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

Brush Off the Dust for a First Meet

By Courtney Pierce

I don’t normally write spicy romance. So when I incorporated a sparky first meet in Indigo Lake, the second book of the Dushane Sisters Trilogy, I piled on unexpected complications. The result was good clean fun, especially for me.

I write for the Baby Boomer set, of which I’m a card-carrying member. My characters have rich histories, and as a result, they drag a boatload of emotional baggage into whatever they do and say. That’s no more apparent than with my protagonist Olivia Novak, the central star of the Dushane Sisters Trilogy. She’s a widow, having suffered the loss of her husband of 35 years to a hit-and-run car accident. On the surface, she's the pinnacle of success as a best-selling romance author, but inside she’s an emotional wreck. She spends every spare minute searching for the culprit who killed her husband, and then some. Then after the death of her mother, she finds a manuscript for a murder mystery among the papers in the safe. Of course, she and her two sisters get it published. And when it becomes a bestseller, royalties spell trouble.

Olivia and her two sisters get sued for their mother’s book by a money-grubbing distant relative. Enter Woody Rainey, the small-town lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of his mother. He’s about to find out that this lawsuit is no slam dunk.

Given that Olivia has infinite patience (Not!), she storms into Woody’s office in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire with her sisters and a therapy dog in tow.  Little does she know that her life is about to change.

Here’s the first moment of discomfort from Woody’s point of view:

Olivia crossed her legs, trying too hard to act relaxed. Woody knew body language, and this

woman was wound tight.

“Why on earth didn’t you contact us before sending that threatening email to my publisher?” Olivia said. “We aren’t difficult to find—obviously—since you appear to know all about us.”

She was good. The way she cocked her head to the side made her appear genuine, her lips genuine, hint of cool smile genuine. At this moment, Woody viewed himself as a fraud.

“Going forward was at the insistence of my client.” He spread his hands in surrender. “That course wouldn’t have been my personal choice.” 

The dog trotted to him and sniffed his suit jacket. Woody assumed the dog had been dispatched for cross-examination. A team effort.

"Speaking of which, I couldn’t help but notice you have the same last name as your client.” Olive picked up his name plate and turned it to face him. “How are you related?”

“She’s my mother.”

“Ah . . . ” Olivia nodded. “No conflict of interest there.”

Woody's no longer convinced he's the smartest one in the room. The cat-and-mouse volley continues until Olivia makes an offer that Woody’s unable to refuse.

Olivia fingered Woody’s business cards in a hand-forged pewter dish. She picked one from the stack and flicked the corner with her fingernail. “After we check in to our hotel, do you want to meet us for a drink, maybe dinner, to continue our discussion?”

The situation wasn’t at all what Woody had envisioned when these women walked through his front door. He stood and rubbed his chin.

The fun part of writing this first meet is that neither Olivia nor Woody have any clue they ‘re going to fall in love.

The dinner goes well . . . too well. When Woody returns home that night, he realizes that Olivia has embedded herself in his bachelor heart. But the pull of chemistry that develops between them overrides their ability to resist. Suddenly Cupid’s frying pan to the head becomes more painful than the lawsuit.

That fourth scotch had been a serious lapse in judgment. After leaving Wolfe’s Tavern at nine, Woody climbed the steps to his colonial, his striped necktie hanging in two exhausted strands from his collar. The key fought with his fingers as he tried to match the notches in the lock.

The sisters had worn him out, especially one of them: Olivia. Unable to stop himself, he’d kissed her on the cheek before he left. A second lapse in judgment. He knew better than to get emotionally involved, to waver his focus on the matter at hand. She’d returned the gesture with a tight embrace. No conflict of interest there, he recalled of Olivia’s warning when he’d met her. Her citrusy fragrance lingered on his shirt, opening all his senses.

Under fuzzy aim to the closet, his white shirt made the rim shot into the laundry basket. Compelled by a force he didn’t understand, he pulled the white shirt from the laundry basket and wadded it into a tight ball. A whoosh of sweet lemon . . . with a hint of spice . . . ginger.

A series of emotional twists and turns now come into play: Woody needs to take a side between his elderly mother and Olivia in the lawsuit; Olivia is in a fight to protect her dead mother’s reputation; Woody is afraid his secure routine is being turned upside down; Olivia is afraid of betraying her dead husband’s memory; and Olivia fears upsetting the relationship with her two sisters.

But love conquers all. And, yes indeed, that first sleepover plays on their collective fears. The initial coupling doesn't turn out to be the cathartic experience one hopes for, but it forces Woody and Olivia to look at themselves in the mirror. 

There’s so much material for an author to work with when writing about new relationships of older characters. An iceberg of life experiences can ground the love boat. But that’s why readers cheer them on. A deeper meaning lies beneath a consoling hug, a deep kiss, and the importance of just holding each other.

No matter how old we are, childlike emotions and desperate needs of the heart surface when it comes to falling in love. Suddenly, nothing makes sense. And just like when we fell in love for the very first time, we internally hyperventilate with a thumping heart.

And it hurts so good.

Photo: Micah Brooks

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2020!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.