Writing Character Phobias…Or Not … by Delsora Lowe

Phobia – Oxford Dictionary – an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something, triggered by specific or general events or items.

My phobias are snakes and spiders and heights, but since they are my phobias, I don’t want to even think about them, much less write about them.

All I can say is I had traumatic encounters with the first two when I lived overseas as a child in the land of yucky things that caused me great anxiety. I don’t think of them as irrational fears, since the exposure to the first two could have been not only dangerous, but deadly. The third, a fear of heights, was a learned phobia from my mom who flipped out any time we were near heights. After many decades of life, I am slowly…almost…conquering that phobia.

Grandson conquering a Maine mountain

So, I still stay away from edges situated along great heights, but I can now slowly inch closer. And I still cover my eyes when I see photos of snakes and spiders, and avoid both, at all costs, in real life. For example, when I worked in alumni relations at an environmental college, I co-edited the alumni magazine. Part of that duty was editing the entire issue. Undoubtedly, there was always at least one photo in the issue that had a snake in it, as the guy who was the managing editor and put together the magazine loved snakes. In one issue, there was a two-page spread with such a photo. I asked my intern, now a career biologist in Africa (who is NOT afraid of snakes,) to edit that page and then flip it to the next page on my computer, so I could open my eyes. We still keep in touch via FB, and he still teases me about that. Luckily, he now studies birds and I can look at his FB page.

Jonah holding a Blue-breasted Bee-eater in Africa

As for my characters… I like to think I give them things, emotions or responses, that cause them discomfort. But I don’t believe I have ever given them an actual phobia. Their fears / issues are what many people have similar reactions to and can be considered rational or normal.

For example, falling in love can only cause hurt and heartache. These reactions may be the result from past life experiences or insecurities. So, getting to know our character’s past, off the page, before we write them in their present situation is important. One such hurt could be how our characters process and move forward after a bad break-up.

In Holiday Hitchhiker, my most recent book, my heroine, an only child, knows she has disappointed her parents by moving away to go to school to earn a degree in childhood education. They wanted her to go into the family business and run the small town mercantile. Her anxiety comes from desiring her own career dreams at the expense of disappointing her parents.

Strangely, as I write this post, I realize I gave my hero the same anxiety about wanting to carve his own path. He feels guilty that he isn’t home helping run the ranch and is instead working his life’s dream to be a conservation officer. In order to do what he wants, he felt it necessary to also move away to pursue his dream.

The two strangers, stuck together, first in a vehicle and later a log cabin, during a days-long blizzard, end up bonding over their shared experience of feeling as though they disappointed their families. Although one is an only child and feels the burden of her parent’s dream. The other is the youngest of six, and chose a career away from the ranch, in order to be his own person. His angst stems from his mom passing away when he was so young. As a result, he felt abandoned by everyone in his family. His mom doted on him. And his dad and siblings, lost in their own grieving and still trying to function in school and work, seemed to forget about him.

In another book I’m currently editing for release in 2024, Rescuing the Sheriff, the heroine’s phobia is not trusting anyone, especially law enforcement, as she is hunted by her turned rogue police officer, step-brother. She is not sure if her fears are justified, but she suspects he is responsible for her mother’s death and intends to harm her. Her fear is based on evidence, but also on the belief no one will believe her, especially the stern sheriff in the small town where she is hiding.

Fear? or Phobias?

The hero in the story fears not belonging. And has set out his entire life to prove he is good enough for the family who adopted him. He doesn’t believe he deserves their love or anyone else’s. This fear is irrational, but stems from the childhood trauma of losing both his parents. He loves his adoptive family, and most likely has this fear of not belonging because his heritage is different from the rest of the family.

Neither believe they belong, and yet each finds the other. Together, with the help of his loving adoptive family, they each teach the other that they deserve to belong.

So, I wouldn’t call any of these characteristics phobias, but deep fear and feelings of self-doubt that need to be corrected, with help from another person who truly understands, as they too have experienced similar fears.

Do you have fears or phobias? How do you deal with confronting those fears?

The Inn on Gooseneck Lane

Amazon (also in print)

                       Barnes & Noble (also in print)

                      Apple Books (also in print)

            Holiday Hitchhiker

Amazon (also in print)

Books2Read

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) were released in late fall 2022. Look for book 3 and 4 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, in 2024-25.

 Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Photo Credits:
 
Conquering the Mountain: My grandson, photo taken by my son
Phobias: In My Head - Free phobias, Download Free phobias png images,
Free ClipArts on Clipart Library clipart-library.com)
Blizzard: Photo taken by Delsora Lowe
Bird: Blue-breasted Bee-eater in Africa, permisson to use from Jonah’s FB page

What Most Men Don’t Know or Forget to Remember: A Biased Study of Adding Details to the Story

by Delsora Lowe

Did this title get your attention?

Here's the real title: Crazy Eights - Scenarios for Your Stories

I had to laugh as the subject for this “Crazy Eights” blog came to me when I was trying to wedge my left foot into my right boot while daydreaming about ideas for a story conflict. Multi-tasking and wedging feet into an uncomfortable position, reminded me of the day I picked up my five-year-old at nursery school. The teacher asked me if my husband had dressed my son that morning?

“Yes, Why?”
The teacher laughed. “Your son came to school with his shoes on the wrong feet.”

What Shoes?

Why do I point this scenario out?


Now I’m not suggesting that all men have trouble multi-tasking, but many men in my generation have never really had to.  It was the era of superwomen, who could have a home and family and a profession all at the same time. And…manage everything perfectly, easily juggling multiple balls with a few boxes and triangles thrown in. Nowadays, most men juggle as much as women. No one has the luxury of only concentrating on one task at a time.

And obviously, I have trouble multi-tasking at times.


Instead, I am pointing out one example of how you can take a minor incident and add depth to your plot, setting, and characterizations. Here are eight crazy and fun examples of real-life scenes I have observed that will spark an idea or add that extra depth of color to a story.

Eight examples – little snippets of life that can be the inspiration for a scene or an entire book – some crazy and some not so crazy.

1- Kid walking funny with shoes on wrong feet and wondering who dressed the child. The child or the parent? What may have distracted the parent? Why was the small child dressing himself? Did s/he throw a temper tantrum and insist on dressing themselves? Was the child trying to be a grown-up and show the parents s/he could do this?


2- Little girl skating with her dad on the two inches of ice formed on a frigid day on the flooded town green, dressed in a purple puffy coat with pink and white flowered leggings, pink boots and hat, pushing a child-sized wooden chair painted in the exact bright pink as her outfit. Who bought the clothes—gramma, mom, dad? Whose idea was it to paint the chair to match the jacket—grandpa’s, dad’s? And how does this scene of teaching a child to skate with a fun “skating aid” fit into a story?


3- A flamboyant outfit or hat on a person strolling down the street or through the grocery store. One of those outfits you can’t help staring at and wondering what possessed someone to wear the outfit. Did they just come from play practice? Do they have a closet full of similar clothes? Are they homeless and wearing whatever they could find in the church giveaway box?


4- A tug-of-war argument over a melon, or two people reaching for the same ear of corn, in the grocery store? Does it end with the hero and heroine each paying half and sharing the melon? Or a fist-fight?  Or a person grabbing the melon and running from the store, chased by the police? Or in an amicable way with one relinquishing the melon to another? Or with a third shopper grabbing the melon and tsking the two as s/he strolls off with their melon?

Mixing Together Ideas for Plots and Characters

5- A young woman teaches ski school on the bunny slope. Her young charges are picked up by nannies. What kind of life do these children have? Who are their parents? What kind of house do they live in?  Is the nanny live-in or providing daily-care only? Who is the young woman and what does she do when she isn’t teaching ski school? Does she have three jobs to support herself? Does she go from location to location working seasonal work? As an aside, I wrote an entire book, The Prince’s Son, starting with these questions.

6- Walking down a hill on a brick sidewalk, past sweet, little cottages, all with fences. One has a gate open and the garden inside is spectacular. Who lives here and works in this beautiful garden? What do the other gates hide? What would it be like to live on such a quiet, neighborly street? I wrote a book, still in draft form, where the reconciliation scene takes place on such a street; one that I wandered down on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine. I need to dig this manuscript out and finish the book.


7- Pacing in an airport waiting for a delayed plane to head to the funeral of your best friend, and striking up a conversation with a man who has been caring for his sick father and anxious to get home to his wife and kids. You can imagine the myriad of stories on who is waiting for a plane and why. Are they happy or sad? Business or pleasure? Afraid of flying or seasoned traveler? Leaving or heading toward home?


8- Looking out the hotel window, as the sun rises, onto a deserted parking lot. A bus is parked way back in the corner. A black car approaches and parks in the middle. A man in black approaches the bus with a big handled black box. The driver emerges and both disappear behind the bus for a long time. Later one emerges and drives away. Who are they? What are they doing? What happened to the bus driver? Was he murdered and stuffed in the box which is now in the luggage compartment under the bus? It turns out the bus was waiting to pick up an airline crew that overnights at the hotel and the man, I assume, was bringing supplies to the driver. But you can imagine the murder and spy mayhem that went through my head for at least a half an hour as I watched and wondered. Crazy, right?

Have fun with this. Open your eyes to the world around you and turn a mundane, observed scene into a short story or an entire novel. Even if you are not a writer, have fun making up scenarios about what goes on around you. Before I started writing, my friends and I would play this game in the airport or as we sat in a coffee shop.

Here’s to a happy and crazy eighth birthday for the Romancing the Genres Blog. And here’s to many more birthday celebrations!

May Flowers

What true-to-life scenes have caused you to make up stories?

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

A first meet, royalty and the nanny romance between a self-exiled prince with a royal chip on his shoulders and the local rancher's daughter who rails against any man who tries to tell her what to do. When she tries to tell the prince how to raise his son, tempers flare and sparks fly.

Amazon E-book link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZD3FNC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=32PO3EI3KDLQI&keywords=delsora+lowe&qid=1553611414&s=digital-text&sprefix=dels%2Cdigital-text%2C196&sr=1-2-catcorr 

Amazon Print Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091276862?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Books2read link, includes Barnes and Noble and iBooks: books2read.com/u/b6xzr6

AUTHOR LINKS:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com

Author FaceBook page: fb.me/delsoraloweauthor

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe 

PHOTO CREDITS:

Hearts - 8 - playing card  

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+clip+art+-+crazy+eights&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcvJzsx_jhAhXjnuAKHTgCC7YQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=623#imgrc=mlSWv5bFjHwXUM:

Crazy Eights  

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+clip+art+-+crazy+eights&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcvJzsx_jhAhXjnuAKHTgCC7YQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=623#imgrc=L_GZvOYhBY9U4M:

Crazy Lunatic Scientist  

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+clip+art+-+crazy+eights&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcvJzsx_jhAhXjnuAKHTgCC7YQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=623#imgrc=YI_jq446u1-3QM:

Man in 8 T-shirt  

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+clip+art+-+crazy+eights&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcvJzsx_jhAhXjnuAKHTgCC7YQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=623#imgrc=Rl2geQ8deqaSnM:

Flowers  

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+clip+art+-+crazy+eights&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcvJzsx_jhAhXjnuAKHTgCC7YQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=623#imgdii=BKZZUOemB3S8JM:&imgrc=WiYqHFH094DXTM:

Time Passages

by M. L. Buchman

This blog has monthly themes and, curiously, this month has two. "A funny thing happened..." and it's the 8th anniversary of Romancing the Genres. I was invited to join some 7-1/2 years ago, but I'll pretend that's it's my 8th anniversary here as well.

And it is curious, but a funny thing did happen over the last eight years...I became a writer.

It's actually a very curious progression that allows me to say that and for it to have meaning.

Just over twenty-five years ago I was a burned-out corporate project manager who had lost his career, his job, the house he'd spent 7 years remodeling, everything (courtesy of an unscrupulous business partner). Twenty-five years ago I was bicycling around the world and, for reasons unknown to me, I'd begun writing my first novel (which was also my first fiction...ever). That novel would eventually turn into my first novel sale some four years later to a tiny house that folded soon after.

Eight years ago, in 2011, I was once again a corporate project manager, I was again burning out, but I was also writing. I'd written five or six novels over the fifteen-plus years, garnered my requisite large folder of rejections (somewhere north of 440 of them), and miracle of miracles, sold my first series. My "little hobby" was still a year from launching its first novel on anything more significant than this curious device called a Kindle (the so-called Kindle Christmas marking mainstream acceptance wasn't until December 2011).

In early 2013 (once again spit out by corporate), my wife and I made the leap. We bet on my writing. I wrote my ass off and it worked; I've now been a full-time writer for over six years.

But it's never that simple, is it?

When did I become a writer?

Was it July 22nd, 1993 when I wrote the first words of what eventually became my first fantasy novel and first sale, Cookbook from Hell: Reheated?

Click for more info

Was it the date that I set my alarm clock two hours earlier on October 10, 1995 (I was not an early riser), so that I could write before work? It wasn't with my first publication, nor my tenth, nor as I became a full-time writer.

Curiously (or should I say "funnily along the way..."), it seems to just be happening now. I've written over sixty novels and seventy-five short stories. You'd think that would have tipped me over. But it was my third non-fiction book that has finally flipped the switch inside my brain.

Self-help references for writers often strike me as near comical. Some are great, but so many of them are "now I've written two books, so I have tons of great advice to share." I wondered how much experience I'd need before I felt that I had something truly worth sharing to help other writers.

I found it. Brand new this month, it contains everything I've learned to date about character voice.

Click for more info

And curiously enough, a funny thing has happened over the last eight years--perhaps most of all in the writing of this little book. I'm not longer an ex-corporate project manager who writes.

Without my really becoming aware of it: I am now a writer.

Has your brain flipped that switch yet? If so, what did it take for that to happen to you?

M.L. "Matt" Buchman has over 60 novels, 75 short stories, and a fast-growing pile of audiobooks out in the world. M.L. writes romance, thrillers, and SF&F…so far. Three-times Booklist "Top-10 Romance Novel of the Year." NPR and B&N "Best 5 Romance of the Year." RITA finalist. As a 30-year project manager with a geophysics degree who has: designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, and bicycled solo around the world, he is awed by what's possible. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.

What makes us bond with a character?

What makes us bond with a character?

Rosie Meyers is my favorite heroine in a novel even though we have zip in common. She’s Jewish, wealthy, a Long Islander, an English teacher. I’m none of the above. The heroine of AFTER ALL THESE YEARS is one of author Susan Isaacs’ delightful creations. Rosie is a plucky, curious forty-something, who tells her first-person tale with razor-sharp wit and uses keen observation to paint devastatingly funny pictures of the characters she bumps into throughout the novel.

Consider Rosie’s description of her (cheating and soon-to-be-found murdered) husband: “His jaw wasn’t so much chiseled from granite anymore as sculpted from mashed potatoes. His hairline and his gums were receding at about the same rate. And when his shirt was off, he’d eye his chest hair in disbelief, as if some practical joker had plunked a gray toupee between his pectorals.”

Why do I find Rosie as enjoyable today as when Isaacs’ book was first published in 1993? The answer’s easy: humor. The heroine’s willing to poke fun at her own foibles (along with everyone else’s) and her humor is organic. It blossoms from her (and I suspect Isaacs’) wry view of the world. I love that Isaac treats the reader to the full panoply of Rosie’s chaotic internal thought processes when she’s confronted with the unexpected—like a corpse on her kitchen floor—or pondering a course of action.

She isn’t a Jack Reacher-style character, who spots a butcher knife protruding from a chest and instantly analyzes the situation and plans a strategic response. (Don’t get me wrong, I like Jack Reacher, but he fits in a totally different character category.) Rosie is human. And that’s why I empathize and identify with her.

That’s also why I tried to give my heroine in DEAR KILLER, Marley Clark, her fair share of flaws and doubts to balance the talents (like speaking Polish and mastering Tae Bo) that many of us lack. I want people to identify with Marley, to like her even when she screws up. Marley also laughs at herself and, while she’s amused by some of her friends’ eccentricities, she accepts them.

I actually find it harder to create a credible villain than a hero or heroine. It’s tempting to make your villains totally evil—pick characteristics you despise, roll them in a tidy ball, and voila a villain’s born. The result is about as believable as the guy with a greasy moustache and a whip in silent films. So I try to find reasons my bad guys (and gals) act as they do. And I attempt to give most of them redeeming traits—perhaps a sense of honor or love for a child. (Even Hannibal Lecter had a fondness for Clarice Starling in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.)

Of the suggestions I’ve heard about writing villains, one of the best is this: remember your villain is the hero of his own story. He thinks he’s right, that he should prevail.

Who is your favorite heroine/hero and why?
What villain has stayed with you long after you read a book?

My Favorite Character or Yours?

Good Morning. Pull out a blanket, pack a picnic, grab your current novel and enjoy the sun. As a Steampunk writer I have become very familiar with certain characters, even the average modern person know, for instance Queen Victoria, Tesla, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and of course Sherlock Holmes.

I'm sure you're wondering which character is my favorite. My favorite to read has always been, and probably always will be, Count Dracula. In all the different aspects he's been in, but my favorite is Bram Stoker's version because of the love story between Dracula and Mina. As a writer, I have written hundreds of characters, but it is the hero of my current novel that is my absolute favorite so far.

Dante has spent his life battling the power corrupted creatures of the world with his trusted Amber Phoenix Daggers. He is handsome, ancient, and not afraid to sacrifice himself for the good of the human population. I'm sure that by now you're wondering why I put "ancient" in his description, right? Well, Dante is a being, an Ettari, from an ancient race of creatures, similar to vampires but with important differences. Yes, he still drinks blood when he needs to, but no he's not allergic to sunlight. Anymore. Oh, did I mention he's a brilliant inventor? Dante has created a horseless carriage among many other really neat inventions.

Dante came to me out of a dream, of a brilliant minded man who was creative but knew how to use a weapon when needed. He stuck around poking at me every time I saw something that resonated with him, until I could do no other than write his story. I hope in the near future you'll be able to join me in his world and fall in love with him as much as I have.

Who is your favorite character and why?

Real People Make the Best Characters

 I recently finished teaching a "Man Talk" class where I helped students find ways to make their male characters more realistic.  Plot and setting are important, but characters make a story. If I care about the people I'll forgive a few lapses in their surroundings. If I don't care, not even the most fast-paced plot stifles my yawns or stops me from tossing a book aside. Many readers are just as rude as I am; they have too many things pulling at their valuable time to waste it reading about people that aren't realistic.

A few of those pesky YA readers

Especially young adult readers. If I bore them with noble stereotypes I'll be dropped in a hot minute. I have to hook readers fast and keep re-hooking them as the story progresses. If not they're off to the next movie or video game or sporting event…they may even chose to do homework. 

But when they find a character that really pulls them into a book, someone they can love, or love to hate, they may never let you, or the book, go.

Reality should bite

I'm not talking about werewolves, dragons or vampires.  My tag line -- Real Boys Growing Into Real Men--should really mention Real People.  My job as a writer is to dig deep and sculpt characters with real hopes and aspirations, fears and flaws. Then I arm them with real goals before sending them out to meet the challenges of their plot.

David Albacore, the protagonist of PULL, is a natural rescuer - a Warrior archetype. But he also has a temper. He loves his sisters, but darn they make him angry sometimes. That makes him human.

My characters are their own unique selves

David is not me. I went the other way around and worked to become him. I joked in another post that I take my characters shopping with me to get to know them better. The truth is I do a lot more.  I believe in the adage, Write What You Know. Since I knew nothing about seventeen-year-old boys, I became an anthropologist so I could learn.  Writing PULL meant waking up every day for months and reminding myself "You're a boy, think and act like one." I trained myself to look at the world through his eyes. Once that happened, the writing flowed.

I trained myself to think and feel like a teenaged prostitute to write my 2010 Golden Heart manuscript, DAMAGED GOODS, where my heroine's past catches up to her.  Right now I'm struggling to become a teenaged alcoholic for PULL's sequel.  Once I know him well enough I'll put him on a path of discovery that will lead him to the brink of despair--and let him be remade.  

Now you tell me

Please take a minute to share about your favorite characters. They may be ones you've written, or ones you've read.  Hit the comment button and let me know how you feel.



Like PULL on Facebook

I'm Julie Chen

Okay so I’m not Chinese, I've never been a news reporter (a freelance human interest reporter for a local newspaper but not in front of a camera), hosted a reality show, or a daytime talk show, but watching the CBS show The Talk, I can relate to many of the things Julie Chen says about herself.

She has the same standards when it comes to touching, men, and feeling insecure about telling someone there is spinach stuck in their teeth. I can relate to her even though she's married to a TV mogul.

That's what a good writer does then they develop characters for their stories. They mold characters that people can relate to. It doesn't matter if they're a pioneer woman, Duchess, Roman, a vampire, a mermaid, cowgirl, or a CEO of a fortune 500 company. Once the reader relates, they're pulled deeper into the story and feel what the character feels.

Giving a character traits and vulnerabilities every person can relate to makes the character real, someone the reader will root for through the whole book and if written well-beyond the book.

Think about your favorite books. The ones on your keeper shelf. Why are they there? Because you grew to love the characters as you read the story and you couldn't let them go. You keep them around to revisit now and then. Like having lunch with an old friend or going to a family gathering.

What are some of your keeper books? Why? What about the character(s) make you want to return to visit them?

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com