Patti O'Shea's Blog

I spend a lot of time with my h/h in any story I write. Some of them are in my head constantly even when I’m not writing. This is actually pretty cool and I often get scenes that won’t make the book, but help round out the characters and explains them.

I’m not sure how to describe my relationship with my characters. The best analogy I’ve been able to come up with is it’s as if your best friends are living in your house with you. They’re always around and sometimes that gets annoying when you’d just like a little peace and quiet. Sometimes it’s awesome because you can really get to know them in ways that help make them real. (In my case, even more real because they pretty much show up as three-dimensional, stubborn people from the start.)

Some characters will lie to me (like my demons). Some will refuse to talk to me. Some will give me surface stuff and think that I’ll be diverted from digging any deeper. Characters are evil.

Unfortunately for them and their secrets, our relationship (sharing a house and all) is far too close and intimate for any of their tactics to work. Sometimes, though, it takes me a little while to catch on to their underhanded tactics.

One of my heroines almost pulled the wool over my eyes entirely. She was so slick, I never suspected anything. Okay, this isn’t quite true. I briefly questioned why she didn’t have any friends in her home city. Her only friends are in another country some 3,500 miles away and even then she doesn’t see more than a few times a year. But she was so good, it was only a fleeting though that I didn’t spend much time on.

She would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for the synopsis.

As I’m writing it, trying to make it work with the hero’s issue–which I thought was the driving growth arc of the story–I realize his problem isn’t enough to carry the synopsis. At first, I just thought that I wasn’t explaining his issue well, that it would be better in the book. But if the synopsis is a mess, would I even have the opportunity to write the book?

A friend suggested I focus on the heroine’s issue and not even mention the hero’s in the synopsis. And it stymied me. The heroine apparently had no issues. She was a paragon. And that set my BS detector humming. Everyone has issues and baggage–you don’t reach her age without them.

Once I turned the spotlights on her and got out the rubber hose, I discovered more than I expected. As it turns out, she does have the growth arc that drives the book. Yes, the hero has his issues–his are actually pretty close to the heroine’s–the difference is that he has friends. I’ve never before had two characters with the same problems to overcome. This could be interesting.

I had a request to talk about my characters a little bit, but before I do that: In the Darkest Night is a finalist for Best Long Paranormal in the Reader Crown Awards! ::Happy dog dancing::

Characters arrive in a different ways. My personal favorite is when they announce their presence. I’ve had it happen twice–once with Cai from The Power of Two and once with Mika from Through a Crimson Veil. There’s nothing like walking down the hallway and hearing a voice in your head say, “Mika” and then refuse to give any other information like which book she’s from. She also lied to me, but that’s another story.

Once, as I was walking, I heard a voice say something. At the time, I had a huge number of stories/ideas churning in my head, so I couldn’t figure out who this was. I couldn’t even tell if it was a hero or a villain. Turned out it’s a very dark hero. It’s the only contact I’ve had from him and the idea is on the back burner with others ahead of it.

Mostly, the characters are just kind of there one day. So what is it like in the beginning when they first arrive and I’m not really sure who they are or what book they’re from? I probably don’t even know their name(s) at this point.

I’m just a little bit beyond that place now. I have this idea for a novella. The heroine actually came in and shared her name fairly quickly. It’s Nicole. I had a sense of what she looked like, so I went on an image search and discovered she’s Latina. I also know she’s a psi tracker and part of the vampire hunters from the Blood Feud world. (If you read Shadow’s Caress you’ll remember that Malachi fought the psi tracker after him and Cass.)

The hero wasn’t around. Not at first. His arrival came with the quote: Revenge is a dish best served cold. Okay then. I did have a sense of what he looked like and I learned after a few days that he was a demon executioner (like Andras from Demon Kissed), but the information stopped there.

My demon characters always seem to lie to me. This guy was no exception. He told me his name started with a K. You don’t even want to know how much time I wasted on that wrong turn. After perusing names way more than I wanted, I finally learned his name is Dak. I found his picture.

Now I wait and let things percolate a little bit. I did do some brainstorming on the story and the backstory for Dak and Nicole, and it has to be frustrating for my friends. They suggest and I usually end up saying, no, he wouldn’t do that. No, she wouldn’t say that. No, that’s not right. I don’t know exactly what is right, but I know what they don’t like. Guess it’s no surprise, is it? They don’t help, just say no.

Basically, the characters arrive and give me a sense of themselves. I usually try to do preliminary work (if I’m not working on another story) and then I wait. I don’t see scenes like a movie. I might have a sense of place or a snapshot of a place, but it’s not a moving image. I hear words. I’ll hear my characters talk to each other. I’ll hear their internal monologue. That’s how I get to know them.

This is where I’m at right now with Dak and Nicole. I’m waiting to hear them talking to each other so I can get to know them. The funny thing is that no matter how well I think I know my h/h, they always manage to surprise me when I write. There’s something about putting the words down that really finishes rounding them out. Also, if I try to write something they don’t want to do or something out of character, all progress will come to a screeching halt and I won’t get another keepable word written until I figure out what’s wrong (they won’t tell me) and fix it.

Um, I’m not sure I answered the question I was asked.