From Rachael's Desk - Characters

Creating Characters You and Your Readers Will Love

This post is later than I had anticipated because I was buried deep in revisions on my latest book. Actually, I was buried deep in rewrites because my characters didn’t leap off the page. The didn’t bring their story to life. The reason why. I couldn’t envisage them as real people. They weren’t alive in my mind, so how were they going to be anything other than cardboard cut-outs or just silhouettes in your story?

This post is all about creating your characters. Characters you love. So that your readers can love them too, go on a journey with them and more importantly, believe in them, empathise with them.

How to get to know your characters

The best way I’ve found to do this, is to ask them questions by completing an interview. You could even design your own character sheets with all the questions you think you will need to ask and all those you’d love to know the answer to.  It’s a method I returned to during the rewrite and I discovered some astonishing things about my characters. These are the sorts of questions you should be answering. Here's a photo of the many sheets I used for the rewrite.

      Know the basics

Find an image of your character, something you can focus on as you write. Then fill in the basics of what your character looks like. I find Pinterest really useful for this, as well as good fun! This is from my board - complete with its working title - for the book I've just sent into my editor.

You also need other information, like birthday and star sign. Find out what their hobbies are what music they love to listen to, what type of food they absolutely love or hate. Do they have a pet? What is the most precious thing they own and why? Some very leading questions there. A fabulous book from which to learn more about creating a character questionnaire, among other things, is Kate Walker’s 12Point Guide to Writing Romance. A constant on my desk!

        Know your characters’ likes and dislikes

Once you’ve got the basics filled in, it’s time to delve deeper into your new character and find out what makes them tick.  You may not need to put in the story the fact that that your heroine is a country girl at heart, but you will certainly know how she will react when faced with the buzz of a big city and confident alpha male who is so unlike any man in her hometown. Ask as many questions as you can, even if they seem incidental at the time. Treat your characters as a new friend you want to find out more about.

It’s also important to know how your character reacts to situations. What do they do if they are stressed? What makes them laugh? How they deal with bad news? What makes them angry and how they handle that? The list is endless!

 Know their back story

This is what will give your story emotional depth and is a must.  Knowing their back story in detail will create characters that are true to themselves. Every character will come to the blank page of a new book with a past that has unresolved issues and personal conflicts to overcome. You as the writer need to know these from the beginning, even if the reader doesn’t discover this until much later in the story.

Finally the most important question you can ask your characters as they tell you what has happened to them prior to your story starting is ‘why?’ For instance if your hero lets you know he will never be able to go to a certain part of the city, you want to know why not. What happened to him? When? How does it affect him now? What would he do if a situation forced him to do just that?

         Know what they want in the story and why

Your characters must have inner conflicts to resolve and problems to deal with as they progress through your story. At the start of the story you need to know what your characters want and where they want or need to be both physically and emotionally as the story ends. It may be that the hero wants one thing, when really, deep down he wants something completely different and through the course of the story and interaction with the heroine, he will discover what it is he really wants – and needs.

It is vital to get to know your characters even before you start writing chapter one, as you will then have characters that are alive and living in your story from the very first paragraph. This is the type of character you, the writer, can connect with as well as the reader who will be transported into the world of your story. It’s also great fun meeting new characters and part of the writing process I’m definitely making sure I do this as I begin my new book!

Happy Writing

Rachael

xx

Images from Pixabay

Conference Time Again!

It's July, which means my annual visit to Romantic Novelists' Association's conference. This year it was home from home for me as it was held at Harper Adams University near Telford, which is an agricultural university. So what did I seek out other than fabulous writing friends and books. Cows of course!

The conference was as usual a weekend full of useful sessions and lots of writing friends, although this year I arrived a day early to take advantage of an event at Wellington Library where authors Nicola Cornick, Sarah Morgan, Kate Walker, Freda Lightfoot and Bernadine Kennedy talked of their writing and books.

Authors from Right to left Kate Walker, Bernadine Kennedy, Freda Lightfoot, Sarah Morgan and Nicola Cornick

Before I left, I had a look in the Mills and Boon section and found my first book, A Deal Before the Altar - and had to have my photo taken with it!

The most useful sessions I attended during the conference were Nicola Cornick and Sarah Morgan's social media session, Fiona Harper's Building Characters from the inside out and of course, Mills and Boon's session, this year on creating the perfect heroine for a selection of heroes, which in turn created great stories. Now I just need to keep in mind all the useful tips from all these sessions.

All too soon it was time to go home and for me that meant returning to my cows and calves which gives me another opportunity to post a farm photo!

Rachael

xx

The Fun and Glamour of London.

I am back home on the farm after a few days away in London. I love being there, but it's even more fun when it's the annual Mills and Boon author's lunch, followed by Mills and Boon's Series Party.

I treated myself to a few days in London - all in the name of research of course! The first morning dawned bright and beautiful so I set off for a walk as the sun was coming up over St James's Park, which was busy with dog walkers and joggers.


I had a look at Buckingham Palace before the crowds arrived. I love being out and about before it gets busy.

After that, I met up with Chantelle Shaw and we stepped back in time to the court of Henry VIII when we visited Hampton Court Palace.

We toured the Tudor kitchens.

Through Anne Boleyn's Gateway

Then into the Great Hall

After that, we got ourselves a bit lost in the famous maze! At least we got back to London and were able to meet up with Kate Walker and Lara Temple for the evening.

On Friday was the main reason for my trip to London, the Mills and Boon author lunch and then the Mills and Boon series party at their offices, near The Shard, with stunning views over London.

Here's a photo of Chantelle and I at the Mills and Boon series party.

As usual, all good things come to an end and by Saturday afternoon, I was back in my overalls and wellies milking the cows!

Rachael

xx

Changing Places

It’s been a busy weekend here on the farm, but the previous weekend I was enjoying the sunshine at Fishguard. It’s become a big part of my year attending Kate Walker’s course, organised by Writer’s Holidays. It was a bit different this year as I no longer attended the weekend as an unpublished writer. But how could I miss the opportunity of meeting up with old friends and making new ones?

I always enjoy a morning walk in the winter sunshine, because we are usually very lucky with the weather. Just look at this sunny photo from my Sunday morning walk. Such a dramatic difference from the pouring rain of yesterday.

On Saturday evening I signed copies of my second book, Claimed by the Sheikh and it was so lovely to be able to give away copies and hopefully inspire others to keep writing and chasing their dream of publication.

Thanks to Vasiliki for the photo.

I was also a little sad, thinking that it would probably be my last opportunity to attend this unique writing weekend. After all, I’ve attended for so many years and have achieved my dream of publication! So I was thrilled and very honoured to be invited to attend next year, not as a student, but as a tutor. How could I refuse such an offer?

The course I will be running is The Novel Workshop and I’m looking forward to preparing for this over the next twelve months, remembering all the stumbling blocks I found along the way and the questions I needed answering. More details and booking information can be found at Writers’ Holidays.

The long, but fun filled road to publication.

A year ago this week, I had a wonderful dream-come-true moment. The Call. Finally after seven years of writing and many ups and downs, I had achieved my ambition of publication. I'd known I wanted to be a writer since I was about nine years old, but only seriously began pursuing that dream eight years ago.

So what set me off on that path of determined persistence?

Thirteen years ago, I saw an advert in my village for a new writing group and as my children were young then the meeting time of Monday afternoons was perfect. So along I went to that very first meeting, and met Brenda Old, the founder member of what is now known as Cwrtnewydd Scribblers.

I soon began to write short stories, which I loved doing, but I kept wishing I could write a book, to get from the very first page to the last. It seemed perfectly natural to want to write romance as my favourite reading since my teenage years, was Mills and Boon.

 Occasionally, we had guest writers at our Monday afternoon meetings, but the day Liz Fielding joined us, set in motion a chain of events which not only focused me on my dream of writing a book, but helped me achieve it. Liz brought with her a book and that was, Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.

I went home and set myself the target of completing my first book by that time the following year. But before I began I sat down and devoured The 12 Point Guide. Imagine my excitement when I read about courses Kate Walker ran for Writers’ Holiday in Fishguard, which was only a short drive away. One phone call later, I was booked up – and with the course being just a matter of weeks away, I began my very first attempt at writing for Mills and Boon.

The Watermill at Posara

The next few years passed in a whirl of manuscripts submitted both to Mills and Boon and RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme. I also attended Kate Walkers course each year and discovered the amazing Watermill in Tuscany where Sharon Kendrick teaches romance writing each May. Through these courses and conferences, I’ve made wonderful friends, travelled and learnt so much, but above all, had an amazing time!

I am also very fortunate to have met up with a wonderful group of writers online, known as The Write Romantics. Together we have formed a very supportive group and my success is only a small part of the success of the group as a whole. Not only have The Write Romantics got lots of debuts to look forward to this year, but they produced a brilliant charity anthology, Winter Tales – which is still available, by the way!

Things began to change in September 2013, when I entered my story into So You Think You Can Write and that entry took me to the Top Ten and finally to being offered a two-book contract, the second of which, Claimed by The Sheikh, is out now.

One year on from that fantastic moment, I now have three fabulous book covers. My fourth book has just been accepted and will be available later this year. Currently, I am working on my fifth book – and enjoying every minute. I hope you will enjoy reading my books!

This was made for me by Amanda Shivratten - thanks Amanda!

A Writers' Lunch in Cardiff

Yesterday I traveled to Cardiff to meet with writers from the area. It was a lovely sunny day and a chance to catch up with friends and meet new ones. We dined on Italian food and toasted my new career with Mills and Boon. It was a lovely day!

It was also a chance to thank Liz Fielding, who writes for  Mills and Boon Modern Tempted. Her latest book, For His Eyes Only is available now - and well worth a read.

I first met Liz when she visited my local writing group about eight years ago. Listening to her rekindled my desire to write for Mills and Boon.

For that talk, Liz had brought with her a book which changed everything. That book was Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. It is now one of my most read books and is always to hand!

I went home enthused by all that Liz had said and began reading the 12 Point Guide. Imagine my delight when I saw that Kate was teaching romance writing at Writer's Holiday in Fishguard - just a few weeks later. I promptly signed up and the rest as they say, is history!

The 12 Point Guide is now available as an e-book and more information can be found on Kate's blog.

Shattering the Silence

Have you ever had to keep a secret you were just bursting to shout about? It's hard, let me tell you.

At the beginning of last week I got a telephone call to say that my entry into So You Think You Can Write competition had been selected as a Top 10 finalist. I was just about stunned into silence at that point, but to be told to keep it a secret for a week, until the announcement was made on the website, was torture.

 

I tried so hard to get on with normal life and working on my latest story but I just couldn't settle to anything, not with a secret like that bubbling away inside!

Then finally it was the day, which meant keeping the secret a bit longer until the beginning of the day in New York when the website was updated. Once that was done it was time to tell everyone and anyone.

I have been assigned an author mentor, Maisey Yates, who will be reading my book and helping me to promote it. Also Laura McCallen, a Presents editor is championing my book too and you can find her on the 50 Editors page of the website.

I have worked hard towards the dream of becoming a Harlequin Mills and Boon Presents author, attending courses with Kate Walker here in the Wales, organised by Writers' Holiday and with Sharon Kendrick in Italy, organised by The Watermill.


I have met some fantastic people and made wonderful friendships through my writing and would love to push that dream to the limit and become published through this competition. If you'd like to be part of that dream you can vote each day for my entry Behind the Scandalous Façade until 25th November and my complete book is there for all to enjoy.

If you want to read and vote you can do so HERE!

Happy reading and voting!

My Name on a Book

Seeing your name on a book must be a wonderful feeling and that's just what I did during my weekend away. The only problem - this book was edible!

I arrived in Fishguard on Valentine's Day, and my birthday, for a weekend course with Kate Walker on writing romance. Whilst other diners where having quiet moments the early arrivals to the course were singing Happy Birthday to me. It was a lovely and unexpected surprise.

I saved the cake to share with the other romance writers in the group and on Saturday afternoon we had enjoyed a piece of the book.

 

 

It was an intensive weekend, with all aspects of romance writing covered. The group was fantastic and it was lovely to meet new writers as well as catch up with friends. Going to The Fishguard Bay Hotel and taking a course with Kate Walker each February has become something of an annual event. One I always learn from and enjoy immensely, but this year it had that extra special feeling. So thank you Kate for such a lovely cake, all your hard work to make such a fantastic course and thank you everyone who was on the course for making it the best weekend course so far!

 

Finally a big thanks to Writers' Holiday for organising the weekend. Can't wait for next year!



Spring

Finally hints or spring are around. Snowdrops are flowering and the daffodils are pushing their way up with the promise of sunny yellow flowers.



As for me, I feel like I've been hibernating over the winter months. I may have been quiet, but I haven't been asleep - honest! My latest story has just been completed and submitted to the New Writers' Scheme, run by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

So with the beginnings of spring I'm ready to start a new story, but first I have my annual trip to Fishguard, where I'll be attending Kate Walker's romance writing course at the weekend. I'm so looking forward to catching up with friends and meeting new writers.

A weekend by the sea.

Last weekend I was in Fishguard attending a romance writing workshop with Kate Walker. As usual it was a brilliant weekend and once I arrived home I became immersed in my latest story, dealing with the areas that needed more work - as well as trying to do my jobs on the farm.

The sun shone after a wet Saturday morning, but ensconced inside, learning all I could to make my writing better, I didn't mind. It was a great group and we all helped and encouraged each other.

So if you fancy a weekend away, immersing yourself in your writing, then Fishguard is the place for you. If romance isn't your genre, then maybe one of the other courses offered like poetry, short stories even painting, might be just right for you. How can you resist a view like this? I know I can't and I'll be there again next February.

It's a Beautiful Day!

Finally the dreary wet weather has gone here in Wales and this morning it was a beautiful mix of sunshine and mist.

It is also Friday 13th, a day linked with lots of superstition and bad luck, yet today is crammed full with things I shouldn't be wanting to do on Friday 13th -if I were really superstitious. Our cat is at the moment in the vets with an abscess on her face, the farrier is shoeing the ponies and my daughter is about to leave Austria on a twenty-four hour bus ride after a week of skiing with the school. So I suppose I'm not really superstitious, but I always count magpies and never walk under a ladder?

It's also said a bird leaving a message on you is good luck, and with hundreds of starlings with us at the farm each winter I'm often the recipient of such messages and did in fact receive several whilst walking the dog this morning! With this good luck in mind, I'm reading over my synopsis and first chapter ready for a course with Kate Walker in Fishguard next month and on her blog today are more venues and dates if you want to take a course with Kate.

Writing Romance in Fishguard

Last weekend I was in Fishguard attending Kate Walker's Advanced course on writing romance. As a group we looked at digging deeper into the emotional heart of the story. It was a weekend full of fun and laughter as well as a lot of hard work. Kate herself worked harder than we did, putting together a brilliant weekend. Now we have to put in the hard work and use all we've learnt, which is exactly what I've been doing every spare minute since I returned.

The sun shone during the weekend, making it feel like a day in April rather than February. The hotel is nestled in the trees above the ferry port and the views across the bay are stunning. A perfect place to relax, write and have fun.

So if you are interested in writing romantic fiction I suggest attending the next course in 2012. Details here.

Hearts and Flowers

They are everywhere. Red roses, heart shaped boxes of chocolates and many more items we're all persuaded we need to celebrate Valentines Day. It's good and bad for me. My husband can never forget my birthday, but going out for a meal, sending flowers or buying chocolates costs him a fortune. This year I had a birthday card and a Valentine card, usually I get one or the other.

Last year I posted on why I write romance. All those reasons still apply and if anything I'm more determined than ever to succeed with my ambition to become a published romance writer. I looking forward to the weekend when I'll be attending Kate Walker's course on writing romantic fiction.

For all the lovers of romance, here's a seductive red rose.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Competition News

Finally the snow and ice has gone and daily life on the farm is normal again. Over the last few weeks the freezing conditions have created so much extra work. Its been hectic keeping water flowing to the cows and keeping them all warm, but at least the sun is shinning- for now!

One of the things I enjoy doing is entering writing competitions and I recently had the results back from the Romance Writers of Australia's High Five contest. I was really pleased with my result of 91% and 12th out of 75 entries. This is a big improvement on last years mark.

The competition required the opening five pages of a novel aimed at Mills and Boon and the feedback from the judges is well worth receiving.

Also I won a signed book from Kate Walker's Advent Calendar Giveaway. This competition is going on daily until Christmas and you can enter by visiting her blog.The book I won is Bound by Blackmail.

For my Australian readers here's a picture I took when the snow started two weeks ago. I'm sure readers in UK are fed up with the stuff.

Competition Results

The results are back! At the end of last year I entered two competitions with my third complete manuscript. So... the results.

Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Competition. For this I only have the judges scores to determine how well my entry did. Five judges in all, three gave it a good score and the other two rated it lower. I would love to know what they liked and didn't like, but I have since learnt that it is a huge competition, so I'm pleased with the scores for a first entry.

Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Competition. This is the second year I have entered this competition. The judges read and score the first three chapters for round one then the top fifteen go on to round two. Last year I had a good score for round one, but didn't make it into round two. This year my entry made it into the top fifteen, which meant the whole manuscript was read again.

Not only did I get a score from this competition, but score sheets with judges comments, which are so useful, enabling me to see my strengths and weaknesses and look at my work with fresh eyes.

Since receiving this feedback and having attended Kate Walker's course in February I have been working on my recently completed fourth manuscript, trying to edit out potential problems. This will be my submission to the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, where it will be critiqued by a published author. These critiques and score sheets are brilliant and have certainly helped me to improve my writing.

So I'd just like to say a big thank you to all the judges and NWS readers.

Writing Weekend

Last weekend, I attended a weekend writing course in Fishguard, although the snow that fell on Friday nearly stopped me from going. Thankfully the main roads were clear and I reached a sunny Fishguard.


The course I attended was Kate Walker's Writing Romance. I think it's an absolute must for anyone wanting to write romantic fiction. Next year an advanced course will be run by Kate in Fishguard and I look forward to meeting up with many of those who attended this year. I have been so full of inspiration since returning that all my spare time has been devoted to writing, which is why I'm a bit late blogging about the weekend.

Socializing with other writers is also very much part of the weekend, as the other courses offered ranged from painting, to short stories and poetry. Meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces is so much fun. I'd recommend it to every aspiring writer.

As I started with a bleak snowy scene, I'll leave you with the view from the hotel on Saturday morning.

Romance and Valentine's Day

As today is Valentine's Day I thought I'd blog about why I write romance and where I am now with my writing.

I often wonder if it was because I was born on Valentine's Day that I love romance so much, but really I just can't help it. Whether it's a book or a film, I just love romance and want to immerse myself in it all the time.

I was in my late teens when I discovered Mills and Boon romances. I read as many of the historical romances as possible and one day wondered if I could write one. So I sent away for the guidelines, then in the form of a cassette and made quite a few attempts at my own romance, but these early scribbles remained just that. It was all so much harder than I thought.

As life moved on, my desire to write was put to one side, but I always read as many romance novels as I could. I married and had two children and it was when my youngest was two the need to write resurfaced and I applied for a home study course on creative writing. This took me from article writing, to short stories and onto the novel, where I had to submit the first chapter of my novel, which was of course a romance.

Shortly after, I met Brenda, who was starting a writing group in our village, the group, Cwrtnewydd Scribblers is still going now after over seven years. As a group we looked at writing romance and had local published author, Liz Fielding join us for a workshop. Liz writes for Mills and Boon's Romance line and we had just a few hours in which to gain an insight into what goes into a romance novel. This was when the need to write romance became ever stronger and I soon had three chapters completed. This time my story was aimed at Mills and Boon's Romance line - or Tender as it was then.

Liz Fielding also introduced me to Kate Walker's 12-point guide to Writing Romance. In this wonderful book, I discovered that Kate Walker was tutoring a course, for Writers Holidays in nearby Fishguard. In fact I shall be there again next weekend.

Ever since that first course, I have been completely dedicated to writing a romance which will hopefully, one day, be just what an editor at Mills and Boon is looking for and have now completed four books with the last three being aimed at their Modern line.

So really, you could say that writing romance has been a lifelong ambition of mine. Have you an ambition that has been with you since childhood? Maybe you have achieved yours?