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What’s playing : Pandora Radio station En Vogue – Never Gonna Get It

So today I started really buckling down into my new WIP CONJURED. I’m a visual learner, and a visual writer. That being said I MUST have pictures to write to, just like a soundtrack. So I started thinking about the process of creating a truly memorable character.

Recently, I came to the conclusion that with a degree in Theater I focus on the characters first when sitting down to create a new story. I imagine a certain type character, perhaps pulling a unique name from thin air and dreaming up that character’s world.

Today’s post is all about that process.

My writing process is about as scatter-brained as I am, but nine times out of ten, I have the new characters sketched loosely in my mind before I ever set down a clean piece of paper. For BROKEN, I had a sticky note for over a year on my laptop that read “Angels – a new story.” I had the germination of the type of paranormal character I wanted to write, I just didn’t have the vehicle (Heehee) yet to get them there.

I actually started writing CONJURED before BROKEN. I had intended for CONJURED to be an adult para romance. I was sitting outside late one fall night, staring at the stars and my very favorite constellation – Orion. A million connotations floated through my mind about the origins of that cluster of stars – especially the Greek myth surrounding Diana and Orion. And then poof, I began to wonder more about that story and who the fabled Orion was. From there I decided that I wanted to create a knight with his name. He had to be larger than life just like the constellation he was named for, so his parents were legends too – Tristan and Isolde. And in a matter of five minutes I had created the back story and conflict for my new main character and hero.

So first part of the process, come up with a unique name or stereo type and begin the thought process. This when reading classic fairy tales or ancient myths comes in handy. Some authors use a baby name website or book. To be honest I don’t unless I need a secondary character’s name. I put much more thought behind my main character’s names. My heroines, even with a plain name like Sarah, has that plain name for a reason.

I usually will write a good 5000 words into the beginning of the new WIP before I began to get a taste of my characters. By this I mean, what they look like, how they speak, some of their idiosyncrasies. These are some of the things that help develop their inner turmoil/conflict and help determine the choices they will make through the story. For BROKEN, I wanted to focus on Caleb’s eyes. One of the first scenes I wrote I had him with a halo – only glowing in the dark at night. But I thought it was kooky, and deleted that instantly. But I wanted something else that glowed, shifted, and embodied his ethereal presence on earth – so I chose his eyes. Beside, I’m a sucker for a man’s eyes. The second thing I knew about Caleb was that he had a tattoo because the second scene I wrote for BROKEN was him revealing to Sarah his angel wings. I wanted them to be hidden to human eyes. No spoilers but with that revelation about his body – tattoos – I knew that he had to be a little hard edged. The next thing I knew about Caleb, pulling from some angel lore, is that he was an inspiration to humans – or that was his job. So why not inspire musicians. Angels are supposed to have the most beautiful voices. Ah, and so my little rockin’ angel was formed.

So after you’ve found a unique place to get an idea, write and write until your characters begin to show their attributes. Those quirky behaviors can lead to…

(sorry I will get back to this post..my computer and WordPress crashed in the middle of writing it – but don’t worry, I have some great stuff planned. Sorry for the inconvience)