FINDING A HERO ...

When you read, are you able to envision the characters? Do you like reading a book where the author has clearly defined a character's appearance. Does it distract you if characters, especially main characters, are left out there sort of dangling so that you have to make them up yourself?

 I can tell you that for me, a character's appearance and mannerisms just might be the hardest part of the whole book. It isn't rocket science, but it's tedious and my OCD kicks in and makes it harder than it needs to be. No doubt every author has his or her own method for constructing a character.  I've tried holding a character in my head as I write, but then after about 50 pages, I start to forget the eye color, the hair color, the height, body type, etc, etc.

The hero's appearance is especially important in romance novels. A long time ago, in one of the early conversations I had with one of my editors, she said to me, "Don't forget that romance novels are fantasies." ..... I've never forgotten her telling me that. I added it to the lore I collect for building a successful romance "hero."

So in an effort to make the whole process easier and more efficient, I started searching for heroes in celebrities of which there are copious pictures. Once I found the images of the hero and heroine in pictures of real people, my job became a lot easier.  .....  As a side note, I should add that *all* of my heroes are good-looking, alpha and heroic. All of my heroines are beautiful. After all, if I'm creating a fantasy, isn't that how it should be?

Adam Rodriguez.

The process is not always instant. For example, I searched for days for an image I wanted to imagine as Troy Rattigan in THE HORSEMAN. Troy's mother is half Hispanic with thick black hair and deep brown eyes. His father is blond, tall and lean and Scots-Irish. I started looking for a celebrity whose appearance might be the result of that mix.

Then I started thinking about the personality I was creating for this character. He's a friendly, fun-loving guy, so that attitude had to reflect in his appearance. Believe it or not, it wasn't that easy to find. I ended up with the actor, Adam Rodriguez. What do you think? Is he a hero you can envision in a romance novel?

The heroine, Samantha Karol, was almost impossible. I ended up buying a picture of her. She's small, with a bushel of thick black hair that hangs past her waist (of which, she's very proud). She has intriguing blue-green eyes that look at you directly and full, cherry-red lips. I have a friend who has blue-green eyes and as long as I've known her, the color of her eyes is so riveting, they're distracting when we talk. I can never tell what she's thinking.

I thought that intense characteristic would be fitting for a woman who had grown up an orphan with a no-nonsense toughness about her. She's a survivor. I don't know this model's name, but she came the closest. Can you picture Troy being so attracted to her he can't keep from falling in love?

These are the stars in THE HORSEMAN. Does their appearance make you want to read the book? Let me know what you think.

What's in a Name?

It's fairly common knowledge in the writing world that characterization is the most important part of a story, especially if you write romances where a relationship between the hero and heroine is the plot.

In the stories I write, I mostly fit a story around a character rather than fitting a character into a story.  Sometimes a character of a particular stripe calls for a certain story.(Does this make sense?)

So naming a character or characters is of the utmost importance. Sometimes I start with one name, but by the time I'm a quarter of the way into the story, I've switched to another name. I'm always on the lookout for the name that "fits" my guy or gal.

I take into consideration ancestry, ethnic background if it applies. For sure, that information affects a hero or heroine's last name. I want his or her last name to hint of family's history. In THE LOVE OF A LAWMAN, the heroine's parents were French Canadian, so I used the French spelling of her name, Isabelle. ..... In SWEET RETURN, the hero is part Comanche and distantly related to Quannah Parker, so it seemed fitting to give him the last name of Parker.

In the book I'm writing now, THE HORSEMAN,  I have a particular challenge in that the hero is part Hispanic, but his last name is Rattigan. Confusing. I would change it, but the book is #3 of a trilogy and his name is already well established in the previous 2 books. So I still have to figure out how to deal with that situation.

I've written several chapters and I still haven't settled on the heroine's name, which is distracting and annoying. In one chapter, I'm calling her Chloe. In another, I'm calling her Shiloh and in yet another I'm calling her Skye. 

Here's the cover, by the way. Designed by Kim Killion. What do you think?

 
All of my heroes are tall and handsome and alpha. I've named them all sorts of names, but the ones I like most are names that sound strong, pronounced with a hard C or K or T. For example, Luke, Cable, Tack, Jake, Parker, etc,.....You get the idea.

For heroines, I like feminine-sounding names. My heroines are quietly strong. They are alpha women, but also beautiful and feminine. Think Scarlett O'Hara who was tougher than a boiled owl, but an incredibly feminine woman. For heroines, I like soft-sounding names, i.e., Amanda, Dahlia, Joanna, Isabelle. ..... In the Dixie Cash book I'm working on, I've name the heroine after someone I know. This is the first time I've ever done that.  

To say that I spend a lot of times on naming by story people is an understatement. I'm always open to suggestions.

ON WRITING

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a writing workshop conducted by the writing guru, Donald Maass. Most people who write know who he is. It was such a treat, sort of like sitting down with a whole box of chocolate-covered strawberries.

Besides everything else he filled my head with, toward the end of the session, he touched on the subject of "beautiful writing."   .....  Beautiful writing is something I adore. I have been known to read a story I didn't particularly like because I simply enjoyed the written words. Example: “Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway. Most books by Nicholas Evans (not Nicholas Sparks). Except for “The Horse Whisperer,” Evans’ stories aren’t always great, but his writing is beautiful.

Reading a book is not always about liking the plot or the adventure or the action.

Writing beautifully is something I strive for with every book, though I don't always get there. While I try to write tight, as they say, and I use frank language in my books, I also try to fill my prose with creative writing techniques such as parallels and reversals and rhythms. Sometimes I imagine music in my head and try to write a scene to that rhythm.

When I write a love/sex scene, if it’s supposed to be romantic, I try to imagine the most romantic music I can think of and write the scene to that rhythm. Something like Rachmaninov’s 2^nd Concerto or the music from “Romeo and Juliet.” Sometimes a parallel will fit into the rhythm. Simple example: He was tall, he was solid and strong, he was beautiful.  …..Written as they are, those phrases fit into a musical rhythm.

Sometimes I’ve written love scenes that were fun. They call for different music in my head and less dramatic presentation. They call for short sentences and cutesy dialogue. Think “Pink Panther.”

At the same time I try to write pretty prose, I also try to make my books page-turners. I have a sign on my desk I took from some writing guru: “ABOVE ALL, DON’T BE BORING” …. So I try not to be boring. And that’s a challenge when you write character-driven stories where the relationship between two people is the plot.

By now, you probably think I'm crazy, but I’m just trying to show that many elements go into the making of a coherent novel. With this little post, I’ve only scratched the surface.

Change of subject, but not entirely. Here’s a picture of the cover of my current WIP. A sequel to THE TYCOON, this is Book #2 of my Sons of Texas Trilogy.

I’m down to the last two chapters. In this book, my heroine is going along with her life, stuck in a rut. Then something totally unexpected happens that has the potential to change her life forever. It hurls her into indecision and new territory. This is a reversal. 

In this same WIP, I’m trying something I’ve never tried before with a love/sex scene. The hero is eager and expecting sex. He is also expecting the heroine to be in the same frame of mind that he is. However, she’s preoccupied with a life-changing decision. Sex is the last thing on her mind, but she doesn’t want to put him off. I’ve tried to *show* her attitude in their lovemaking. Only at the end of it does he figure out something is bothering her.   .....   Now that was a challenge and I still don’t know if I’ve pulled it off.

Need I say that I’ve worked for weeks on that one scene. And now, I’m at the black moment, on which I’ve also worked for weeks.

Never let anyone tell you that writing a book is easy.

God willing, I'll be able to release this book in June.

Life is Hard...Especially if You Write Books

When I first started writing years ago, I gave up once a week. I wrote a page and enrolled in another writing class. Or read a book. I threw away more material than I saved. Someone posted a picture on my FB page of a desk, a typewriter and crushed and discarded paper half-way to the ceiling. That was me. 

That is still me. Only now, I'm not discarding paper. I simply have a worn-out "Delete" key on my keyboard. Writing a novel is a hard task. Perhaps the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And there are many slings and arrows in the writing game. As many negatives as positives.Yet, for all of its challenges, I love writing. I'm passionate about the written word. Very little gives me more pleasure than reading a good story well written by an author with a powerful voice. It inspires me to try to do the same thing.

Somewhere along the way, I finally overcame that urge to give up until the past year or so. Now, seventeen books later, writing a book is still hard and I wonder if what I'm putting out now is any better than my very first book. For sure, my passion for it is waning. I’ve had to ask myself many times if it’s worth it. 

Some part of me must think it is because I continue to take classes and read books on the craft. In the writing biz, you can never let yourself stop learning. Toward that end, I’ve even broken down and bought a new laptop.

And as further proof that I haven't totally given up, I’ve gone ahead and had the cover designed for THE CATTLEMAN, Book #2 of my SONS  OF TEXAS trilogy and sequel to THE TYCOON. Knowing myself, I won’t spend the money on cover design, then not finish the dang book. God willing, I'll have it out by June.

The setting is North Central Texas. The characters are complex and flawed, but I’ve tried to make them heroic at the same time.

I’ve managed to get the blurb written, although this is probably not the final iteration.

“Ever since a disastrous marriage at a young age, Pickett Lockhart has kept his emotions under tight control. These days, he’s preoccupied anyway with learning to be the general manager of the vast Double-Barrel Ranch in Drinkwell, Texas. Still, his older brother’s marriage and looming fatherhood has aroused a distant envy within him to have a wife, kids and home of his own and he has a willing woman who’s in love with him. But he can’t get married, even to someone he loves. His divorce cost him and his wealthy family a bundle, leaving him with a paralyzing fear of getting into another financial trap.

Amanda Breckenridge has been in love with Pic for as long as she can remember. They were high school sweethearts until he eloped with someone he met in college. After that, Amanda left Drinkwell. Her father’s illness brought her back to town and a revived relationship with Pic. But Pic’s mother has never thought Amanda good enough for him. Knowing Pic is drawn to beautiful women, she tries to destroy their relationship by sending a friend’s stunning daughter to the ranch to tempt Pic. Can Amanda and Pic’s bond survive his mother’s plotting? Or the unexpected career opportunity that falls into Amanda’s lap?”

So, there it is. Except for being sexy and steamy and having a happy ending, it isn’t your typical romance. Most of my books aren’t. Let me know what you think of this one.

Can We Ever Learn Enough?...

By Anna Jeffrey

 I’ve lost track of all the courses, classes and workshops I’ve taken since I started my writing journey years ago. Besides studying characterization and story structure and any number of other elements of a story, I’ve learned various systems for keeping up with information. I took a class once that taught how to keep copious detail about story people in multiple 3-ring binders. For me, that turned out to be mostly a mess. I was so busy gathering and sorting information I had no time to write the story.

The most profound thing I’ve learned from all of this learning is that I can never learn enough. Consequently, I’m starting a class to learn how to use Scrivener.

Scrivener is writing software that’s supposed to improve the organizing of what you write. Everyone I know who has mastered Scrivener thinks it’s the answer to the organization and flow of information through a story. I bought the program believing I could teach myself. Boy, was I wrong. So now I need a class. The woman teaching the class is the author who wrote “Scrivener for Dummies.” Appropriate, huh?

Organizing storytelling information has been a challenge for me forever. A manuscript of 100,000 words has a lot of information to keep up with. In one story, there might be two-dozen speaking characters, for example, playing only minor roles in the story, but not giving any one of them critical attention would be a mistake.

You can’t have the heroine’s aunt be blue-eyed on page 36 and green-eyed on page 150. I’ve read books that made it to print with this type of flaw. And for some reason, in spite of all the other details a writer might put into a story, despite beautiful prose, a mistake like that one jumps right off the page at a reader. Scrivener is not going to help me keep up with all of those details, but hopefully, if I’m better organized, I’ll be able to find them easier and discover a flaw if there is one.

Over time, I’ve devised all kinds of “systems” and record-keeping methods to help me keep it all straight. Most of them work to a degree, but none of them are great. Lately, I’m using a clumsy system I’ve created in Microsoft Excel. Fingers crossed that Scrivener will be better. If it isn’t, and if I have to go back to Excel, I’m going to be extremely disappointed.

This is particularly important to me right now as I’m writing a romance trilogy that’s a family saga, with a sub-story arc that carries through 3 books.

The organization and flow of information is important to the whole trilogy. The trilogy, THE SONS OF TEXAS, is about three brothers and the family they live within. As anyone who has ever written a trilogy knows, it’s critical that facts in Books #2 and #3 correlate to Book #1. Hopefully, by the time I’ve finished my Scrivener class, I’ll be able to pull that off a little more easily than I’m managing now.

Oh, and by the way.....HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.