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.
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 scene.
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,
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 so I 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. She’s a real character in
the true sense of the word. She came into being in a previous story, All in the
Family. It started out with her having a small part, but Aunt Beatrice Lulu
(ABLL) grew into a big part of the story. Once I finished that book, she popped
up again and demanded her own book. Problem is, she takes fits and goes into
hiding every so often, which is where she’s at right now and has been for some
time. Sometimes she pops up for days of writing. Other times, I get a paragraph
or two. I’ve never had a character do that before.
Oh, I’ve had
writer’s block a time or two, but once I’m over it the writing flows. Not so
with ABLL.
It’s also fun describing my characters, their
hair and eye color, height, even their weight. I’m often asked if I’m a plotter
or punster. I tried plotting once and ended up blocked for almost two years.
For me plotting doesn’t work. I usually know the beginning and end of my
stories. What happens in the middle is as much a surprise to me as it is to my
readers. ABLL is full of surprises. What that woman doesn’t get into. So even
though she goes into hiding, it’s generally worth it when she reappears. I’m
not sure where she came from, but I’m sure enjoying working with her. Okay,
I’ll be honest, a little bit of her is me, a little bit my sisters, and even my
mother. She’s a combination of all the people I love and it’s so much fun living
in her make-believe world.
You can find all of my books here.
