My thanks to Jacqueline Paige for stopping by The Character Connection with a guest post during the blog tour for her books, Curses and Dreams.Guest Post
I was asked to explain how I develop characters in my writing. There isn’t just one answer to this; it varies from story to story.
Sometimes (rarely), if I’m lucky, my characters just come to me—everything from their name and profession, their problems or ‘issues’ right down to their bad habits and eye color. These are the stories that just fly onto the page. Of course not all stories can be this easy.
Other times I’ll have a partial idea for a character, one that I think fits the part, so the first thing I’ll do is picture what they’d look like and from there I’ll discover their name. I never know everything about one of my characters until I put them in a scene with others. This is where they usually surprise me with personality traits I didn’t know they had and sometimes these traits require a little more editing and rewrites.
Quite often I will write scenes that have nothing to do with the story I’m working on, just to see how the characters fit. It’s a good way to dig a little deeper into who they are and why they are the way that they come out on the page.
Occasionally I have come across a difficult character, Dominic from the first story in Dreams would be one of those hard to write ones. In the beginning he was fairly easy to write, and didn’t present any sort of challenge but then he closed up and I had a hard time dragging anything from him. It was a good thing that Jennah was a strong character with some spine or the story may have just stopped. She was able to drag more out of him than I was.
Only once or twice have I had to put a story on the back burner and move ahead with something completely different because my characters would not help me out and share.
Over all I’ve been lucky to be able to write a wide variety of characters with all different types of personalities. Anything from quirky, timid or loud to misunderstood, injured and maternal. It has been brought to my attention recently that I write sarcastic characters very well and it seems the readers like those with a little sass behind them.
Sometimes (rarely), if I’m lucky, my characters just come to me—everything from their name and profession, their problems or ‘issues’ right down to their bad habits and eye color. These are the stories that just fly onto the page. Of course not all stories can be this easy.
Other times I’ll have a partial idea for a character, one that I think fits the part, so the first thing I’ll do is picture what they’d look like and from there I’ll discover their name. I never know everything about one of my characters until I put them in a scene with others. This is where they usually surprise me with personality traits I didn’t know they had and sometimes these traits require a little more editing and rewrites.Quite often I will write scenes that have nothing to do with the story I’m working on, just to see how the characters fit. It’s a good way to dig a little deeper into who they are and why they are the way that they come out on the page.
Occasionally I have come across a difficult character, Dominic from the first story in Dreams would be one of those hard to write ones. In the beginning he was fairly easy to write, and didn’t present any sort of challenge but then he closed up and I had a hard time dragging anything from him. It was a good thing that Jennah was a strong character with some spine or the story may have just stopped. She was able to drag more out of him than I was.
Only once or twice have I had to put a story on the back burner and move ahead with something completely different because my characters would not help me out and share.Over all I’ve been lucky to be able to write a wide variety of characters with all different types of personalities. Anything from quirky, timid or loud to misunderstood, injured and maternal. It has been brought to my attention recently that I write sarcastic characters very well and it seems the readers like those with a little sass behind them.
About the BookCurses
Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: October 2011
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal/Romance
Format: ebook
Price: $5.99
Buy Links: Amazon
Blurb from Behind the Mask:
In a fit of temper, Gracelyn’s only sister curses her so she’s forgotten the moment anyone turns away from her. Only one thing, at an exact moment, can break the curse. After years of failed attempts, she is forced to accept living her life completely alone. Her world becomes calm and predictable —until one Halloween night … one costume party … and one masquerading man change everything.
Blurb from This Ring:
Devastated Emma flees to a cabin on an isolated lake to attempt putting her life back together. How she’s going to accomplish this she has no idea— the only thing she knows is she can’t go back and will never be able to trust again.
Bryce spent forty years trying to figure out how he ended up in the strange situation of not being alive or visible—it’s when he stops trying to find the answer he discovers the reason. Feeling that deep in your soul connection with another was what he was lacking all along. Now if he can convince the woman he feels it for, he may have a chance at living once more.
About the Book
Dreams
Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: September 2011
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal/Romance
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 326
Blurb from Behind the Mask:
In a fit of temper, Gracelyn’s only sister curses her so she’s forgotten the moment anyone turns away from her. Only one thing, at an exact moment, can break the curse. After years of failed attempts, she is forced to accept living her life completely alone. Her world becomes calm and predictable —until one Halloween night … one costume party … and one masquerading man change everything.
Blurb from This Ring:
Devastated Emma flees to a cabin on an isolated lake to attempt putting her life back together. How she’s going to accomplish this she has no idea— the only thing she knows is she can’t go back and will never be able to trust again.
Bryce spent forty years trying to figure out how he ended up in the strange situation of not being alive or visible—it’s when he stops trying to find the answer he discovers the reason. Feeling that deep in your soul connection with another was what he was lacking all along. Now if he can convince the woman he feels it for, he may have a chance at living once more.
About the BookDreams
Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: September 2011
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal/Romance
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 326
Price: $14.99 paperback; $6.99 ebook
Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle
Blurb from In Our Dream:
Jennah Best left the adrenaline packed life of being a cop on the edge for a more peaceful place. She escaped a marriage that almost destroyed her and now lives her life working for a small police station in the town of Ridge. At her age, she’s accepted that it’s too late and too much work to start all over again, until she meets a man in a dream...
While young, Dominic Palmer has always proven he can get the job done. Or at least, that was the case before he accepted a job and agreed to go undercover as an inmate. When months go by and there’s no word from his outside contact he wonders if he’s been left on the inside for good. He’s fighting to stay alive and keep his sanity, but finds himself completely distracted by a mysterious woman he met in a dream...
Blurb from From A Dream:
Jennah has found happiness. She wasn’t looking for it but isn’t about to give it up now that she has it. Everything she craved for years was now right in front of her--a man that makes her feel cherished, a peaceful life, and a job she enjoys. It all changes when she wakes up in a dark hole, alone, unarmed and unable to connect with the one man she’s grown to need.
Dominic realizes he is one of those men that wants the whole package of marriage and a family, and he’s found the woman to have that with. He’s going stir crazy having to stay hidden until the leader of a criminal organization is caught, but he’s more than willing to stay right here with her.
All of his plans evaporate when a vindictive criminal takes her from him as a hostage. He won’t rest until she’s in his arms again.
Blurb from After the Dream:
Feeling less then worthy as a normal man surrounded by a team with special skills, Brody has to wonder why he’s a part of it. If it weren’t for one team mate being there, he’d transfer back to normalcy.
Tess has always felt like a freak, even surrounded by others that are different she still feels like an outsider. Only one of her team mates make her feel like an everyday person.
Blurb from In Our Dream:
Jennah Best left the adrenaline packed life of being a cop on the edge for a more peaceful place. She escaped a marriage that almost destroyed her and now lives her life working for a small police station in the town of Ridge. At her age, she’s accepted that it’s too late and too much work to start all over again, until she meets a man in a dream...
While young, Dominic Palmer has always proven he can get the job done. Or at least, that was the case before he accepted a job and agreed to go undercover as an inmate. When months go by and there’s no word from his outside contact he wonders if he’s been left on the inside for good. He’s fighting to stay alive and keep his sanity, but finds himself completely distracted by a mysterious woman he met in a dream...
Blurb from From A Dream:
Jennah has found happiness. She wasn’t looking for it but isn’t about to give it up now that she has it. Everything she craved for years was now right in front of her--a man that makes her feel cherished, a peaceful life, and a job she enjoys. It all changes when she wakes up in a dark hole, alone, unarmed and unable to connect with the one man she’s grown to need.
Dominic realizes he is one of those men that wants the whole package of marriage and a family, and he’s found the woman to have that with. He’s going stir crazy having to stay hidden until the leader of a criminal organization is caught, but he’s more than willing to stay right here with her.
All of his plans evaporate when a vindictive criminal takes her from him as a hostage. He won’t rest until she’s in his arms again.
Blurb from After the Dream:
Feeling less then worthy as a normal man surrounded by a team with special skills, Brody has to wonder why he’s a part of it. If it weren’t for one team mate being there, he’d transfer back to normalcy.
Tess has always felt like a freak, even surrounded by others that are different she still feels like an outsider. Only one of her team mates make her feel like an everyday person.
About the AuthorJacqueline Paige
Jacqueline Paige is a world class multi-tasker being a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children, a cafe manager and having a colossal imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance —with just a touch of suspense.
Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.
Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.
Connect With Jacqueline:
Web Site
Twitter
Facebook
Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.
Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.
Connect With Jacqueline:
Web Site
Tour Participants:
Oct 19 Guest Blog Roxanne’s Realm
Oct 21 Guest Blog
Lisa’s World of Books
Oct 23 Guest Blog and review
Oct 26 Interview and Review
Rage, Sex and Teddy bears
Oct 31 The Write at Home Mom
Halloween Theme Post
Nov 2 Promo
Nov 4 Interview
JeanzBookReadNReview
http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.com/
Nov 7th Highlighted Author and interview
http://haurbanstars.com/for a spotlight
Nov 9th interview
http://ravencraftrealm.blogspot.com/
Nov 11th interview
http://charleneawilsonblog.blogspot.com/
Nov 7th Highlighted Author and interview
http://haurbanstars.com/for a spotlight
Nov 9th interview
http://ravencraftrealm.blogspot.com/
Nov 11th interview
http://charleneawilsonblog.blogspot.com/
Nov 12 Interview
Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
Nov 14 Guest Post and review
Cocktails and Books
Nov 17 Guest Blog
All the days of
Nov 20 Review of Dreams
Reviews By Molly
Nov 20 Interview
Lissette E. Manning
Nov 22 Guest Blog
Fang-tastic Books
Nov 22 interview and excerpt
Laurie's Thoughts & Reviews
Thanks for having me here today!!
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, thanks for stopping by. Glad to host a stop on your tour.
ReplyDelete