love Again. I’ve always been fascinated by ESP, hence my story Entangled Minds – previously published as Connection of the Minds.

My character’s ages range from their mid twenties to middle age and into their seventies. Yes, seniors need love, too. Geriatric Rebels is a favorite.  It’s fun working with different characters, and I especially like when they add a bit of humor. I really form an attachment to them. Once a character chooses me, I make a character worksheet. I need to know everything about them, not just what they look like.

I love creating my characters, picking their careers, anything from housewife, authors, teachers, floral designers and interior designers. Sometimes their careers play a part in the story, sometimes not. The character in my work in progress (WIP in the writer’s world) is a former teacher. It’s not a big part of the story, but it’s something I needed to know.  It’s also fun describing them, their hair and eye color, height, even their weight.

Some of my characters are based a little on me or people I know/knew. I might take a little from this friend or family member and a little from another. Sometimes I get their descriptions from people I see someplace, like the mall, a restaurant or even a doctor’s office. Of course, I embellish from the characters I know. But I might use a habit someone has or a quirk. I even take story ideas from every day life and embellish on them.

I get my story ideas from various places. Sometimes a picture in a magazine sparks an idea, or an overheard conversation. The idea for Deadbeat Dads came from a conversation my husband overheard in a bank. It didn't take long to discover it happens frequently. Men leave their families and forget about them. No child support, no visitation. It's like the family never existed.

It’s fun living in a make-believe world. I think I’ll stay here. Now if Aunt Beatrice Lulu would start talking to me again. Apparently, I've made her mad about something. 

Here's an blurb from another favorite - okay, they're all my favorites. What can I say?

Shadows in the Attic 

Imagine finding a hidden room, complete with furniture, a trunk, diary and shadows. Author, Anna Hughes couldn't wait to finish her attic room. Did the shadows hold the secret to why the room was sealed?

J. Nordstrom Review
I loved the characters, the world, the mystery. I was just as drawn to the shadows as Anna was. I wondered what happened to them, and why they became shadows to begin with.

Available from https://books2read.com/u/mKJYPv