I’m in this weird creative pre-book release space where I know I’m not quite finished with the current project but I’m itching to start the next one.
Riley is due to be released on 18th November 2022. Eek! The first physical proof copy is due to land this week so there’s still work to be done. (I swear commas move all by themselves!) but already my mind is wandering onto “What next?”
I have an idea … well, half an idea…but I’m not jinxing it by saying too much just yet.
I was flicking through my Continue the Story journal, contemplating using it as inspiration for this week’s blog when the above Ernest Hemingway quote jumped out at me.
I saw for a moment or two reflecting on the characters that I have introduced to the world and on the new “friends” that readers will meet in the pages of Riley.
Over the years several people have complimented me on my various characters and said that they feel as if they know them. A few have said how much they’d love to go to a Silver Lake concert or hear After Life’s music. Those are huge compliments for an author to receive. Well, they’re huge compliments to me.
So, how do you create a believable character? Where do you start to come up with a character that’s destined to become someone’s book boyfriend/girlfriend? (I hope!)
I’m sure there are hundreds of more successful authors than wee me who could wax lyrical on the subject but for me, the key is to give them personality traits and a past.
If we use Jake Power from the Silver Lake series as an example, he has a habit of being late, he runs his hand through his hair when he’s anxious and he takes sugar and cream in his coffee. As the story unfolds, the reader learns a little more about his past. The one thing that I’ve never written in great detail is a description of what Jake looks like. Yes, there are plenty of clues- long blonde hair, hazel eyes, tattoos- but the what Jake looks like is left to the reader’s imagination. I’m sure he looks subtly different to each reader.
Riley Johnson is a character who was never originally intended to be anything more than a minor character in Shattered Hearts, book four in the Silver Lake series. However, once she began to emerge on the pages, I knew there was another tale there waiting to be told. This young lady, this tiny green-haired girl, had more to say. Even if I do say so myself, she’s perhaps one of the best characters that I’ve created so far. You can judge for yourselves next month when the book’s released. (Hint… you can pre-order a kindle copy right now on Amazon worldwide.)
One other key component to my main characters in each of the books is that they aren’t perfect. Each of them has flows and that’s true of each and every one of us.
I love to read. I always have a book on the go, and I’ve read numerous rock star romance novels where the central characters are all about the sex drugs and rock’n’roll rather than the music and hard work and hours of rehearsal it took to put them on that stage. Never say never, but its not my intention to create those kind of rock stars. I hope to create musicians, the kind of genuine musicians that I love to watch play live on stage.
So, perhaps another key to creating characters who feel like real live people is observation. Authors are always watching, filing snippets of the real world away for use in a storyline someday. One of those moments finds its way into Riley. A small simple moment in time from a gig I was at one night. (I can’t now honestly recall which one). I was in my usual rail position watching the crew set up the stage between the support act and the headliners. One crew member brought out several bottles of water to position around the stage and was loosening the lids as he placed them strategically beside each band members’ spot on stage. A simple everyday act…then one bottle put up a fight. The top refused to budge! This poor guy was wrestling with it in front of the crowd before it finally surrendered and came loose. I almost gave him a round of applause.
In my humble opinion, its small observations like that that help to make a story more believable.
Riley sees me introduce several new characters- Jericho, Zed, Sam and JJ to name a few. Riley also sees the return of several familiar faces too. If you choose to pick up a copy of the book, I hope you enjoy meeting each and every one of them.
You can pre-order Riley here
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9SWP6K3
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9SWP6K3/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_S6SCJ8PPM7NPDDHPNR8P
or catch up with all things Silver Lake
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Or spend a few hours getting to know Ellen
Coral McCallum 