What’s your family like? Do you ever feel like you live
in a cuckoo’s nest, or that you’ve escaped from one? If you’re honest, the
answer is yes. We all do. At least some days.
And what about your characters? Do they spring forth into
the universe fully formed, like Athena from the brow of Zeus? Of course not.
They have families that form them, shape them, and drive them crazy. It’s part
of a writer’s job to poke and prod our characters until we understand the
complex dynamics of their families, even if we never use that information
directly in their stories. Families make our characters who they are.
Before I begin a new story, I write up a sheet for each
character; the more important the character, the more detailed the sheet. For
the main characters, I always include information about parents and
siblings—possibly even grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Whoever is
important to that character. I need to feel
how my character felt growing up in his or her family. As I write the story, I
add whatever details I need to the character sheets and keep them front and
center on my desk.
Although I’ve written several historical romances in the
past, I am currently writing romantic suspense. Many successful romantic
suspense authors choose to focus on the hero, the heroine and the villain to
intensify the suspense. Not me. I throw in the whole crazy cuckoo’s nest.
In UNWRITTEN RULES, the hero’s mother takes out one of
the villains with a well-thrown fastball borrowed from her son’s childhood
bedroom, and his grandmother is engaged in an ongoing battle of wits with the
next-door neighbor, who keeps leaving pennies in her freezer. However, despite
their eccentricities, these women have been the most important people in the
hero’s life, and his deep love for them helps convince the heroine he’s capable
of the kind of steadfast, enduring love she’s looking for.
Cuckoo or not, family members can be a rich source of
wonderful secondary characters. I love writing them, whether they provide
behind-the-scenes conflict or front-and-center comedy. How about you?
Alison
