by Angela Smith | Aug 15, 2018 | Characters, Relationships
Adrienne Fuller is a nurse who knows exactly what it’s like to be in danger. She’s felt like she’s been in danger her whole life. Her brother was accused of murder when he graduated high school, and she’s the one who found the body. She spent years of her life trying to prove her brother’s innocence until he begged her to leave. She got married, divorced, and came back home to care for her father’s property, the property she grew up on, when he was also sentenced to jail time for drunk driving.
She’s learned early on not to trust the criminal justice system.
Adrienne is stronger than she gives herself credit for. And she’s way stronger than I first believed when I started writing her character. Born in the country, she moved away but never stopped loving and appreciating her country living. When she meets Zan, she surprises him by hooking her worm and running through the wilderness to survive.
Adrienne’s Relationship Advice:
Zan told you last week that he tends to be a protector and a bit controlling, and I can absolutely say that is true. And while sometimes it’s okay to be controlled, sometimes it’s downright maddening. Yes, Zan, you piss me off sometimes. My relationship advice is to not be afraid to be a heroine. Stand strong in your beliefs and have courage to do what’s right, even if it isn’t what might seem right to others. Oh, and pick and choose your battles. It’s okay to be wrong (Zan). Not everything is worth being right over. Zan is still working on doing that with me.
But most importantly, have fun together!
Read more about DARK RIDE.
by Angela Smith | Aug 8, 2018 | Characters, Relationships
Please note that these images are subject to copyright.
Zan’s Relationship Advice:
I tend to be a protector, which means I might be a bit controlling when it comes to what I feel is right. Some people might even accuse me of being harsh and rude and demanding. Okay, okay, Adrienne, stop it. I admitted to my fallacies. But because of my career, safety is my number one priority. Sometimes that means pissing people (Adrienne) off. My best piece of advice is to realize that sometimes, you have to give up control.
by Angela Smith | Aug 6, 2018 | Books, Characters, Relationships
What a ride it is to create conflicting characters! The hardest part is making sure their goals, motivation, and conflict are enough to see the story to the end.
I’ve always been drawn to characterization and personality profiles, so that’s an intriguing part of writing for me. What do you think? Are you character-driven, or plot-driven?
Hands down, my favorite part of writing is creating the characters. I research who they are, build collages for them, and ask them extensive interviews about subjects that will never get put into the book. I’d like to say I get to know my characters pretty well. I love to explore their personalities and psychological makeup.
However, it’s also one of the hardest parts of writing. Creating a character who isn’t a cliché, a cardboard cutout, who acts and reacts the same on every page but is different than everybody else. Their emotions and writing those emotions offer a huge challenge to many writers, especially when you can’t get out of your own mind. A character is happy and they smile, but that gets very old very fast, and we as readers want to know why they are happy and how they are feeling to show us they are happy, or any myriad of emotions they feel throughout the story. This is where Show Don’t Tell is a huge factor.
Backstory and a character’s background is also important and fun creating, but writers have to be careful not to reveal too much too soon, or even reveal things that aren’t necessary to the story. Does it really matter that Winona prefers green leaf lettuce over romaine?
Each character will act and react differently, even the same character on different days. We all do. But there are personalities intrinsic only to us that writers must carve into their characters to make them shine.
I love to create character sketches to keep front and center when developing my story. Sometimes the characters change, since their backstory is the first thing I create before I know anything else. And they are always telling me secrets. But, as messy as it might seem here’s an idea of what I like to do!
And now for a little bit of fun. I’m picking up another round of Wednesday Relationship Advice. Every hump day, I am going to share a character sketch of individual characters and a piece of their relationship advice.
And since Dark Ride releases Tuesday, our first character sketch will be Zan. So come back Wednesday for more about Zan and his relationship advice!
