Couragous Characters

 Before I post the blog I wrote for today, I have to speak to the horror of these massive fires, many of which are happening around the world. I don't have answers for them, but just how much they are emotionally impacting us all, genuine black swans. It's not just Los Angeles right now, which is massively destructive, but we know it's been so many places. We as humans are so vulnerable when fires arise suddenly. Just, if you are one of the ones impacted, know the rest of the human community cares. I have had fire as an experience in my life from childhood onward. I know its terror. Just so sorry for those impacted in a worse way than I had been. Namaste.

 Writing a series of any sort is both enjoyable and a challenge-- for obviously different reasons. I have written several series, each with complete stories and connecting secondary characters. I have not been fond of reading or writing stories where one hero and heroine continue on through many adventures. My favorites have characters in each book that might take on more important roles in the next stories. 

The challenge I find in writing a series is remembering all the characters accurately, mostly the secondary ones. Since this book was first brought out ten years ago, rereading and rewriting were necessary to bring it back out. Even more so, since these characters will go on with three more in the Winds of Change series. They will come out about a month apart. 

One of the tips I have for series writers is create a timeline of when and where their characters were born, sometimes interspersed with what was happening in the broader community like say wars, droughts, or major plagues. Timelines help a writer stay with the flow. If available to readers, it helps them to refresh their memories when it involves long timelines. That's not so needed when a series is contemporary and does not expand over a lot of years.

The great part of series writing is having characters, who I already know a great deal about their personalities, with the ability to expand that when they take center stage. When I have them, like Holly and Vince, I know their potential from earlier books, but what do I discover once there was more time with them? That's what I very much enjoy with a chance to enrich characters that had that potential.

What about readers, why would they like a series? Well, if the writer screws up the chronology (assuming there is much of one as there is with my Winds of Change series) it could be fun for a reader to point out through an email or as a reviewer about the goof. Now, writers prefer the email option, but heck, it's up to readers to make their own choices if they do reviews at all (most do not). 

If though, readers have come to like a family or group of friends, sometimes a community, it is enjoyable to follow what happens next. If the books they are following are romances, they are assured of happy endings multiple times, endings that feel believable. Let's face it, real life too often does not give us that. We can use a break from negativity with stories that offer us a feel of how real life can be good even if it's not a life you know for yourself.

What I shared last week about my core beliefs show up a lot in a series. When we solidly, as writers, know the beliefs that guide our lives, they also work to guide the main characters in a series. There will be villains or those who have no such codes, and guess what happens to them? Justice is what we wish for in what we call real-life. 

Justice for behavior can be revealed by actions in books, especially series writing. I don't think writers need theirs written down as I did in 2005 and where I still agree with them for my life and my writing in 2025. Did I need to write them down? Maybe not, but it sure didn't hurt especially as I look for places in my stories where they can be illustrated and reveal the consequences that I do think play out in life, BUT we don't always see it happen. We can read it though and feel good that way. 

Not all books do that as some portray the dark side of life instead of the light side. Does that leave the reader feeling good, or for that matter, the writer? Maybe, but then I am only able to share here my life and writing.

Oh, and one other rule I have for what I write or want to read. Writers can kill even well-liked characters. I have done it, but do not kill a beloved pet, no mules, dogs, cats, or horses. If the series lasts many years and logically an animal will no longer be alive due to old age, don't put it in the book for me to read. That also works in movies. I've lost enough beloved animals in my real life. No way will I write that into one of my stories. It might make for drama, but you won't find it in one of my stories.

 

Echo from the Past had a lot of pluses for me to originally write it and bring it back now after it had a private break. It had been pulled, for about a year, from being previously published as Echoes from the Past. It had been removed over an Amazon title problem, which those who have followed my blog might remember. 

Instead of bringing it right back with a new title and ISBN, I wanted to work on it more with a desire to improve it when it returned (and the rest of the series that will come out later). Where the first four in Winds of Change were emphasizing the O'Brian family, the next four have main characters as the Taggert family, with the O'Brian's coming along as secondary but still part of the new plots.

This first Taggert story has been edited with some events added and more words to enrich the characters' experiences. Its hero though might be a surprise to those who read the first book in the series, since he also had a name change from that book, for a very good reason (another plus with series writing). I do find it fun being a writer with such options open. 

When the book had its original name, it also had a trailer. For those who enjoy such, here it is, giving the elements of the plot, which is still accurate but just with some fun additions (at least fun for me). Luckily I had bought the trailer images, other than when we had taken some photos ourselves. It's a plus to live in the state where I base a book.

With the book's new title and cover, it's available at Amazon for Kindles. It will also be wide as D2D works it out. It is a long novel with a lot about the West of that time and archaeology, which is what Holly uses to find the answers to her dreams that too often were nightmares. Is reincarnation true? She needs to know and fears the answer as much as seeks it. She is a headstrong young woman with a lot of courage, and she will need it. 

https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Past-Winds-Change-Book-ebook/dp/B0DSCFJ8TZ/

And this Universal Link should make it soon or already available at B&N; Google; Kobo; Apple; etc.

https://books2read.com/u/b6oMoA

Echo from the Past offers adventure, romance, the West, archaeology, all in that time, and yes, some spice. It also has the benefit of more books with characters the reader already knows-- but also the knowledge there is no need to read more in the series.

I am not good at ratings but maybe 4 stars for its heat level *s*

Chasing Characters

 

From 2007, this is a photo that Ranch Boss took, illustrating the inspirations I draw around when writing. In this case-- art (3 prints, 1 original oil), an old saddle, music, rocking chair, and out the window toward the creek. Music needs to be soundtracks with no lyrics to produce energy and not distractions.

Now, comes the next stage for a creative path where it comes to writing fiction, which could lead to short stories, articles, even YouTube fiction, or go onto a novelette, novella or full length novel. When looking for distractions to someone's personal life, where life is less than what they want, fiction writing/reading can be one way. 

Where it comes to creating, I have tried many paths, the ones where I spent the most time were painting, sculpture, and writing-- the latter where I think I've learned the most as I've done it over the most years-- from a kid to at this time of my life. 

My books are not bestsellers; so if that is your goal, maybe look elsewhere. If it is to find yourself carried away from your daily grind and find a creative work that inspires you, read on. I don't have a formula but rather a way of life, a rewarding part of my experiences. My hope is to inspire readers to find that also. For me, it has been writing adventure romances, both historical and contemporary.

People sometimes ask writers if they use real people in their stories. It is one of the risks of being a friend to an author. I do use real people but always mixed in with other aspects. It's nice to create characters a combination of fantasy and reality. Having known a variety of 'people types' through my many years, I can draw on a type, without turning it into a 'stereotype'. 

What to me is interesting about types is how in real life (or what we call real), people can be a type but there are more aspects to who they are. I think this works best in writing also. 

An example, I have one secondary character in my Arizona historicals where he made a great juxtaposition to the hot hero (in my romances all the heroes are hot even if they didn't appear to be on the first sighting of them), who teased about him being his mother since he'd never known a real one. That secondary turned out to make a hero for his own book (a novella), later in time, and readers got to see a second side to him that was there all along and they could reread and find it. Uh, yes, he was what can be considered old at almost sixty, but that didn't mean the fire was out. 

image purchased from Canstock to fit that character as I saw him

Humans have roles they often play in life, and hence it is with characters in books. Making characters feel real but still interesting  (let's face it, a lot of us are not that interesting as we go about our lives) is part of what makes time with those people enjoyable to readers and writers-- maybe escapism, which we can all use now and again. 

As a writer. I spend more time with my characters than any reader ever will-- which is why I want them to be interesting, especially when fleshing out the personalities of secondary characters. Make these people feel they could have lived and through them, we get to experience a different life.

As writers, we observe what is around us, which involves the terrain but also the community. I am very much a dreamer, as in a nighttime dreamer. My dreams are full of characters and experiences over which I have no control-- that I know of anyway. I find it amazing, when I wake up, what my brain or the muse has put together for a vivid night full of activity. Many nights, it's like watching a movie until dawn. 

Rarely do I have nightmares. I think that's because I don't watch horror movies or stories where violence is in the offing from the time I have turned on the remote. I know it can be a very successful genre like with Stephen King type writers. I just cannot spend that long with such danger. On the other hand, I love suspense in my stories and a good villain makes for a very interesting writing experience for me and worthy challenge for the protagonists. I guess there is a thin line. ???

Besides accumulating characters for books, there can be a lot of time between the original idea for a story and beginning to write it. I believe while we want it to feel real, we also want it to be an escape from daily reality. There is that thin line again. 

A big part of that working involves having meaningful main protagonists; for a romance, that means love interests, which my books mean hero and heroine (if we can still use those terms). So, next blog will involve those main characters, the ones that keep people reading and make them feel good for the adventure they just went on.

One of our photos in Montana and another example of what I love out here.Those black dots that you see in the distance are cattle. Up close, it's a herd of antelope. Some prey species travel individually and some in herds or flocks.

Characters interesting to write about

It might look as though I got rid of Twitter. With all the controversy and changes going around, it'd be easy to assume that. Well, I still have it with no interest in getting something new. I try to limit how much I have on Social Media. What I did do though is move the Blogger Twitter link  to way down the page. I used to have the ability to share my last Tweet here and I used that as an in-between way to share pictures.Whoever is running it now changed that where someone has to go to Twitter to see my Tweet. If this continues, I will dump the Twitter link here, as I have no interest in being an ad for them. I'm waiting to see if it's permanent...

 

My topic for today was supposed to be about choosing characters for books I write. In this case, since I write romances, it's male and female leads. I have no problem with those who write same sex romances. I just have no personal feel for it. I write what I know something about- well not all the gun fights, etc. But where it comes to relationships.

When I met Ranch Boss, we were in college. I won't go into details, but I felt I loved him that first day. I had a few caveats though-- like he needed to have a sense of humor. Turns out he did, and our sense of humor has gotten us through more than a few bad times. So, I do believe in love at first sight, but it takes something more to make it work through a lot relationship. I look for that in my book characters.

Then I tried to think-- which characters should I share here that anyone else might find of interest.....

Obviously, I have no idea but I will throw a few ideas out there for how I selected the personalities I did for my books. Since there are thirty of these, it's not that easy to narrow them down to a few.

This book is currently not out there, as it, along with the 8 Arizona historicals, is being rewritten and edited with a new title-- although close to the original one. In Echo from the Past, Holly showed up in the book ahead of this one, Rose's Gifts. She was a university friend of Grace's (who was first introduced in The Beckoning Flame). Holly got her degree in anthropology with her desire to be an archaeologist. She's beautiful, smart and dedicated to solving a mystery from her own dreams. She's a strong woman. Well, all of my female characters are strong women-- but none defined as feisty, a term I actually dislike. She has money and goals. None of which were to find a husband. 

The hero of that book is trying to run from his past as a part of an infamous outlaw family. He tried first to change his name (showed up in an earlier historical romance--first titled Arizona Sunset but will be Beyond the Broken Road, when it reappears sooner than later, we hope. He's found a new path to make a living in the wild desert world, still facing sometimes that outlaw family. Handsome, but of course, but also intelligent with a sense of ethics. I pretty much prefer heroes like that for my books. He's an alpha but not a bully.

Neither of those two are looking for a mate. Life is simpler without-- or is it!

I could go on with various characters but those two project a lot of my ideas. Strong people, who face whatever is required-- whether it's part of their goals or not. My heroines generally have career goals, especially the contemporary but even the historicals. I rarely write really young heroines or heroes as I like to delve into people with some life experience.