Over the years of reading, I’ve fallen in love with angsty characters (ooo-la-la, Mr. Darcy!), sweet characters (Donald in Finding Camlann), quirky characters (Don in The Rosie Project), and any number of alpha males (any of the SEALS in Suzanne Brockmann’s books). But the character that will steal my heart for real, is the one who shows humor. That goes for male or female. If a character makes me laugh, that’s most often a 5-star read for me.
I love good banter. Whether characters hate each other or feel that first 
spark of electricity, if they also share a great back and forth in their dialogue, I consider that a winner. Sarah Ney has written a series called How to Date a Douchebag, and all of them contain great banter, Her books make me laugh—and a few have made me tear up. Spectacular interaction. In fact, while writing this post I started reading one of the books in the series again. So, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to add a little humor to my afternoon.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Burning Bridges by Anne Krist
One Woman Only
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
For most of my adult life I lived in the South. That is, Virginia (mostly), North and South Carolina. While the winters in those places can be described as mild—not too much snow, but ice instead (yikes!)—even winter has its problems. When it does turn cold and the wind blows, the humidity in the air causes it to to cut right through you. Still, it’s better than having feet of snow to dig through. When we do have ice and snow, it doesn’t usually last too long.
(32 C) with a humidity (the amount of moisture in the air) of 57%. That means that the heat index (the temperature it feels like) is 100 degrees (38 C). In Orlando, FL (another place I used to live), the temperature is 93 F (34 C) with humidity of 54%. The heat index is 103 F (40 C). Glad I’m not there today!
The official version of the climate in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, is mild and characterised by four very distinct seasons. The tourism people say much the same when advertising the coastal areas and wineries. They are diplomatically referring to three of the four seasons.
away, and it is nice. This year the change from winter to spring happened virtually overnight. Last week we were shivering from awful cold August winds and today, 2nd September, it’s a lovely 23 degrees and a warm breeze. After the drought breaking rains fell last February, and continued through autumn and winter, the spring countryside is looking fabulous. Green everywhere, daisies popping up all over and my climbing rose is covered in yellow blooms.
While I have dipped my toe into the future and the past with my writing, I feel most comfortable writing in present, contemporary time. Maybe it’s because I’m lazy? I don’t know. But writing historical fiction takes a fair amount of research if your books come out sounding true. And there’s a lot to keep up with if you build future worlds. (Same is true if you create series in contemporary time, I’ve discovered!) But because of our trucking years, we traveled over a lot of the country and I feel pretty happy drawing on our experiences to write about all kinds of locations.
is that we are telling a story. Make it a good one. Show, don’t tell, Engage the reader’s emotions. Have a great beginning, middle, and end. Mind your craft (grammar, punctuation, POV, etc.). Pay attention to details. If you do these things, you will be read (which is what we all want) regardless of the time period you choose.
Every period in history is fascinating. The Greeks, the Romans, Genghis Khan, William the Conqueror, Robin Hood, they all have stories to tell. However, I believe the Tudor period and the Regency period are the most popular for authors and readers.
of art, literature, architecture, fashion and music – and stiff class distinctions. We’d be lost without Jane Austen’s window into the times in which she lived, and Georgette Heyer’s wealth of historical detail in her books. Of Heyer’s fifty-five novels published during her lifetime, twenty-six are set specifically within the English Regency period and, incredibly, no one took their clothes off. I’m no prude, far from it, I am in awe this brilliant author, whose books are still in print, can still capture millions of readers and take them back to that romantic period.
In 
We all write characters with all kinds of characteristics. But have you written characters with disabilities?
us come up with believable heroes or heroines. In my novella Awards Night, Allison comes home to find a car crashed through her fence and plowed into a tree. The man who’d been driving is not injured much—except he’s blinded by damage to his head. Allison doesn’t know the man. He says his name is Frank, and as you might guess, he’s pretty cranky. Some might even say nasty. But really, he’s scared half to death. In reality, though he doesn’t share this with Allison, Frank is the CEO and founder of a major international electronics firm. He’s not used to taking orders or feeling helpless. But now he does (to a certain extent) and he is. How he adjusts is quite interesting (I hope!).