As a writer, I am constantly asked where I get my characters in the books and short stories I write.  My flip response is usually, “I’m constantly taking notes so be careful or you’ll end up in one of my books.”  Sometimes people look at me slightly chagrined at the thought and others quiz me about the traits I look for the most and what really attracts my attention.   When I’m asked that question it always makes me stop and seriously think through the process of developing strong, interesting characters.  One thing I know for certain.  I have to “fall in love” with all my characters, both good and bad, before I can make them significant to the story. 

In my first adult novel, CORPORATE PRINCE, I was inspired by Phillip’s need to chase his dream half way around the world to a small African mission.  The mysterious CD that led him was my own creation, but I once knew a man whose life had followed a path very similar to the one I laid out for Phillip.  And while developing Phillip and his life changes, I sensed he would need the new discipline and confidence found in training for and completing his first marathon run, which was a passion of the man after whom I patterned Phillip.

An agent who read CORPORATE PRINCE at a writers’ conference in 2005 specifically mentioned my characters and how real they became to him.  “Tell me, Terri, did you have an Aunt Sophie?” he asked.  “No,” I responded and laughed along with him as he admitted, “Well, I did and your development of her was so real it made me sure you had an Aunt Sophie of your own.”  Before writing the character I had my spiral filled with behaviors that fit together into the character that became Phillip’s Aunt Sophie, including the hood ornament incident I witnessed in a parking lot in Kansas City.

Some readers may believe a wild imagination is all a writer needs to develop good, strong characters.  While that may be a skill that lends strong support to character development, keen eyes and ears are also important tools in lending touches of both reality and wild abandon to the people telling your stories.   Filling a spiral notebook with both bizarre and common traits shared by us all can result in the development of special characters that carry the story on their backs or become the comic relief or tragic victim needed to tug on a reader’s heart strings.

 

CORPORATE PRINCE is available as a paperback or ebook at Amazon.  Order it today and meet some exciting and extraordinary characters.  How about the three wealthy African businessmen, one of whom is a priest constantly stirring up trouble?  You don’t want to miss his friend, the bush pilot named Oopsie.  And, what happens when Phillip finds himself holding a gun in his hand for the first time ever while he attempts to rescue a kidnapped family member?

Leave a comment and let me know how you like Phillip’s story as he searches for a new life, learns his mother’s astounding secret, and finally discovers Elizabeth’s unconditional love.

 

Terri Clamons, author
Cocaine Campus, The Toy Room, and Corporate Prince,

All are available as trade paperbacks at amazon or createspace estore, and

as ebooks at amazon or The Kindle Store.  

You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com
Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com