Category: MFRW 52 Week Blog Hop

MFRW 52 Week Blog Hop

3 Tools Used to Create My Characters

aliciacoleman

This is week 18 of the MFRW Blog Hop. Please check out the rest of the authors participating in this challenge. Today’s topic is How I work up character/setting profiles.

myAvatar.png from avatarmaker.com--me

avatarmaker.com

I’m a pantser, sometimes a plantser. Most times my characters just show up fully formed. There’s nothing else I need to do other than write their stories. At other times it’s just a name. When all I have is a name, I’ll write up a lite sketch that includes where they’re from, what they want, birthday and archetype, a hobby which I think is important to the kind of person they are and how they handle themselves through life. If I haven’t found a celebrity inspiration to represent a character, I’ll create one with http://www.avatarmaker.com. Sometimes I give them a catchphrase or an emotional tick that they say/do at stressful times. I use the following books/tools to help me create my characters:

Don’t forget to check the other blogs in the hop to find out how their characters or settings are created.

MFRW 52 Week Blog Hop

5 Genres I like to Read.

aliciacoleman

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Hi there! Today’s topic is Favorite romance genres to read or write. This is week 17. Check out the reading and/or writing preferences of other participating authors in the MFRW blog hop here.

When I was younger, my mom allowed me to read Harlequin Presents novels. They were pretty mild. Nothing beyond a kiss happened in those stories. I bided my time until I graduated to racier contemporary romances like the Harlequin Blaze line. I even had a subscription. I fell in love with Violet Winspear, Betty Neels, Mary Burchell’s The Warrender Saga, Brenda Jackson’s The Westmorelands and outside of Harlequin, Francis Ray’s The Graysons of New Mexico, Taggert/Falcon Series, and The Grayson Friends Series.

I went on to discover historical romance. I started with the more mild romances and advance to more sizzling reads by the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin, Barbara Courtland, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey, Bertrice Small and Beverly Jenkins.

But then while browsing the aisles of my local bookstore, I discovered the science fiction genre. Octavia Butler’s Patternist Series and Xenogenesis Trilogy, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern and The Powers That Be Series and Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes to name a few. Not romances per se, some had romantic elements which was fine by me as I was and still am a sci-fi nerd who devotedly watched  My Favorite Martian (I’m really showing my age here), Battlestar Galactica (the early one with Loren Green), Babylon 5, Andromeda, and the Star Trek franchise.

I got into the sci-fi romance genre with such authors as Cynthia Sax, Cara Bristol, and various other authors.

From there it wasn’t hard to get into the paranormal genre and authors who put a different spin on the vampires myth/lore, like Christine Feehan’s Dark Series, Sherilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters, Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress, J. R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Lynsay Sand’s Argeneau Vampires, and authors who introduced me to shifters.

 

MFRW 52 Week Blog Hop, writing

Family/Friend Story Inspiration

aliciacoleman

Hi there! It’s week 16 in the MFRW Blog Hop. Today’s topic: Family, friends, and pets I’ve written into my books.

Family and friends are a great source of character quirks and personalities. A few friends of mine and quite a lot of family members are quirky or unique enough to inspire characters, but haven’t won a place in a book/series yet.  Here’s what I have for character inspiration.

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My maternal granddad’s younger sisters are contemporaries with his older daughters, my mom included. These ladies are feisty, fun-loving, full of integrity, and they don’t take crap from anyone. They have inspired heroines in stories I’m writing in a sci-fi romance series.

Pax, Paris Chandler's dog PS Story

In another series, a German Shepherd, my first ever dog,  that has crossed the rainbow bridge is a secondary character in another series. He is the inspiration for Pax, a companion of the main character that is traveling across the United States before she settles in a small town in Alabama.

How have you used family in your writing? Be sure to check the other authors in the blog hop here.