Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

Romance

My Writing Year of 2019

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This has been an interesting year writing-wise. I came into 2019 having just finished three completed novels, in fact, I finished the last one on December 22nd of 2018. I came into the year on a creative hot-streak! There was a lot of change for me personally last year too, a career change, followed by another one in short succession. I would’ve thought that change would’ve stifled the creative process but it didn’t. I couldn’t write fast enough. The creative juices were flowing, they were overflowing!

I came into this year without any expectations for writing, other than, I would continue to write. With six completed works under my belt I wanted to change direction, I wanted to find an agent. As I read everything I could get my hands on about finding an agent, one thing that became clear was that I needed to build a platform- hence the birth of this website. I set to crafting the perfect query letter and all I can say is I had a lot to learn, and probably still do if I am being honest. I put my head down, got to researching and started querying. Let me just say for those of you who have never done this- it is rough.

My writing comes from somewhere deep inside of me. That being said, when I reach out to an agent for representation, I am putting my work out there, and it is no longer mine and mine alone. I have to be open to changes that will come to the story and the characters along the way, it is no longer my own fiefdom, that is terrifying. There is also the emotional response of hoping it’s good enough and that my writing isn’t a joke. Bottom line, querying is an emotional landmine, but that being said, it is a necessary process. So far, querying has had its ups and downs but it has also helped me grow as a person. I have had to learn to handle rejection in a way that I never have before- it’s humbling but good. As 2019 rolls to a close, I am still currently seeking representation, but I am not deterred. I am emboldened to keep going. I believe through and through that, I have to work for the things I want in life.

Aside from querying, I did write this year. I wrote McKinley Park and published it a chapter at a time on this very blog. In fact, it was this blog that prompted the completion of McKinley Park. As I wrote on the McKinley Park page, I had started the story awhile back but had gotten stuck and had shelved it. I knew if I said I would finish it here on the blog, that the public pressure would force me to complete it. I was right! Writing a book and publishing it a chapter at a time, in a new genre, what could go wrong? McKinley Park stretched my skills as a writer. It also made me kill my darlings! Don’t worry, I won’t share any spoilers, for those who haven’t read it. This was an amazing exercise as a writer! Thank you to all of you who read along!

Writing-wise things were humming along, I was querying, writing McKinley Park and then everything ground to a halt for an unexpected and life-changing surgery. After surgery, it seemed that all of my bandwidth was used just keeping my professional and student life going, and at times I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water. What I did not expect, nor prepare for was the emotional cost of my operation. It was like a grenade going off in the middle of my life, I feel like I am still picking pieces of emotional shrapnel out of my skin. For most creative people who have been through a life-changing event, they can tell you, your creativity takes a hit too. I wasn’t prepared for that either.

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to write. I tried to force it, and that did not go well. I was terrified that I had somehow broken that special creative part of myself. Then one night I dreamt about all of the characters I had created and as woo-woo as this sounds, I felt like they were encouraging me to try again. I knew that creatively I couldn’t start something new, I wasn’t there yet, so I rewrote my first book- the project that made me fall in love with writing. I thought this would be an easier lift, as I didn’t really have to create much, the world was built, and the characters were there… Again, I was mistaken. Rewriting is HARD, but it was exactly what I needed to get back on my feet. Like a muscle that had atrophied, my rewrite started off slowly and then as time went on, my writing got stronger.

As November came around and NaNoWriMo kicked off, I tackled it with the same enveloping enthusiasm that I always had. I love Nano, but between school, work, and a renewed querying effort, I just didn’t have the bandwidth- something had to give. I refused to look at the truth of the situation, I could do a few things really well, or all of the things I was trying to accomplish poorly. Querying demands your very best, you can’t phone that in, neither can you do a half-assed job working on your Master’s degree. To top it all off, what started as a great idea for my Nano, fizzled and then eventually came to a grinding halt. The story just didn’t work. I had another idea on the back burner and I enthusiastically set to work on that, and the writing went well but I simply just did not have the bandwidth. Recognizing my own limitations, I stepped back from Nano for the first time ever. That was painful.

With the end of the year less than a month away, I have started another project! One evening while I was driving home from work I had an idea for another novel. This wasn’t a moment, where I thought to myself “oh that’s an interesting idea,” no this was a sledgehammer of an idea, more like “WRITE ME NOW OR I WILL CUT YOU!” The force in which the idea came was powerful. It was welcome! It was my inspiration, roaring to life! So I’ve started writing this book, with Joe and Noelle and I am telling their story. I don’t know exactly where it goes yet but I have a pretty good idea. Do you want to know what the best part is? I am having fun writing again! Even more important, the feeling that writing is a necessary part of my life is back! I could not be happier to get started with this. If you are asking yourself, about the bandwidth thing dear reader, all I can say is two words Christmas break. I am on Christmas break from grad school, I now have the bandwidth to dedicate all of me to this project and I could not be happier.

My hopes for the next year is to find an agent for The Lake Michigan Affair and to continue writing. I am excited about the possibilities a new year brings! I am also grateful for the good and difficult times this past year has brought. Life is a learning experience, and I have learned a lot this year!

Happily Ever… Never

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There are lots of ways to tell a story, just look at all of these romances!

 

For the past week, I’ve been thinking about his blog post, about romance writing, and happily ever afters. I had the post loosely sketched out in my head and then yesterday something happened. I was scrolling through Twitter on my lunch break and I saw a post about romance writing and happily ever afters and how a story wasn’t a romance if the story did not end that particular way. I wanted to comment but scrolled past, then I went back, I was compelled to comment, against my better judgement. Side note, I like to think I usually have better judgement. I commented with the utmost respect, in fact, I even said in my tweet, “I mean this with the utmost respect.” Then it happened, I had voiced my opinion on the subject, knowing it’s not popular. It took all of twenty seconds later for the backlash to start.

Now, I know that when you participate in social media you had better put on your big girl pants because not everyone is going to be nice. I was told that if my work did not have a happy ending then 1. it’s not romance, 2.I’ll never get an agent, and 3. my work will never sell. Ouch! Maybe it’s true, maybe it isn’t and I will say the majority of my works end happily. I had intended to write an opinion piece about romance and stories that end happily, but instead, and probably equally as unpopular, I want to talk about genre.

I know some stranger on the internet really shouldn’t have mattered to me so much but, the comments were not kind, and written from a fellow romance author. I was under the impression that we romance authors stuck together, and stuck up for each other. Another commenter on the thread felt compelled to direct message me the definition of romance according to the RWA (Romance Writers of America, the national organization for romance writing) and to let me know that I am not a romance author if all of my work does not end happily.

I tried to shrug it off and go about my day. After an impromptu dinner date with the hubs, he suggested a trip to the local bookstore. I am always game for a trip to the bookstore! As we walked through I made my way to the romance section, which has grown considerably over the past few years. I took a seat on the small stool used to reach books higher on shelves and studied the covers. There was your alpha-male, cowboy adventure, a cartoonish woman on the front, and then your erotica all on the same shelf. (Note: I am NOT knocking any of these subgenres!) As I looked at the shelf I began to wonder, “am I a romance author, does my work belong on this shelf?”

Before I could a full-blown existential crisis, my husband wandered over with his book choices under his arm. I turned to him and asked him flat out, “Am I a romance writer, or do I write fiction with romantic plots,” as another tweeter had felt compelled to tell me. He stood there for a minute, I could see he was perplexed by the question, and I wondered if the tweeters were right. I felt the pit of my stomach begin to burn as I waited for his answer. Like the amazing man that he is, he gave an amazing answer.  “Your work belongs on that shelf,” he said as he pointed towards the romance section, “or any other shelf you want it to in this whole damn store.” Then he asked me, “do you think Stephen King lets people tell him, that he doesn’t write fiction, or his books aren’t scary enough to be classified as horror? No, he writes what he writes because he loves it. You write whatever stories are inside you, and don’t let someone else tell you who or what you write.”

Guys, I was speechless. Now my hubs is a pretty smart guy and occasionally he says something resonates with me. I say occasionally because we’ve been together for almost twenty years at this point, it takes a lot to really shock each other. What he said last night will be imprinted on me forever! I woke up this morning with a smile on my face thinking to myself, that my stories and all writers have their own way of telling their stories. Gatekeepers do their genre a disservice in curtailing what should or should not be classified. Writing is an art, sure your work can be classified as different types but at the end of the day, art is unique.

At the end of the day, I write the type of romance I want to read. I like writing and reading dramatic, high-stakes romance that sometimes has a happy ending and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time, reading a romance novel if it doesn’t end happily. In the end, I ask my self two things, first, was there a great love story, and two, did it make me feel for the characters? If I can answer yes to both of those questions then to me, I’ve just read and or written a great romance novel.

Back to Half Moon Bay

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It’s official, I have my writer’s groove back! Hallelujah!!! I wrote a very honest post a few weeks back about having difficulties returning to writing after going through a traumatic surgery. I couldn’t seem to focus, but more importantly the creative muscle just wasn’t flexing. I wrote about how dishearting and terrifying this was. I had made the plan to return to my first completed novel to rewrite it. I chose the project because I didn’t have to build the world, or the characters, the groundwork was already done. All I had to do was enhance, organize, and tell their story. Simple right? HA!

I learned through this process that rewriting so so much harder than writing from scratch. When you write from scratch, you have the freedom to create, when you rewrite there are limitations, you have to write in the world already built. The story is a romance between a woman visiting her brother in Silicon Valley for the summer, and she falls for her brother’s boss, a tech giant. I loved revisiting this steamy love story, which takes place in Half Moon Bay, California. My thought process for choosing this to help me get my groove back was that I loved this story, it was the work that wooed me to love writing.

There were parts of this process that were so much fun, especially adding rich detail into the story. Describing the feeling of his hair as she ran her fingers through it, how he thought she smelled to him, these seemingly small details made such a massive difference when I wrote them out. All the while I had to be careful to keep in mind the framework I was supposed to be working in, keeping with the narrative of the story. I loved doing this part of this rewrite, it made the characters so much more….more everything!

For as fun as it was, it was difficult too. There were entire chapters that didn’t make it into the new version. Have you ever killed an entire chapter? It’s brutal but necessary. Then there were the chapters that had all of the components to move the narrative forward but they were in the wrong order, a full chapter rewrite, ouch. I found chapter rewrites to be the most challenging and the most rewarding. The work was gruelling, and as cliche, as it sounds, I did have to kill my darlings, the things I loved in the book, in order to streamline the story and make it tight.

Being a full-time working mom and a graduate school student, to say that time is precious is an understatement. Another difference in a rewrite vs. a “regular” write is that I really had to pay attention to details. For each chapter I worked on, I would reread the chapter before it, before working on the next one, this helped keep continuity and move the narrative forward in a succinct manner. This means I spent as much time reading the book as I did writing it! On days where I was lucky enough to be able to write for a few hours, I would read large parts of the book. I was very strict with myself, knowing the importance of doing this. Re-reading the most recently completed chapter before writing the next one, made this process feel painfully slow. As someone who has limited time, this was an exercise in patience. It was important though, moving deliberately through the book in a slower way gave time to let ideas and plotlines “marinate.”

With NaNoWriMo coming up, I knew I needed to have this book done before I participated. I know I only have the bandwidth to work on one project at a time right now. I was so committed to getting this book done, I got up at 5 am. to write before work. This is a huge thing for me! I am not a morning person! If I didn’t have to be a functional person, I would be happy to write into the early hours. Life is quiet in the middle of the night. Each night before bed, I’d set my coffee pot to brew at 4:45 am, and my laptop on my nightstand. When my alarm would go off, I’d grab a cup of coffee and then sneak off to our spare bedroom, curl up on the bed and start writing. It was just me in the dark, with only the glow of the screen, and my characters. I fell in love with writing like this! If you haven’t tried it, I highly suggest it! There are very few things in life that will have me hopping out of bed in the morning happily, and this was one of them. What was even more amazing is that I found that my creative muscle would be in overdrive all day. I would come home from work, do homework, kids, dinner, bath etc. and race to get back to my computer.

Last night I “finished” the rewrite. I use quotations because as any true writer will tell you, a book is never finished, you just get it to a point where it is good enough. As I wrote my last sentence, tears welled in my eyes. I started this project as a lifeline back to writing. I needed these characters and a world already built, like writing training-wheels. My plan worked, I found my writing groove in such a strong, powerful way. As I stared at my computer screen looking at 106,000 words, I wiped tears from my cheeks and shut my computer. This book will always be incredibly special to me because it was the first thing I ever wrote, and it came flying out of me. Now, this book taught me how to rewrite but more importantly, it wooed me again.

So the plan for Come Sail Away With Me, as it is titled? I need to let it sit for a couple of months. I need to step away from it, it needs to rest. In the meantime I will be doing NaNoWriMo, the idea for this year’s project came while I was rewriting CSAW. Sometime this winter I will pull it back out and reread, editing and tweak along the way. From there, it is off to a professional copy editor and then….. query time! I’ve decided I am going to try to seek representation for it. Let’s see if this story shares it’s magic again and snags an agent.

McKinley Park Chapter 21

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Rachel fell asleep, snuggled up in Ben’s arms. Her eyes burnt from crying and she had intended only to close them for a moment, but slipped into slumber. She slept deeply, feeling like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt safe in Ben’s arms. He held her happily as he listened to her, breathing softly. He didn’t want to let her go. The early afternoon sun beamed into the bedroom, warming the room with its slopped Cape Cod-style ceilings.

Ben nodded off himself and woke to the noise of his phone, buzzing in his pocket. He tried to fish his phone out of his pocket without waking Rachel. He managed to grab it and answer it just before it went to voicemail.

“Hello,” Ben answered softly, not to wake Rachel.

“We got em. We got that son of a bitch. Smug fucking asshole thought we wouldn’t get him. I called Callie Carlson and asked her to come down to be here to I.D. him, its a match. Serena is on her way to ID, and we have a warrant for DNA. His lawyer is on his way. Man, you should have seen the look on Rhett Lawson’s face when we barged into his office. Derek was sitting in Rhett’s office. I thought Rhett was going to shit himself. One of the guys has got to have bodycam footage of it.”

“That is great news. Thanks for keeping me in the loop.”

“Hey, how’s Rachel?”

“Sleeping right now.”

“I don’t want to pry but can you connect the dots for me?”

“I can’t really right now, and not without her permission, but eventually, I hope so.”

“It didn’t happen recently, did it?”

“No, a while ago.”

Rachel stirred from her slumber at the sound of Ben’s voice. She looked up at him, only half awake, and then buried her head back in the crook of his shoulder.

“Well, I will keep you in the loop. I know what you have going on there is really important, but you should try to make the press conference if this is for sure our guy. We should know in a few hours.”

“I’ll have to let you know.”

“Ben, this is the collar of our careers. We’ve been looking for this animal for months now.”

“I’ll try.”

Ben hung up his phone. As much as he wanted to be there, to finally celebrate in catching the man, he wanted to be with Rachel more. He knew six months ago, nothing would have kept him from hauling the criminal in, himself, but Rachel had changed all of that. He reached down and stroked her hair as she rolled over. Ben pulled the blanket up over and snuggled up next to her, careful not to press his body too hard into hers. Awkwardly, he put his arm on his side; he didn’t want to make Rachel uncomfortable by holding her, he wanted her to rest. She reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled it around her.

“No more.” She murmured.

They slept for most of the afternoon cuddled up together. Ben’s phone rang again, and he rolled over to answer it looking at the time on the screen, it was 2 pm.

“It’s for sure him! The DNA matches, we got him, Ben!”

Ben exhaled louder than he had intended.

“Thank God. What’s the D.A. thinking? Any word from him yet?”

“I think he’s going to go for the max, life without parole.”

“Good. That monster should never be on the street.”

“Agreed. Hey, the Chief is calling a press conference at 4. You really should be here. He wants you here when he makes the statement.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“He wasn’t asking, neither am I. I know Rachel is important, but this is too. We’ve worked hard for this.”

Rachel rolled over, having overheard the conversation. She reached out for the phone, grabbing it gently.

“Hi Marty, he’ll be there. He isn’t going to miss this. I won’t let him. So you really got him, Derek, I mean?”

“Yes, he will never be a free man again.”

Rachel handed Ben back the phone, unsure of what to respond. Ben finished his call and hung up the phone, setting it on the nightstand. Rachel snuggled back up to him.

“Do you remember the first morning you accidentally stayed? You said to me, waking up next to me was your most favorite thing on Earth, well I think this is mine. Just laying next to you in bed.”

Ben smelled and leaned down and kissed her.

Two hours later the Chief announced in front of all of the Chicago press that The South Side Strangler had been caught. Rachel declined to come, knowing it would be too much for her. Ben stood proudly next to Marty, as they were both commended for their work. Ben was grateful when to step out of the glare of the bright lights for the t.v. cameras. He wanted to get back to Rachel.

On his way back to his desk, he walked past the cell that held Derek. He locked eyes with the man he had been hunting, seeing Derek’s carnage and brutality.  Marty patted Ben on the shoulder as they kept walking past. Before Ben stepped into their office, he turned back around; he wanted to look at Derek.

“Hey man, don’t rip him limb to limb,” Marty said cautiously.

“I just want another look at him.”

“Yeah me too, with Calle’s pipe wrench in my hand.”

Ben walked back into the room where Derek sat in his own cell, still in his collared shirt. His tie and belt had been taken.  Derek did not look like a serial rapist and killer. He was clean-shaven, with deep brown eyes and sharp jawline. He was handsome, not the sort of man who was pure evil incarnate. Ben starred through the bars; he couldn’t help himself.

“What?” Derek asked.

Ben stayed quiet.

“What are you looking at, man?” Derek asked again.

Ben looked at Derek’s hand; his left hand had a scar on the ring finger in the shape of an oval. The back of Rachel’s legs flashed through his mind. Ben grabbed ahold of the building rage inside of himself.

“Whatever, man.” Derek turned away.

Ben walked back to his office and sat, although he hadn’t said anything to Derek, he had wanted to say so much, not just for Rachel but for all of the women Derek had hurt. Ben knew that there were no words to make that kind of hurt right, nor was it his place to try. Marty popped his head back into their office.

“Guess who’s here to try to post bail?”

“Don’t’ tell me, Rhett?”

“No, it’s his dad.”

“Andrew Lawson?”

“Yeah, he’s pissed. He’d better watch it, or he’ll end up in the cell right next to Derek.”

Ben stood up and walked out over to the counter where Andrew stood red in the face.

“Is this you? Did you do this?” Andrew asked Ben.

“No, Mr. Lawson. Derek did this to himself. I am not the district attorney. There is no way Derek will ever walk free again.”

“We’ll see about that. I take care of my own.”

“Like you took care of Rachel? You and your creep of a son. You two belong in there with him.”

“What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me. You are all fucking animals.”

Ben walked away and back towards Derek’s cell. It was empty. Panic stabbed through Ben as he jogged to the interrogation room. Relieved, he saw the district attorney, along with Derek’s attorney in the room. Marty walked up and looked into the room through the two-way mirror. Marty switched on the audio so they could hear the exchange.

“Full cooperation and we won’t seek the death penalty. Life in prison without parole, that’s our offer.” The district attorney said as he slid the paperwork across the table towards the attorney.

“How long is to offer good for?”

“Until 9 am. Tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll discuss it. Thank you, Ken.”

The D.A. stood up and walked out of the room. He saw Ben and Marty standing outside watching.

“Good work, guys.”

The D.A. walked away as Derek’s attorney came out of the room looking for him.

“Hey Ken, wait. I want to talk to you for a second.” Derek’s lawyer said as he caught up.

Ben walked into the room, not quite sure why. There was something to be said, but he wasn’t sure what, and he wasn’t sure if he could say it without doing bodily harm to Derek.

“Why?” Ben asked rhetorically, knowing that Derek probably didn’t know the answer himself.

“What?”

“Why?” Ben repeated.

“Because I could. Because they belonged to me.”

“Belonged to you? People don’t own people.”

“Oh but they do, Mr. Carter, I am guessing. Am I right, you are Ben Carter, the guy who’s banging Rhett’s ex. My hat’s off to you sir, that is one fine piece of ass, or at least it was until I got to her. Like my handy work? She’s mine, always will be. I branded her. Rhett’s the only reason she is not face down in the canal like the trash that she is.”

Ben could feel his insides shaking with rage.

“I may not be ever able to see her again, but she will see me every time she closes her eyes.  She will think of me every day. I own her. She can never be yours, not fully.”

“ That’s where you are wrong, she will stop thinking of you every day, over time. Sure, you will never fade away completely, but you will fade. You don’t control her life, not anymore.”

“You don’t get it; she belongs to me, they all did. They were mine to do as I wished. Rachel was my first. Do you know what it is like to have free will over another human being like that? Mmmmmm…. Turns me on just thinking about it.”

Ben turned to walk out.

“Thinking of Rachel’s face twisted in pain, so beautiful. Her pleading for me to stop, willing to do anything for me, to please me. I’ve done things to her you could only dream of.”

Ben turned around and lept across the table, taking Derek down to the floor. He hit him as many times as he could in the face before Marty got to Ben and pulled him off.

Derek sat up and spat blood on the floor as he began to laugh.

“See, felt good, didn’t it?”

“Come on man; this asshole is going to get to know what getting rapped every day is like, where he’s going. A pretty boy like that…” Marty said, trying to calm Ben.

Meanwhile, two officers that had followed Marty in,  had hauled Derek up to his feet to take him back to his cell. The chief walked in, seeing Ben’s hand dripping blood from his knuckles.

“Everyone out, Carter, you stay.”

The room cleared out and the door shut, leaving only the chief and Ben in the interrogation room.

“Feel better?” The chief asked.

“Not really. Sorry, I know better.”

“Marty says, that animal hurt your girl. Is that true?”

“Yes. I know I shouldn’t have…”

The chief raised his hand, and Ben stopped mid-sentence.

“Law and order only work if we all stick by a strict code of ethics and strive to uphold them. As much as we would love to take justice into our own hands, we don’t. I know I don’t have to tell you this. I also know that if that animal had hurt my Debra, I would have done the same thing or worse. Good job, not knocking any teeth out, I don’t want to have to explain it to the judge.

Ben, you know I have to ask, what happened that you put the pieces together? We have been searching for this guy for months, then one morning you call and give his name?”

“He branded her, Rachel. I didn’t see it until this morning. I mean, she had not shown me.”

The chief’s face looked distressed.

“I’m sorry, Ben. It must have taken a lot for her to show you.”

“It did.”

“Is she okay, or is she going to be okay?”

“In time, I hope so.”

“This didn’t happen recently, did it?”

“No, a few years back.”

“Well I understand if she doesn’t want to, but her testimony and physical evidence will only help the case if she’s willing.”

“I don’t think she’ll want to do that, but I’ll mention it to her.”

“In the meantime, why don’t you take a few days off, take her somewhere. His face is going to be everywhere, and that will be difficult for her.”

“Good idea.”

“Thanks for not knocking that asshole’s teeth out, saved me a shit ton of paperwork.”

How to Get to Know your Characters

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Getting to know your characters should seem like the easiest thing in the world to do for an author, after all, you’ve created them. I have seen a lot of questions asked lately in the Twitter Writing Community about how to get to know your characters. I believe that you can have the best plot in the world that draws readers in, but if the characters are well-rounded and fleshed out the whole work will flop. I want to share my tips on how I do my best to create vibrant characters.

I am not a planner. When I start writing a novel, I don’t have the plot all mapped out. I usually have a loose idea of the climax and I build the story out around it. Next, come the characters. Like the narrative, I usually have a loose idea of who they are. I imagine them, with just the basics and I begin to write. It is during the writing process for me that I begin to hear their voice come through in the writing.

For example, look at Ben and Rachel in McKinley Park. I knew Ben was a police detective and I wanted Rachel to be a single mom. I started with the most basic aspects of who they are. After a few chapters, I can begin to see their voice and this influences more of who they are. When I started McKinley Park, I didn’t know Ben was one of three brothers, like Rachel’s boys. As I wrote their fist date and needed the two connect this idea spoke to me.

It is usually around chapter 3 or 4 that I really begin to get to know my characters. It is at this time that I pause for what I call a character interview. I know this sounds nuts but I swear it changed my writing for the better. I basically interview the character asking questions like:

What is your favorite food?

Where did you grow up?

What was your home life like?

What is your favorite feature about yourself?

(Because I write Romance) Why do you love X?

What do you do for fun?

I ask these sorts of questions of my characters and I walk away knowing them much more intimately. I am able to continue writing on in the project really knowing who my characters are. I know their likes and dislikes, some of their past and a lot more.

In the first book I ever wrote, I dreamed the story first so my imagination had already done the work for me of physical appearance. I find that for me, physical appearance usually comes in later. In McKinley Park, I had a rough idea of what Rachel looked like, slim, busty, with dark brown hair and green eyes, and soft, pink lips. Rhett, her ex, his appearance came to me very early. In the spirit of honest conversation, Ben’s physical appearance was a mystery to me through so much of the book. I kept asking him, what do you look like? No joke, it wasn’t until the last few chapters that I got an idea of what he looks like. Physical appearance is not the easiest for me and it is a common criticism that I hear from my beta readers. I am trying to work on my interview questions to include more of this information so I can get a better idea of what they look like.

I also like to imagine my characters in different situations outside of the plot. I like to imagine what their reaction would be. For example, what would Rhett do if one of his son’s puked in his fancy car? What would his reaction be? I love this exercise, I feel like not only do I get to know the character better but it is like cake for my imagination, yummy and indulgent. I find that I do this best right before I fall asleep. I set the scene and let my character loose as I drift off to sleep. Seriously, try it, it is awesome!

There are lots of ways to get to know your characters. Make the time to do it, your work will be so much stronger for it. Try your best to take yourself out of the equation and let them speak, you might be surprised at what they have to say. I know I have been for sure in the past! I have included a few links below of good resources for getting to know your characters. Take a look. Fellow writers if you have any tips or tricks getting to know your characters please share with the class in the comments.

 

https://www.writinglaraferrari.com/101-character-questions

https://rachelgiesel.com/blog/how-to-really-get-to-know-your-characters-a-questionnaire

https://www.livylynnblog.com/2017/11/03/questions-get-know-character-cheat-sheet/.

 

 

 

McKinley Park Chapter 17

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Ben took a shower and made some lunch, stopping by his front window to check on Rachel’s house each time he walked past. He turned on the Cubs game but wasn’t interested, he was frustrated with Rachel. He understood her fear but, he also wanted her to trust him. He knew it was going to take time. He got up to take his plate back to the kitchen when he heard a knock at the door. He put the plate back on the coffee table and went to answer the door.  Rachel stood on the front porch.

“Okay, let’s go. If I don’t go do this now, I will chicken out.”

He could see how conflicted she was. He grabbed his keys off of the table next to the door and locked it behind him. They got into his car, the heat from the sun making it feel like a sauna. Rachel stayed quiet as they rode along. Ben reached out and laced his fingers over her hand and squeezed gently. She squeezed back.

“I am really proud of you.” Ben said softly.

Rachel gave him a half smile.

He picked up the hand that he held and pressed a kiss into her palm.

“Trust isn’t easy for me Ben. I’m scared.”

“I know and that is why it means so much to me that you are trusting me. I won’t let you down. Look, I hope the future sees us together, happy as a family, but if it doesn’t I will still protect you and the boys from Rhett and his family. I promise you. Your protection is not mutual with us having a relationship.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

 Twenty- five minutes later Rachel sat at Ben’s desk as an officer went over the paperwork with her. She felt safe sitting in Ben’s chair. Ben went to go get her a cup of coffee from the kitchen while she completed the paperwork. He didn’t want to hover and make her feel pressured by him. As he walked into the kitchen he saw Marty drinking a cup of coffee in the break room.

“I thought you were taking some time off?” Marty said, as he finished coffee.

“I am. I’m just here with Rachel. She’s pressing charges against Rhett, and petitioning for an order of protection for her and the boys.”

“That’s a big step for her. In the file there were a noticeable lack of charges filed by her, most were filled by the state on her behalf.”

“Yeah. This has got to stop.”

“I hear ya. You really love this girl, don’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?”

Marty laughed.

“If she is here filing, she really loves you too, you know,” Marty said as he crunched the paper cup in his hand and flung it into the trash can.

Ben tried not to smile.

“Hey I am glad you are here anyway. I wanted to let you know, Rhett’s alibi is solid for the night Serena was attacked and the rest of the nights we have. He wasn’t even in town for Serena. He was partying his ass off out on the coast.”

“Shit are you sure?”

“Yeah it all checks out. Sorry man. Don’t worry though, he isn’t off my radar. I get get the same read you do. He knows something.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well we questioned him, and even with his attorney there, he was so cocky. There’s something about him, slimy. Be careful there, he’s got some powerful friends too.”

“I met his father this afternoon, when he came to get the bastard’s car. I didn’t like the look of him either.”

“Hey, have you asked Rachel about Rhett?”

“I tried. She shut down when I brought up their sex life. There is more there I know it. She just isn’t ready to tell me.”

“Would it help if I talked to her, I mean since the two of you are involved? It might be less uncomfortable for her?”

“Yeah maybe, but give it a day or two. She’s been through a lot. I know there is trauma there. It is like part of her is holding back and I think it has to do with that piece of shit.”

“Well give it some thought.”

“Did you get anymore information on Duke?”

“You mean did we find all of him?”

“Yikes, that bad?”

“This wasn’t a murder, it was a hit. Someone wanted to shut him up.”

“Danwood?”

“That would be my guess. I put a call into Yee to let him know what was going on. A bit of penance for last night.”

“Good call.  I should get back to Rachel. Keep me up to date?”

“Yeah. Enjoy your time with her.” Marty nodded out towards the main room where Ben’s desk sat.

Ben looked in that direction to see Rachel walking into the kitchen.

“All done.” She took a deep breath as she said it.

Ben walked over to her and put his arm around her. He kissed the top of her head.

“I am proud of you.”

She gave a half smile, the tension in her body radiated in the small space of the kitchen.

“Hi, I’m Marty. I am Ben’s partner.”

“Oh, it is nice to meet you. I am Rachel.”

“It is nice to finally meet you. Ben talks about you… a lot.”

“Uh oh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s a good thing. I am happy to see him happy. You two will have to come out with my wife and I sometime.”

“That would be fun. Thank you for the invitation.”

“We should get going.” Ben chimed in.

“It was nice to meet you, Rachel.”

“You too.”

“Call me if you get anything big?” Ben asked as they stepped out of the kitchen.

“You got it.” Marty patted him on the back.

Ben and Rachel walked out of the station. He opened the car door for her. Before she got in she reached out and hugged him tightly, laying her head on his chest. He brought his arms around her and held her close to him. They stood there on the sidewalk, with the car door open, in each other’s arms.

“Thank you.” Rachel said quietly.

She looked up at him after she said it. Ben caressed her cheek.

“Thank you for forcing me to be brave.”

“Honey you are making this choice, I would not force you to do anything.”

“No, I know, it was a figure of speech. You know it is so weird, I was so afraid to do this and now it is done and I am not afraid anymore. I thought I would feel awful afterwards but I don’t. As cliche as it sounds, I feel light, like a huge weight has been lifted. So thank you.”

“I am glad to feel that way. You are stronger than you know Rachel. You are not alone, I am here and I will always have your back.”

She leant up on her toes and kissed him. A few officers walking in began to hoot and holler at the two of them. Rachel stopped kissing Ben and buried her face in his chest, her face blushing. Ben gave them the finger as he laughed, the officers laughed in return. They both got into the car and Ben pulled away.

“I’m kind of hungry. Are you hungry?” Rachel asked.

“Well it is almost dinnertime, do you want to get something while we are out?”

“Sure.”

“What do you have a taste for?”

“Chinese?”

“That does sound good. Where do you want to go?”

“What about Happy House on Hasted?”

“My favorite. That sounds good to me.”

Ben and Rachel ate dinner, and had ordered enough food for leftovers for three days after. Ben pulled into his driveway and parked the car. Rachel leant over and kissed him. He wanted her. They both got out of the car, as he came around to her, she put her arms around him and kissed him again. The intensity of their interaction was almost inappropriate for being out on the street,  but they were shielded by the darkness of early evening. They kissed their way to his front door, as they both tripped over one of the stairs to the the front porch. Ben caught Rachel before they both fell.

He  fumbled with his keys in the door, never breaking away from her lips. He opened the front door and they spilled into the foyer, Ben closed the door behind them. Ben wanted to take her right there in the hallway, propping her against the wall.

“Ben wait.” Rachel said breathless. “We have to slow down a bit, please.”

She pushed him towards the couch. He sat as the back of his legs hit it.  She climbed on top of him and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her and she kissed him back. He pushed her blouse off of her shoulder and kissed the exposed skin. Ben moved her hair out of the way and kissed her neck as he felt her hips move against him. She moaned as he kissed back down to her collar bone. He reached up and tried to undo more buttons on her blouse. She reached down to help him. He pushed it off of her shoulders and she helped but got caught by the buttons on the cuffs of her sleeves. Ben had went back to kissing her and had not noticed Rachel’s arms were caught in her sleeves. She began to panic, being trapped. He reached for her clasp at the front of her bra, as she still struggled to free her hands. Ben had been too eager and was moving too fast to notice.

“Stop! Please stop.” Rachel cried out.

Ben stopped right away, and noticed her arms were stuck. He looked at her face and saw she was on the verge of tears. She looked away embarrassed as Ben reached out to free her arms.

“I’m sorry honey, I didn’t notice you were stuck.”

Rachel brought her arms around to the front of her and got off of Ben’s lap. Ben stood up, as she stood in front of him, her arms across her body, sheilding her nakedness.

“Can I please have a glass of water?”

“Of course. Rachel I am really sorry.”

She nodded  and walked towards the kitchen, in only her bra and pants. Ben followed her and grabbed a glass of from the cupboard and filled it. He set it on the counter next to her. She picked it up and took a drink from it. Clutching the glass, she walked over to the large windows at the back of the kitchen. Ben stayed quiet, he wanted to give her the space she needed. He stood at the counter.

Rachel turned back around.

“Ben I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m sorry I didn’t notice you were stuck.”

“I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. I know you wouldn’t hurt me, it’s just that…” she stopped talking.

Ben walked across the kitchen to her. He held out his hand and she took it. He pulled her in to him, slowly. He wrapped his arms around her, his warm skin on her cool back felt wonderful to her.

“Rachel you can tell me anything, nothing will change the way I feel about you.”

“Can we go upstairs to your bed?” She took a step towards the stairs.

“Yes, but wait,” he reached out for her hand. “We don’t have to sleep together if you don’t want to.”

She cut him off.

“Ben I want to, I really want to. I just needed to calm down. Can I ask a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Can we just go slow? I just have a hard time moving too fast. I need to stay in the moment, and going slow really helps.”

“Of course.”

Rachel kept ahold of Ben’s hand and walked upstairs with him. She let go of his hand once they got into his bedroom and walked over to the bed. The room was dark, with only the light from the street light outside to illuminate the room. Rachel undid her bra as Ben could see the yellow light from outside reflecting off of her perfect breasts. She undid her pants, her back to the wall where Ben could not see. As she slipped them off Ben followed her lead and began to undress. She slid into the bed completely naked and he followed suit.

She scooted over to him, meeting him in the middle of the bed. He wrapped his arm around her, and kissed her gently. He reminded himself to go slow, pay attention to her body and not to touch her ass or the back of her thighs. The more he kissed her the more he felt the tension ease from her and her body began to respond in a pleasurable way.

Ben kissed down her chest again and took one of her nipples into his mouth as he spread out his hand on her stomach an slowly moved it downward. Rachel ran her hands though Ben’s hair. He loved the feeling of her fingers in his hair. His hand inched lower, as he moved his mouth back to hers. He kissed her gently as his hand made it’s way to it’s destination. Ben cupped her most sensitive spot and paused watching for any signs of hesitation. He felt her hips buck towards him and he took the invitation, still moving slowly, paying attention to her body. He  slid his fingers inside of her slowly, and she began to ride his fingers. It took everything in Ben not to come undone, it was so simple but so incredibly sexy at the same time. He looked at Rachel in the lamp light, in pleasure, and he kissed her again.

She wrapped one arm around him and copied his movements as she took him into her free hand. Him sitting in her warm hand, while he continued to move on his hand inside of her, ignited a sense of urgency in him that he fought back. He wanted to make love to her, going slow savoiring it all.

“I have to grab a condom,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

If he didn’t pull away soon, he would be spent and this bliss would be over. He rolled over and opened the drawer on the nightstand. It was the fastest he had ever put a condom on in his life. He rolled back over to Rachel who embraced him again, with her arms and her tongue. He moved his body gently to move her onto her back, looking for any sign of hesitation. She rolled herself easily, and welcomed him into her body. As he pushed in, he was sure to go slow and make eye contact with her.

Her body was better than he had remembered it from the last time they had slept together, and he would have classified that as heaven. He could see the whites of her eyes in the lamplight as she looked at him. There was a connection there. He knew in that moment something special had happened. This was more than just sex for the both of them. Ben leant down and kissed her.

“Ben” she whispered, “Can I get on top?”

Ben slid his arm under back and rolled the both of them so she was now on top. He could see her smile at his skill. She began to ride him slowly. He ran his hands up her stomach and cradled her breasts. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He was getting close, and he fought it, he wanted this to be just as good for her, if not better. He reached up and brought her mouth to his, kissing her. That intense kiss was all she needed, Ben could feel her finish before he could hear her. She sat upright and grabbed his hands and put them on her hips as she continued to ride through the waves of her orgasm. She threw her head back as a moan from deep inside her escaped. Watching her on top of him, enraptured in pleasure, was more than he could fight off. His own orgasm came racing through his body, so intense he could feel his fingers tingle.

Ben was relieved he had made it that long. Sex with Rachel was the best sexual experience of his life. He never had to fight to stay in the game before, but there was something with her that was different. She laid down on top of him, resting her head on his shoulder as they both caught their breaths. He wrapped his arms around her back and moved them up to her face. He took her head into his hands and kissed her mouth.

“Rachel you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He kissed her again.

“I love you,” she said back to him after their kiss.