Most of us write about characters with different professions than us, varying personalities and moods yet I'm willing to bet there are one or two facets of each character we write that bear a resemblance to some part of the author.
I've written about a cowboy and a movie star and a prince. But I've also penned books that are a slice of my life. Since I spent many years as a salon owner and a manicurist, stories based in beauty salons were a natural choice for me when I started writing. Until a writing buddy pointed out that I was creating nothing but salon stories.
So I moved on. But for my next release, Rude, Nude and Socially Unacceptable, I returned to the salon for a touch-up;-)
And I'll share a little secret with you. Although my husband isn't a biker as my hero, Nick Ramos is, my guy rode a motorcycle when we met and keeps threatening to buy one soon. So what in your books gives your readers a glimpse into your life? As a reader, do you pick up books where the characters share a profession or hobby with you?
Rude, Nude and Socially Unacceptable releases Wednesday, December 8 from Ellora's Cave. Here's a little about it:
Biker Nick Ramos needs help transforming his image. He hires his new hairdresser to make over his life, but he has an ulterior motive. He wants to get April into his bed.
April Conway is wary of all bikers since one destroyed her family. But Nick awakens secret desires she never knew she had. Betraying her family isn’t an option, but she is powerless to resist Nick’s erotic pull.
Read an excerpt HERE.
11 comments:
Ha - my first novel where I tried "writing what you know" featured a pharmacy technician... kinda dull although at least I made it a murder mystery using drugs as the murder weapon. All in all I think it was a miserable failure and decided that "write what you know" isn't quite that literal.
But bits of me in the characters? Absolutely! A number of my characters enjoy the guyliner... that's definitely ALL me! :)
Ooops! Hit submit too soon. Congrats on the new release, Wynter! I love the title.
Well, if I said yes about similarities with my heroines I might be oversharing. (grin) But at the least most of them have straight hair like I do and are a little too free to swear (also a bit like me, excuse me in advance). I do try to clean up my heroine's dialogue on the second go round editing a manuscript. And cleaning up my mouth in my real life is what we have internal editors to do. I'm mostly successful (LOL).
Congratulations on the release Wynter! The excerpt sounded fantastic.
KC - that murder by a pharmacy tech idea sounds like it could have been a good premise.
Michelle - Yeah - I never said what personality traits of mine I give my characters. I'll never tell, either!
Love this story! Congrats on the upcoming release :) A lot of my heroines have dark hair, like me. And I know there are certain facets of my personality in more than a few of my heroines (like my love of the beach).
Thanks, Savannah. I've definitely picked up on parts of you in some of your characters - all good stuff.
Love, love, love the title!
Although I generally try to not put myself into my writing, my current WIP, "Disciplining Emma" contains snippets of my background. I used to be a newspaper reporter/columnist and my heroine is a columnist.
I also write about men that I would be attracted to.
I should be writing right now, I'm 2 chapters from being done with the first draft...but I'm taking a break!
Thanks, Cara. When my editor saw the submission she said she'd buy it on the title alone!
I always enjoy stories about reporters and newspaper folks. I studied journalism in college but switched to PR senior year.
I want that biker. I'd love to pick him right out of the first chapter.
Ha! Thanks, Brenda. He is pretty hot.
I like a bit of realism in my characters, and the best way to do that is channeling what you know.
That said, the opposite can be true, too. How many times have you read a book where something resonates in a bad way and you just can't get past it? Names are a biggie for that one.
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