AUTHOR SUSAN SHEEHEY EXPLAINS WRITING CHARACTERS WITH COMPLICATIONS

By Susan Sheehey, Guest author

Susan Sheehey, Author

I’m going to start by stating the obvious. The most important factor in romance novels are the characters. They set the tone, drive the plot, and build the drama. Characters are the key in readers turning the page.

The not so obvious: I’ve realized they are also the key on how fast I write.

The stronger and clearer the character, the faster I write. It’s like I can’t get the words out of my head fast enough. I wrote my debut novel Audrey’s Promise in only 6 months. (Yes, that’s fast for me).

Then I wrote the first book in my romantic suspense trilogy, Prince of Solana, in 5 months. Speed record!

But the second book in the trilogy, Jewel of Solana, is taking forever. Not including the last 6 months where I’ve given birth to my youngest son and had my gall bladder removed, Jewel has taken 10 months. And I’m still not finished with it.

Strictly because of a character issue (it took me a while to identify that as the problem).

Flynn, the hero, has Asperger’s. Asperger’s is on the Autism Spectrum (high functioning) where the person is very awkward in social interactions and has a hard time connecting with others. They are normally incredibly intelligent people with an extreme passion for certain subjects, and can invest an enormous amount of time and concentration in tasks they like. Examples of people with Asperger’s are Steve Jobs, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Gates.

The hero in Jewel of Solana, Flynn, has certain quirks and idiosyncrasies that appear awkward to everyone. But in the chapters where I write in his point-of-view, I get stuck.

Bottom-line, because I don’t understand him.

I’ve done a lot of research on ASD, because my eldest (6 years old) has Autism. He has extreme passion for trains and Legos. His verbal skills are delayed and he has a hard time recognizing emotions in others. When he was younger, haircuts and brushing his teeth would throw him into unmanageable tantrums and self-injury.

So I can identify the symptoms of Autism, even understand the generic why he does certain things. He likes linear things and color-coding, because he finds them comforting. But why are those comforting?

Much like with my hero. Yes, Flynn likes putting engines together and doesn’t comprehend sarcasm, but why? It’s very difficult— almost impossible— to write in his point of view if I don’t fully understand what he feels about those things. Particularly the sensory processing stuff.

He hates people touching his ears and can’t stand nightclubs. What does it feel like when he’s in that environment? How can I properly show the readers what physically happens inside him when he’s bombarded with all of the sights and sounds?

The closest I can get to it is my aversion to large crowds. I can describe how I feel when I’m at a football game or concert, but I know that’s merely a fraction of the discomfort Flynn feels, who literally cringes and covers his ears. So how I can vividly portray him in my story if I can’t fully understand how he feels?

Keep in mind this is a romance novel. If I don’t fully understand him, how can Alanna look through all of those quirks and fall in love with him just the way he is? How can they move past the physical barriers that Flynn feels to people touching him?

Perhaps I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with Flynn. Perhaps I’m not as talented a writer as I need to be in order to do him justice. Which is why it’s taking so long to finish this manuscript.

Or maybe I’m overthinking again, which tends to happen when I’m chronically sleep-deprived. I’d love to know your thoughts. Any Aspies, or anyone else care to weigh in?

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Audreys-Promise-Susan-Sheehey-ebook/dp/B00E4USBC6/ref=
sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414627547&sr=8-1&keywords=audrey%27s+promise

B&N:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/audreys-promise-susan-sheehey/1117344736?ean
=2940149002252

WRP:
http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=produ
ct_info&cPath=242_175_133&products_id=5355

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/audrey-s-promise

All Romance:
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-audrey039spromise-1336203-149.html

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18241821-audrey-s-promise

Susan writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense and women's fiction.
Her next novel, PRINCE OF SOLANA, is a romantic suspense with the Wild Rose
Press due out early 2015. After spending six years in the corporate world,
Susan's true passion wouldn't let go and she's been writing ever since. She
lives and laughs in Texas with her husband and two sons. Follow Susan's page
at www.SusanSheehey.com or on Facebook (Facebook.com/SusanSheehey) and
Twitter @SusieQWriter.

Cart Before the Horse by Paty Jager

Every book I write comes about in a different manner. Some I get a great idea for a title and conjure up the characters and plot. Others the characters jump into my mind and won’t let me go until I stew and brew and know their life story and come up with a how the hero and heroine meet and what conflicts try to keep them apart.[whew, long sentence and thought] My least favorite is when a story idea catches my eye and I have to come up with the right characters, the right setting, and make it all work in a plausible fashion.

When a title comes to me, I have a completely blank canvas, or in the case of writing, blank screen where I can conjure up every element of the story and make it mine. This is the best scenario for me to write. It gives me freedom to go wherever I want and form the characters to fit the situation.

Having one or two main characters appear in my head and start arguing or battling over a situation, starts the story forming in my mind. The restrictions on this type of story has to do with how the character, who has formed as a person to me, will react and behave when situations are presented to them. There is not as much freedom in this kind of writing as the overbearing characters have to be catered to or the story will feel stilted or unrealistic.

Story ideas that catch my eye aren’t as daunting to write as the stories where I've written myself into a situation where I have to come up with a story using characters from previous books and following situations I set up earlier not expecting to have to deal with the convoluted background I gave a character.

That time has come. The book I'm currently working on. Staking Claim, Book Two of the Halsey Homecoming trilogy, has a hero who was a twelve-year-old in my book Miner in Petticoats. At the time, giving him and his mother a wonderfully mysterious background and slowly revealing all the interesting twists was fun. 

Now, I have to use those mysteries and interesting twists to write Colin's story and it has been a buggar!  I'm not a huge fan of Regency set stories and therefore have had to do a lot of research on titles, language, and even some customs to make my heroine, a factory worker from the slums of Liverpool, sound and act realistic when she is pretending to be a titled young woman. And then there's the villain, Lord Canfield, who is after the hero's estate in Lancashire. 

All the characters are on a Clipper ship headed to America. So along with the above research, I also have been researching travel by clipper ship and steam ship as well as the the larger cities in America where they land and take trains on their way to Colin's reunion with his family and the Halseys. 

As readers how much realism do you need to make a story ring true for you? The hardest part of this for me is getting the heroine's dialog to sound natural with a little bit of the Liverpudlian dialect. 

This book will be released the end of June if all goes well. That's also when we have to be moved off our seventy acres we just sold. So wish me luck with deadlines! 

Evolution of a book: MUCH ADO ABOUT MINERS by Jacquie Rogers

Evolution of a Book

I’m in the final editing stages of Much Ado About Miners, the fourth book in the Hearts of Owyhee series. I have the cover, back cover copy (lame, but something to work with), and the copy edits back from my editor. So today, I thought I’d write about the process of creating a novel.

You don’t just write a book. That was probably the biggest surprise of all to me when I first started this gig. The story in your mind won’t always make sense. The scene you love the most rarely plays out the want you saw it. The post-draft stage is a lot of work, sort of like Heartbreak Hill in a marathon. And no one can tell you how to do it all—but I can tell you how this book came about.

First a caveat. Every time I think I know how to write a book, the next one is different. And now to the nitty gritty.

Idea

Every writer gets ideas in a unique way, and usually not the same way all the time. Do the characters come first, or the plot, or the world of the story? My answer: Yes. All come in one flash, then I have to winnow out the details. I get at least one character and a situation in the story world. Then it’s a matter of getting to know that character, who the other players are, and why they’re in that particular situation. And off we go on a new adventure.

Idea for Much Ado About Miners

Iris Gardner is held up again (same beginning as Much Ado About Marshals, only on the page this time), and shoots a man who was actually trying to help. This man is Kade McKinnon.

Most writers start too soon and have to chop off the first two chapters. I generally start too late and have to add the first chapter. So the scene in my vision is not generally the opening scene, although in this case it actually is. But wait—it’s not time to write yet!

Characters make the book

First I have to develop the characters, because there’s no point in writing a word if I don’t know how the players will react to a dilemma. Actually, it’s more a matter of getting acquainted than developing. When I first started writing, I’d pick and choose from a list of various physical, social, and psychological traits that would suit the story I had in mind. In the process, I buried the character that came with that first flash of an idea, then along about chapter three, things would come to a grinding halt. That’s because I was manipulating my characters to suit my idea of how things ought to go, so the characters couldn’t tell their story.

So how do I get acquainted? First, I figure out the year the hero (yes, the hero nearly always comes to me first) was born, because the economics and politics of his growing-up years provide a framework for his world viewpoint. Then, with my eyes closed, I channel the character’s thoughts as if he were writing his own autobiography. That’s how his voice comes to me, as well as a few surprises along the way that I’d never thought of. In the refining process, I learn about his family and their attitudes toward him, and maybe a few personality-defining events. And last, I figure out what body type would go along with all this, and sometimes that surprises me, too.

Characters in Much Ado About Miners

Iris Gardner, born in 1861, and raised in Virginia City, Nevada, before her parents moved to Oreana, Idaho Territory, where her sister’s book is set. Much Ado About Miners is a sequel to Much Ado About Marshals, where Iris shoots Cole Richards when she thinks he’s robbing the bank, and he ends up in Oreana where he’s mistaken for the new town marshal. So when creating Iris's backstory, I have to explain why a single woman, in the year 1885, wouldn’t be living with her family. It’s because she went to business school, and that’s where the bank owner met her and hired her. Iris’s parents agreed because there are no single men in Oreana, and Silver City offers ten to one odds, plus many miners are well-to-do.

Kade McKinnon, born in 1857, was also raised in Virginia City, so in a way, this is a reunion story, even though Iris left before courting age. Kade is a second son, always overshadowed by his perfect older brother, Bram. Kade didn’t do well in school but excelled in marksmanship, horseshoeing, and tactics. Women love him but he has never courted a respectable lady, and doesn’t intend to. His current business is Prospero Security Transport, specializing in armed escort of valuable shipments. He keeps that a secret, though, and is only known as a gunman.

Plot

Some writers plot each scene. I don’t—the first step is creating the story bones. It needs a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The beginning has to be life-changing. The middle has to be high action and in a romance, the two main characters should be in love even if they don’t admit it yet. And we know the ending is a Happily Ever After in a romance novel, but how that happens is a mystery. I write something down for the ending but not once in all the books I’ve written has it actually happened that way. Same for the dark moment, when all seems lost. Sometimes it seems so lost that I have no idea how I’m going to get my characters out of the mess.

Writing the book

This is a marathon. I start, and keep writing, and keep writing, and keep writing. Sometimes I worry that I’ll never have another original thought again. Most of my friends admit to this, and it happens to me at about page 75, and again around page 150. Writing can be a tough business and it’s hard to write humor when the author just got kicked in the teeth by a not-so-stellar review of another book, or low sales, or family tragedy. But you keep writing. And writing. This is the difference between authors and those who say they’re going to write a book someday.

Oh, the editor

If the editor doesn’t tweak me a bit, then she’s probably not digging deep enough to make the book the best it can be. In Miners, my editor has some issues that a western reader (she’s not) wouldn’t have. Now my dilemma is whether to water this thread down for a more general audience, or keep it as is. Are these editorial observations upsetting?  Not at all.  They used to annoy me, but now I realize that analyzing these things can’t hurt. Maybe I’ll make the changes, maybe I won’t, but most likely her comments will trigger something even better than either of us had thought of previously.

And speaking of editors—get one who’s qualified and experienced. I use Elizabeth Flynn, who has over thirty years of experience. She’s a genuine fur-lined editor, and she doesn’t charge any more than those who think they know grammar pretty well so they hang out their shingle.

Sleight of Heart

Book cover

So you don’t judge a book by its cover? Then why do you click on one thumbnail and not another on Amazon? Answer: because something about that particular cover draws you. While the writing is going on, we or our publisher has to get cover art. Mélange Publishing uses Stephen Walker. I use Dar Albert. Both are terrifically talented and do great work. Dar designed Much Ado About Miners, as she did all the Hearts of Owyhee books and Sleight of Heart. Deborah Macgillivray designed the cover for Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues.

Formatting

I told you that the work was only half done once you write The End. Then the edited, polished, and proofread manuscript has to be formatted for Kindle, print, Smashwords, and any other platform you want to market your book. Yes, they’re all different.  Yes, it all takes time.  No, you can't be writing another book while you're formatting.  Yes, you can hire it done, which is what I recommend.  No, I don't hire out—I format mine myself.  Yes, I should take my own advice.

Publicity

But wait! We’ve only begun, because while you’re editing the next book, starting a new book, there are hours and hours and hours of time spent on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, blogging, and even actual facetime events such as speaking and booksignings.  Paid advertising, whether the internet or print, takes time and money.  And so the cycle goes.

I heard once that the definition of an entrepreneur was someone who worked sixteen hours a day so he didn’t have to get an eight-hour-a-day job. That pretty much describes an author’s life. Not exactly glamorous, but I do enjoy working in my PJs.

Much Ado About Miners will be released soon, so stay tuned! Meantime, if you haven’t read the first three books in the series, here are the links.

Much Ado About Marshals

Much Ado About Madams

Much Ado About Mavericks

Jacquie Rogers

Website * Twitter * Facebook *  Pinterest * Newsletter * Pickle Barrel Bar & Books

Romancing The West *