Hi Everyone,
My name is Anna James and I write contemporary romance with strong heroes and heroines that conquer life’s trials and find their happy ever afters.
I want to thank the folks at Books -n-Kisses for hosting me. Today I’d like to talk to you about what I consider the heart of a great story and that is… the books’ characters.
As an author, I strive to create characters in my stories that will linger in a reader’s mind long after he or she has finished reading my novel.
So, what goes into producing great characters?
In addition to the basics (height, weight, hair color, eye color, etc.), here are a few of the things I considered when I crafted Dante Leone and Sophia Hamilton, the hero and heroine from THE BUSINESS OF LOVE- Book 1 Forevermore Series. I’ll use Sophia for my example below, and then share an excerpt from the book with you.
- What type of relationship does your character have with parents / siblings?
- Sophia’s mother committed suicide and she blames herself for not seeing the signs soon enough to stop her.
- She doesn’t have a relationship with her biological father. He walked out on her when she was a baby.
- She has a love / hate relationship with her step brother, Allen. Sophia cares for him but Allen wishes she didn’t exist.
- Sophia loved her step-father to pieces.
- What is your character’s greatest strength?
- Sophia is a fighter
- What is their “wound” or secret fear (the hurt that has caused them to be the way they are)?
- Sophia believes she’s not worthy of being loved. Everyone she’s ever loved has left her.
Excerpt:
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Clair, her cousin, said, “but we have a situation in the kitchen.”
Sophia stood. “Is there a problem with the caterers?”
Clair rolled her eyes. “The problem is with your stepbrother, Allen. He’s ripping one of the servers a new one over some screw-up with the food.”
Sophia almost laughed, despite her grief. You could always count on Clair to tell it like it was. With a resigned sigh, she followed Clair out of her temporary sanctuary.
It took several minutes to make her way through the large group of friends and family who’d come to the house that afternoon. People who hadn’t been able to attend the funeral service that morning stopped her to offer their sympathy.
By the time she got to the kitchen, the server in question had been reduced to tears. Sophia squared her shoulders and marched over to Allen and pulled him aside. She apologized to the young woman, who scurried off, and then turned her attention back to her older stepbrother. “What are you doing?”
Allen glared at her and pointed to the spread on the counter. “This is not what I ordered.”
She sucked in a breath and counted to ten, determined not to let his temper spark her own. “The caterer called yesterday while you were out. She was concerned the quantities you ordered wouldn’t be enough for the number of people we were expecting, so I had her add a few extra side dishes.”
“You just had to interfere, didn’t you? You couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“I didn’t have a choice. The caterer needed a decision and you weren’t around to make one.”
“As usual, you put your nose in where it didn’t belong.”
Was he really going to pick a fight today of all days? “Allen… Please… Let’s not turn Dad’s funeral into a three-ring circus. Can’t we call a truce, even if it’s only for today?”
“You had no right to intrude. He’s my father, Sophia, and I said I’d take care of everything. You should have given me the message. Instead, you just took over.”
If anyone else told the caterer to add the extra selections, it wouldn’t have mattered, but the fact it had been her, caused Allen to make a scene. He viewed her as an interloper, always had really. If it were up to him—thankfully Aunt Caroline, Dad’s sister, and Uncle Sam stepped in, so it wasn’t—she’d have been excluded from the day’s events. “Please, keep your voice down or everyone will hear you.”
“I don’t care. I’m sick and tired—”
Sophia’s head jerked toward the door when her best friend, Trey Jackson, stepped into the room.
Trey’s gruff voice broke into Allen’s tirade. “What’s going on in here? I can hear you two shouting from the living room and the glass doors are closed.”
Allen glowered down at her. “You want to be in charge? Have at it.” He stormed out and slammed the back door shut behind him.
*****
Sophia Hamilton can’t believe her late stepfather split the family firm three ways. With her hard-earned master’s degree, she and her stepbrother, Allen, are perfectly capable of running the firm. Instead, she’s forced to share the reins with Dante Leone. The man who split her heart in two.
Six years ago Sophia fell hard for Dante, but when he discovered she was a starry-eyed nineteen to his twenty-eight, he shut her out. Worse, Allen’s defection from the firm has left Dante with controlling interest.
Dante is having a tough time seeing Sophia as anything other than the woman who lied to him. Yet her resignation isn’t the moral victory he intended. He feels her absence deep in his heart—and the company plunges deeper into turmoil.
Sophia returns on one condition: equal partnership all the way. But their redoubled efforts aren’t working. And soon it becomes clear someone is bent on destroying not only her stepfather’s legacy, but any chance of a future with Dante.
About Anna James
Anna James writes heartwarming contemporary stories with strong, confident heroes and heroines who conquer life’s trials and live happily ever after. She has been writing professionally since 2010, is a member of RWA (Romance Writers Of America), CTRWA (Connecticut Romance Writers of America), CORW (Charter Oak Romance Writers) and RWA Contemporary Romance Writers. Publishing credits include five novels, six novellas and one short story.
Anna is married to a wonderful husband who spends countless hours picking up the slack around the house so she can pursue her dream of writing, and is the proud mother of five fabulous children, and a big, loveable rescue dog the entire family adores.
Although she’s lived in several locations throughout her life she now calls Connecticut home. When not writing, she can be found spending time with family and friends.
You can learn more about Anna James at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annajames.author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorannajames or at her email: authorannajames@yahoo.com
Interested in winning a signed copy of the book?
Sign up for my newsletter here: http://annajamesromance.com/?page_id=1437 between now and September 30, 2015. I’ll do a random drawing on October 1, 2015 and choose 3 winners and post them on my blog (US entrants only – sorry.) Good Luck!
Thanks for having me here!