Character Backstory Relationships

 by Sarah Raplee

I like to do what I call “pre-writing” before beginning a new story. Part of this involves figuring out my main characters’ backstories including their relationships with family members. Those relationships often affect a character’s behavior.

For example, a young woman named Alice who is an identical twin grew up with her sister in the foster care system. She will most likely be closer to her twin than to anyone else. They may have relied on each other more than on the adults in their lives. They may have lived in warm, loving families as well as less-than-ideal families. They may be slow to trust in relationships, but they may also recognize qualities that they want in a life partner, as well as qualities they don’t. There’s also a good chance they are hyper-vigilant around new people.

Now let’s think about Alice Two, the same young woman but she and her twin grew up with loving and supportive parents in a stable home. They may not be so tied-at-the-hip to each other. They may be more independent, but also more naïve than the first set of twins.

Now let’s imagine Alice One goes out to dinner with a guy who begins to set off her creep-o-meter. How would she respond?

• Alice One would have done some in-depth checking on the guy before going out with him. Anything suspicious (criminal record, social media posts, etc.) would have made the date a non-starter.
• My second guess is she would go to the restroom, text her twin—who knows where she is and who she’s with—and ask her to call her in 5 minutes with a fake emergency. After the phone call, Alice One would leave in her own car because there’s no way she’d let him know where she lives.

Alice Two, on the other hand, would be less likely to thoroughly vet the guy. A recommendation or introduction from someone she likes might seem safe enough, especially if he’s a charmer.

• When Alice Two begins to feel uncomfortable, she may try to ignore the feeling. If she fakes an illness, she might let the guy take her home if he insists (big mistake.)
• She might panic and go to the restroom to call her twin or a friend, hiding out until reinforcements arrive.

Every writer develops their own process. For me, pre-writing helps me to avoid re-writing. It helps me make decisions ahead of time that help the story to flow naturally.

If you are a writer, do you do any pre-writing?

If you are a reader, have you ever come across a place in a story where someone reacts in a way that makes no sense for the character?

Building, Layering, Molding by Paty Jager

Youngest granddaughter and I in Maui

We could take our post two ways this month- favorite thing about writing or most stressful. Since there is enough to worry and stress about right now, I decided to pick the fun post to write.

My favorite thing about writing. I have two, but the leader is building, layering, and molding the story, the setting/emotions, and the characters. My second favorite is that people like to read the stories my imagination conjures up.

Building: Coming up with an idea, even if it's just a tiny niggling, that would make an interesting story. For instance: my book Perfectly Good Nanny that won an EPPIE started with something I heard on the radio while driving home from a writer's meeting. A talk show personality was telling about packages arriving at a person's house and they didn't order them. Only to find out their child had used their credit card and order the items over the internet. I thought of a remote ranch where the twelve-year-old girl is tired of taking care of her toddler brother because her single father is always busy with the ranch. She enlists the help of an older neighbor to order a nanny. And that was the premise of the story. 

Or in the case of my Shandra Higheagle Mystery series, my brother, who is an artist told me about how a statue could be taken apart to move it and how that would make it a great murder weapon. That kept tapping at my brain until I came up with my Native American potter, Shandra Higheagle, and her first mystery.

The building of a story starts my imagination churning and begins my journey into the story that unfolds.

Layering: This is adding the pitfalls and triumphs, the setting, and the trajectory of the story. If it's a romance, I know there has to be a happy ending, but what can I throw in the way of the couple before that is attained? With the mystery, it's coming up with suspects, red herrings, and ways to thwart the detective to keep the story rolling for the correct amount of time, until- the murderer is revealed.

The layering needs to enhance the story. It could be bad weather that causes the problems, or good weather than makes things look sunny and bright when there is really something sinister or wrong brewing underneath. It could be characters motivations or lack of motivations that keeps the reader wondering if they will in fact fall in love or if they really do know how to solve a murder?

Layering is about adding the right amount of will she/won't she in a romance or he's the murderer/no she's the murderer to keep the reader on their toes and guessing what will happen next and hoepfully, I do the opposite of what they predict and take them on a ride they won't forget.

Molding: Of the three this would have to be my favorite. This is when I take a glimpse of a character and I begin seeing them in 3D in my mind. I see how they move, talk, act. And as I write the character I work hard and making the reader see the character in their own eyes but with just enough of the essence of the character I want to portray. I do this with my main characters and secondary characters. I want even the character who is just a walk on to have something about them that the reader notices them. I like books that have strong characters that I remember. I may not always remember the plot to a story but if the character is believable, I will remember them.

That is what I want readers to do with my books. Remember the characters and hopefully some of the interesting information I try to put in every book. Whether it's a romance or a mystery, I like to have some tidbit that not everyone may know. It my be history, it could be an occupation, an area, a way of life. I have always loved reading because no matter what book I read, I always learned something from it. Fiction can teach you something while you are being entertained. That is my motto when I write my books.

Riding my horse on a blustery day

And those are my favorite things about writing a book. What is your favorite type of book to read and why?

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 44 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub

That All-important Opening

by Courtney Pierce

I tend to agonize over the opening paragraph of my books, even more so about the very first line. I’ll spend hours ruminating over that first sentence, which is such a waste of time. I end up squeezing out whatever gets things going, and then I go back to rewrite it later, maybe after fifteen or twenty chapters. My writing car needs a thorough warm-up before its engine purrs.

The coaches I’ve had over the years have given me great advice about the importance of those first fifty pages. If we authors don’t adopt a grab-and-go momentum by plopping our characters into an action scene, then our books will fall to the floor with a snore and a thud. Since I don’t write thrillers or espionage stories, a sharpened hook can be a challenge. The first lesson drilled into me was to never start a book with the main character getting out of bed in the morning. That’s boring and amateur hour.

A book's genre dictates how readers expect the story to begin. My previous trilogy about the Dushane Sisters had an element of light humor, so I opened with my protagonist’s major personal dilemma and quirky character traitsꟷgood and bad. The stage was set for launching the five Ws: who, what, where, why, and when. How comes a bit later. 

Before I even type the first word of a new book, I invest quite a bit of time to thoroughly understand my characters strengths, weaknesses, and personality traits. I need to know them better than the reader, and intense outlines give me the ability to transform them into real people. After all, I have to live with them for many months.

While many of those intimate details never end up on the printed page, they do shape how my characters respond to situations. Little things mean a lot to help create conflict, like favorite foods, allergies (that can make it super interesting), irrational childhood fears, obsessions, and what they find humorous. Also, what happened their er past affects their moral decisions going forward.

In my new book, Big Sky Talk, I’m departing from my usual opening technique to jump into the incident that kicks off the storyꟷa crime scene. Since this book is going to be more dramatic with a love story attached, a quick grab is required to start the show. I introduce the love interest first, who happens to be the Sheriff of Flathead County in Montana. A killer is on the loose, and that fugitive is a grizzly bear. 

Here's my draft of the opening paragraph:

Sheriff Russell Knowles studied the nude body on the metal table. He’d never seen a chest wound so deep, and he'd arrested this guy before—a poacher—but now he’d been rendered nearly unrecognizable. Just one of the gaping wounds on the victim’s chest would have killed the man, but the animal had obviously kept attacking after the fatal swipe. Who was the victim here, anyway?

My protagonist is introduced in the second scene. Aubrey Cenderon is sixty-two, a professional photographer, and has just moved to Montana after having lost her father. She’s divorced, likes her wine, loves the outdoors, and she has just moved to the rural community of Many Lakes in Kalispell, Montana. 

Then BOOM! Something happens in the first twenty pages to yank Aubrey out of her comfy little world. And it plays right to the heart of her internal conflict. This is “the hook” and my character’s raison d’être. The hook is one of my favorite moments to write, because it’s power-packed with unexpected emotions: fear, joy, misunderstanding, insecurity, and anticipation. From this moment, life looks very different to my character.

But back to that first paragraph. I’m actually writing three options for the first scene: a crime scene, Aubrey moving into her new home, or Aubrey with some backstory of why she has moved to Montana. Personally, I want the crime scene, but I’ll pick which one sticks after I get some opinions. Unlike many authors, I have a family that won't dance around when offering suggestions, and their instincts are usually right.

The beginning scene is so important because it also determines how the story concludes three-hundred or so pages later. In author land, it’s called “bookending.” The story ends in the same way it begins, with the protagonist returning to her life, enlightened as a result of the experience she has endured. The character comes full circle. And as an author, I, too, come full circle.

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.

Audiobook now Available!

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and

windtreepress.com 

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

Available Now!
Book 3 of the
Dushane Sisters
Trilogy

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, available now. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. 

The Dushane sisters finally get to the truth about their mother.

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."

Life In Transit

Inspiration in the strangest places...

Today I'm blogging about travel. Not only the amazing, glamorous type of travel that everyone enjoys. Sometimes travel is a hard slog, tiring and difficult. Sometimes, it results from a major change in circumstances or it actually propels those changes to happen. This is the stuff I’m writing about.

My debut novel is about an Irish flight attendant named Sinead, although I don’t think that’s all it’s about. Girl on a Plane is more about travel, both literally from one place in the world to another, and metaphorically, moving from home to someplace else. Someplace new, that may not be where you intended to end up. Changing direction and changing course in life.

In the story, Sinead is constantly on the go, just arriving in one city to find herself leaving again. Her job as a flight attendant means she’s constantly alert, serving people and making sure passengers and comfortable and safe. In her own life, her lonely London flat and her neglected love life have her questioning her life choices. At the ripe old age of 26, she needs to move on but she isn’t sure how.

One day, Sineads meets a grumpy blonde and broad surfer-style Aussie CEO in first class. He asks her for coffee, a storm hits mid-flight, and a new adventure begins…they are thrown together due to a typhoon shutting down the airport. Normal business is suspended.

The settings and the actual travel and weather conditions became quite important when writing the story. I had actually visited all of the places in Girl on a Plane, including my home city of Melbourne, Australia, London, Paris, Singapore and Thailand. These travels have ended up providing inspiration for many stories and characters already.

My inconvenient travel adventures

Part of my inspiration for the story was my own travels over the years. Living in Australia, if you ever want to go to places such as the U.S. or Europe, you need to be intrepid. You need to be open to adventure. You need to be wearing your hardcore non-iron travelling pants. And you need an indestructible internal clock and mental equilibrium that’s not disturbed by rain, hail or inconvenient travel strikes.

It’s not always easy to be a smart, glamorous, international jet-setting woman of the world. You get on a plane looking like Victoria Beckham, and you get off looking like the cast of The Hangover. Have you ever been so severely jet-lagged that you could barely remember what country you were in, or whether it was day or night?

Have you ever had to ask a flight attendant if she could explain again whether you needed a separate boarding pass for the second leg of a multi-country flight, and then simply stared at her, so tired that her words sounded like she was speaking underwater and you couldn’t understand the answer?

Well, I have.

At the time, I wasn’t even sure the airline person was speaking English. My eyes were dry and red as dust in the central Australian desert. I’d just come off a flight from New York to the middle of the US (Arizona, I think) during a major airline strike. Everyone was sleeping all over the airport, random bodies sprawled across waiting area seats and departure lounge floors. There were no more planes that night, and no real food, only tacos and beer. The selection of cowboy hats in the airport store was impressive though.

Before that, I’d been on an international marketing study tour as part of my university degree...six weeks of alternating planes, trains and automobiles, presentations at all sorts of company headquarters and nights out eating, drinking and dancing with a bunch of fellow students.

I was a walking zombie, and the lack of consciousness was getting so bad I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept a full eight hours (or even six). Nearly forty hours in transit, including the overnight leg crossing the Pacific, jammed between two large men who I didn’t know in economy ‘cattle class’ micro seating. Urgh. One of whom tried some pretty below-par pick-up lines on me. Double urgh.

Then my ankles swelled up to the size of fully-loaded water balloons so I could barely hobble to a taxi when I finally got back home to Melbourne, Australia (via Sydney, which added a couple more hours, just for fun). It was so good to be home, sleep in a normal bed and get back onto Aussie time, sitting in the sunshine instead of freezing European weather, drinking wonderful Melbourne coffee.

New adventures (on the page)

Over the recent summer holidays in Australia, I travelled with my family to a beautiful camping spot on the famous Great Ocean Road. This road winds around the surf coast and cliff tops, providing some amazing views of sea and sky. It’s wide open terrain, the complete opposite to crowded city streetscapes.

Houses perch precariously on the edge of sheer cliffs or sit back from the road, nestled in bush or farmland. It’s a holiday location for many people, getting away from the hustle and bustle of life in the city. The air is fresh and unpolluted, there’s hardly any traffic, food is fresh and delicious and kids run about and splash in the waves until sunset in summer.

Some people obviously call the area home, even in the off-season. When I visited, it got me thinking. What would make you pack up your belongings and move from city to seaside? What sort of life changes would allow someone to start fresh in a holiday town?

I was jotting down setting and character ideas each day as I camped in a gorgeous riverside location (don’t worry, it wasn’t totally unglamorous -- I had my top-notch inflatable mattress and even local wine to drink at night). I watched tour buses full of international visitors pull-over at all the look outs, taking photos of the amazing views. And I spotted solo men and women riding motorbikes down the iconic road.

A character popped into my head -- a woman who is about to turn 40 and is getting a divorce from a high profile man. She’s used to luxury and city living, but retreats to a seaside town for a quieter life...only to meet a handsome, meddling next door neighbour. There’s also a menagerie of local wildlife to contend with. I think I’ll enjoy writing this story. I just have to finish a couple of others first!

Has travel inspired any of your writing? Or have you wanted to take-off from your armchair when reading a great book? Let me know!

About Cassandra O’Leary

**Winner of the global We Heart New Talent contest run by HarperCollins UK. Nominated for BEST NEW AUTHOR in AusRomToday 2016 Reader's Choice Awards for excellence in Australian romance fiction**

Cassandra O’Leary is a romance and women’s fiction author, communications specialist, avid reader, film and TV fangirl and admirer of pretty, shiny things. Her debut novel, Girl on a Plane, was published in July 2016. Cassandra was also a 2015 finalist in the Lone Star writing contest, Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America, and a 2014 finalist in the First Kiss contest, Romance Writers of Australia.

Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting ‘research’ trips, that would be splendiferous.

Read more or sign-up for Cassandra's newsletter at cassandraolearyauthor.com

‘SLIP INSIDE MY MIND’, SAID THE CHARACTER TO THEIR CREATOR by Michelle Somers

There are so many things to love about being a writer.

For me, one in particular stands out. Analyzing people. I love delving into the why’s and wherefore’s. Who are they? Where have they come from? Why do they do what they do? All in the name of research, of course. Legitimate people watching.

There are even times I turn that analysis onto myself. 

Let’s take a look. I’m an introvert. Shy, insecure. Never quite sure what to say when I meet someone for the first time. I’m that person at a party who clings to the shadows, or people I know, fumbling over conversation because whatever I say just sounds plain dumb. Of course, I always think of those witty, intelligent comments after the party’s over. Too late then.

Well, I’m a writer. I don’t have to be witty on demand.

When my characters speak, it may seem as if they have all the answers, but I’ve had time to agonize over the words. Time to work out what they should or shouldn’t say, how they should act and react, what fits well within their nature.

You may ask, why is she telling me this?

Why, indeed?

There is a reason, method behind what must seem to be my March Hare madness.

As writers, it’s easy to write characters we relate to. Characters we understand, those gems whose minds and motivations we see inside. Characters like ourselves. But what if we write characters who aren’t like us? What then?

Speak to ten different writers about their characters and you'll probably get ten different techniques for getting inside their head.

There are so many ways for us to find out more about the leading men and women in our stories, and just as important, give our readers insight into their varied characters.

I thought it might be fun today, to talk about just a couple of the techniques I use. 

1.     WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES

Literally. 

Yes, some writers do just this – dress up as their characters, even spend a day doing things that their characters do, whether it be working in their chosen field, engaging in activities and hobbies they love, even adopting certain likes, dislikes, cultural or ethical beliefs.

This could include taking part in particular religious ceremonies or rituals (attending church or synagogue, observing Ramadan or the Sabbath), changing daily routine or diet (getting up at the crack of dawn for an exercise class or eating only vegan or kosher foods), or mirroring their character’s appearance (changing hair color or style, visiting the local op shop to find clothes their character would wear).

I have to admit, I’ve done some but not all of these when creating Jayda Thomasz, the heroine of my debut novel, Lethal in Love.
And here's me doing just that with the women of Melbourne Romance Writers Guild at our annual retreat. Our challenge, to bring our characters to life.

2.     THE POCKET/HANDBAG TEST

If you emptied the contents of your pockets or handbag right now, what would you find? What goodies do you carry that gives insight into who you are?

Let’s do this for Jayda.

She’s a homicide detective, so more often than not, she doesn’t carry a handbag, so let’s empty her pockets and see what we can discover.

Of course, there’s the obvious – a .40 calibre Smith and Wesson M&P semi-automatic, a set of handcuffs and her detective’s badge. On top of that, she always carries tweezers, gloves and a couple of evidence bags. She is, after all, a workaholic. Just because she’s off the clock, doesn’t mean she’s done for the day.

Let’s list the rest.
🔷Mobile phone – with a home screen picture of her family taken the day she graduated from the police academy. What importance does this place on her family? On her career?
🔷Gum – for those long nights working when she forgets to eat.
🔷$5 – never know when you’ll need a coffee, which is pretty much anytime J
🔷Choc covered coffee beans – a caffeine alternative if she can’t get the real thing.
🔷Notebook and pen – she loves lists. Every decision requires a list of pros and cons before she has a hope of making up her mind.
🔷Lip balm and mirror – she may not be a girly girl, but she’s still a woman.
🔷Garter belt – still in her pocket after a short stint undercover at a swinger’s party. 
🔷Binoculars, torch, army knife and paperclips – she was a girl scout, and she’s a stickler for their motto – ‘be prepared’.
🔷Scrunchie – Jayda has shortish hair, so she has no need for this. Yet, she always has one in her pocket. Why? Because her sister consistently forgets to bring one to their weekly interval training workout, so she always has spares just in case. 

On the flipside, let’s look at what she doesn’t carry in her pockets.

No condom. Jayda doesn’t sleep around. And even more, in the beginning of my story she's not interested in a physical relationship with anyone but her soulmate – a man she is yet to find. 

Do you feel as if you're getting to know Jayda? Who she is and what she's about?

Remember, it’s not always about what’s there. Sometimes what’s missing gives us just as much insight into our character. It’s surprising how much easier it is to slip inside our character’s head, once we’ve seen inside their pockets!

3.     PLAY THE ‘WHAT IF?’ GAME

This is a great way for a writer to really understand their characters, what motivates them, and how these motivations feed into everyday actions and reactions.

As part of this game, a writer will put their character into different, sometimes difficult, situations, then analyze their response.

For example, what if we send our heroine out to dinner with friends? What if the toddler at the next table throws a handful of ice cream her way?

What if that sticky dripping mess lands on her favorite silk top or wool sweater? What if we dress our hero in a suit rather than his normal surfie board shorts and t-shirt? What if we drop him into a business meeting? What if he’s trying to convince prospective investors to invest in his business and that same toddler drops chocolate milkshake all over his lap?

What if our character gets caught in the rain? Would they run for cover, pull an umbrella out of their bag, or stop a second and enjoy the moment? Would they notice the sights, sounds and smells around them, or would they be too worried about their favorite suit or newly styled hair?

What if they’re late for an appointment and they witness an accident? Will they dial 911 or 000 and just leave, or will they stop and offer assistance? If they see an animal lying injured on the sidewalk, will they stop and help or will they walk on by?

Think about each of these situations and what a character’s reaction will reveal about them. Think about how much closer we feel to a character we can understand and relate to.

What if? is a lot of fun once you get into the swing of it, and you’ll be surprised how much clearer and complex a character will become once you have deeper understanding on how they approach different situations.

And that’s it. Three ways a writer can slip inside their character’s mind and build a deeper, more relatable personality.

What do you think?

Can you imagine yourself or your favorite author doing any or all of these exercises? How far do you think they should go to really get into their character’s head? How far would you go?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

If you’re a writer, what do you do to get into your characters? And if you’re a reader, what information should the author include to help you get deep into the character’s mind?

I’d love to hear your ‘take’ on creating characters.

As always, have a fabulous month, and I look forward to seeing you all again in December. Wow, where has the year gone!

Michelle Somers is a bookworm from way back. An ex-Kiwi who now calls Australia home, she's a professional killer and matchmaker, a storyteller and a romantic. Words are her power and her passion. Her heroes and heroines always get their happy ever after, but she'll put them through one hell of a journey to get there.

Michelle lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her real life hero and three little heroes in the making. And Emmie, a furry black feline who thinks she’s a dog. Her debut novel, Lethal in Love won the Romance Writers of Australia's 2016 Romantic Book of the Year (RuBY) and the 2013 Valerie Parv Award. The second in her Melbourne Murder series, Murder Most Unusual was released in February 2017.

You can find out all about Michelle, her adventures and her books at www.michelle-somers.com

Please pop by and say 'hi' 😊

Writers who read . . . It's a good thing!

 By Courtney Pierce

As a fiction writer, I find it difficult to crack open a book without an agenda. Stepping into a story, especially a series, becomes a study of the author’s voyage through creation, craft, and character development.

Photo: Scottoline.com

I recently plowed through a legal mystery series by Lisa Scottoline. The premise’s combination of an all-women law firm, sparkly humor, and a tangle of moral dilemmas rang all my chimes—in spades.

Each of the three main characters comes to the firm of Rosato & Associates with their own set of unique baggage. Every book of the series solves a case in a “chickalicious” way. I cared about these three women, with all their character flaws and passion for the law. They’re chased, get shot at, and break their heels in their willingness to put their lives on the line for truth. A hook of the highest order.

Photo: Scottoline.com

While I burned to speed through the series, I took my time to study their construction—first lines and last lines of chapters, pacing, and how the plots unfold—to understand how Lisa Scottoline tethered me to a journey. The first book in the series, Everywhere That Mary Went, was a bit rough in the craft department. Those colorful dialogue tags and adverbs were a “no-no” distraction, along with shifting points of view. Can’t get away with that these days. But I kept going. Lisa Scottoline made me laugh out loud with her clever turns of phrase. I’m glad she didn’t go back at fix the crafty bumps, because they showed that she is human, like the rest of us writers.

The magic of character development unfolded. Lisa Scottoline learned more about her characters, as we readers did with her. By Rough Justice I was all in. This is why readers love a series. One book can’t show us what multiple books can with the same cast. It takes time, more than a mere three-hundred pages, to get deep inside a character’s head. Authors and their fans want to linger in there and hangout. Today’s required pacing of a standalone book doesn’t allow for such luxury.

Photo: Scottoline.com

By the tenth book, Lady Killer, I’d learned plenty about the law, but I also enjoyed the author’s growth in her craft. That was fun. Lisa Scottoline took her real-life experience as a former trial attorney to express herself through prose, to say what she couldn’t in a courtroom. The law isn’t so black and white. As far as I’m concerned, Ms. Scottoline had found her ultimate calling.

Authors go through pangs of self-doubt. I certainly do. Am I doing it “write”? Am I a legend only in my own mind? Writing a book is harder than most readers think. As I moved through the series, I could easily identify where Ms. Scottoline fretted over artistic choices, and also where she sat back like a Cheshire cat and flung the littered poo. Those moments were golden for me.

Lisa Scottoline became my soul sister over the two months that I read her books—and she doesn’t even know me. I procrastinated to read the last one so the series wouldn't end. That’s what being a reader who writes is all about. Or is it the other way around? Depends on the day.

Here is Lisa Scottoline’s website if you want to learn more about her work:  scottoline.com

The Rosato & Associates series: Everywhere That Mary Went, Legal Tender, Rough Justice, Mistaken Identity, Moment of Truth, The Vendetta Defense, Courting Trouble, Dead Ringer, Killer Smile, Lady Killer, and Think Twice.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Oregon with her husband of thirty-seven years and bossy cat. She writes for baby boomers. Her novels are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. Courtney has 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 is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, She Writes, and Sisters in Crime. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books at:

courtneypierce.com and windtreepress.com.

New Release!

The Dushane Sisters are back with Courtney's new release of Indigo Lake. More laughs, more tears...and more trouble. Protecting Mom's reputation might get the sisters killed―or give one of them the story she's been dying to live.

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."

Colorful characters come alive in Courtney's latest trilogy about the Dushane sisters. Beginning with The Executrix, three middle-age sisters find a manuscript for a murder mystery in their mother's safe after her death. Mom’s book gives them a whole new view of their mother and their future. Is it fiction . . . or truth? 

Get out the popcorn as the Dushane Sisters Trilogy comes to scrumptious conclusion with Indigo Legacy. Due out in early 2017. Stay tuned!

Hope Comes in Many Forms

By Courtney Pierce 

As a novelist, one question readers frequently ask me is, “What inspires a new character for you?” The answer is easy: ordinary, run-of-the-mill people become my characters. I hope to find the best ones at the gym when I’m on the elliptical machine . . . working hard to go nowhere.

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But hope is everywhere here.

As I scan the mid-morning crowd, those deep into their huff-and-puff private worlds, I pick out one person and let a new character unfold. The combination of body movement and expression tells a story about a person’s mood, determination, and inner desire. I’m particularly fond of the elderly; the road map of their lives is on full display.

On one particular morning, a year or so ago, my gaze pulled from a petite female jogger with a bouncing ponytail to an elderly man. He'd plunked down on the seat of an arm-strengthening machine. The way he grabbed the two handles made him appear to be bracing for the big dip on a roller coaster. All he had to do was push. What's the big deal? I thought as I studied him. But the man's fictional story peeled away in layers like an onion.

His physical characteristics started the process: well into his eighties, somewhat paunchy around the middle, thin gray hair in a wispy comb-over. The skin on his neck and jowls appeared to be filled with sand, as if preventing his head from flying away. His lower eyelids drooped to reveal the shiny pink inside, relenting to his doctor’s orders that he replace cholesterol pills and blood thinners with a dose of exercise. Purple bruises from a run-in with invisible obstacles dotted his arms as confirmation. 

But something else . . . soft and yielding. I dug for more.

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The man stared at the handles, as if willing them to move. At one time in his life, he probably could have pushed them to a blur. Maybe he used to be a whisky runner during prohibition, possibly a mobster who slapped the backs of his gumbas over eggplant Parmesan. He had saved lives, taken lives, and laid awake at night, haunted by the lives of those who hadn't been so lucky to dodge the bullets.

The machine's mechanism appeared to have been bolted in place, immovable, a trick. And then the old man did something that paused my loopy trek on the elliptical machine. He entwined his hands in his lap and stared at his swollen, arthritic knuckles. Was he . . . hoping? Praying? Remembering? Crimes didn't keep this man awake at night; the loss of that injured kitten, stuck in the wheel well of his Lincoln, is what kept him tossing and turning for fifty years. One little fella he couldn't save. The man’s thoughts became a vibrant aura.

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Sprites of story.

I had attached a name to him: R. D. Griffin, a widower with the nickname Ardy. The sag of his lower lip . . . loss. He longed for his deceased wife to be waiting at home, dishing out a steaming plate of those special scrambled eggs she used to make. The standard poodle he'd rescued from a shelter waited at home by the front door. Ardy be home soon. Yellowed newspaper articles about his crimes sat in an open scrapbook on the kitchen table. Another life, a former life, before entering the Witness Protection Program. Too quiet to go home. No passes; one more try to make it right.

After another unsuccessful attempt to push the handles, Ardy returned his hands to his lap, convinced he was weak. But he was far from weak, just worn out. No one was left in his life to impress with heroic feats, no one who cared that he'd been something special back in the day. Living large and long had carried painful disadvantages without his wife. No phone calls from his buddies to transform painful memories into celebrated escapades. Now, Ardy was getting ready to pull the hardest job of his life, armed only with hope. He didn't fear the reaper; Ardy only wished to not die alone and that someone would love his dog as much as he did.

The old man pushed. This time the handles inched forward. My own arms tightened as I stretched my hope to him from fifteen feet away. Success! I blew out a breath. I hadn't realized I'd been holding it.

Ardy slid off the seat and lumbered away from the machine, disappearing and emerging as he passed behind the row of windows to the front door. That was it. All he could do. 

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His story became mine, awarding me with the ability to transform this seemingly ordinary man into a character. Real to me. He became the elderly character of R. D. Griffin in my latest novel, The Executrix.

I re-started the elliptical machine and zeroed in on Ponytail Girl. 

So, what’s her story?

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Oregon with her husband of thirty-six years and bossy cat. She enjoys writing for baby boomers. Her novels are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. At least one trickster animal steals the show. For the past three years, Courtney has studied craft and storytelling with best-selling author Jennifer Lauck at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. 

Colorful characters come alive in Courtney's latest novel, The Executrix. When three middle-aged sisters come together after the death of their mother, the manuscript they find in the safe will test the thickness of sibling blood. Mom story becomes larger in death than in life. But it is the elderly neighbor and his dog, Pogo, who just might inspire the story that will change the sisters' future. 

Visit Courtney's website at www.courtney-pierce.com. Her books can be purchased at Windtree Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books, and at several independent bookstores in the Portland area.