I'm often asked about the characters who live in my stories. Are they based on someone I know? Is there a little of myself in these characters?

The answer to both questions is yes, and I believe the talent to create characters comes partly from creativity and partly from understanding human nature.

When I construct a story line, I think of who is going to live in that world and what their motives are or should be. Depending on plot, I decide if the women need to be tough, weak, courageous, deceitful or honest to a fault. What makes up their basic personality? In other words, stick that tea bag in a pot of boiling water and see how it holds up.

In some situations it's best to make the tea bag fall apart, not all characters can be successful. What a dull story that would make. In other plot lines, characters triumph over their diversity but at what cost? Keep your characters extraordinary by having them experience loss, death, hate, poverty or whatever works. Characters and people learn from a crisis and what good little page turning books are you aware of that doesn't future a good crisis?

And yes, I don't know any living breathing author who doesn't put a little of their own personality in their characters. I have characters solve difficulties in a way I never would have thought of doing or I have characters live out a fantasy I never dared to experience.

Making characters believable takes time, talent and a lot of hard work. The joy in writing comes when a reader tells you how much they identified with one of your characters and that's what we as authors hope to hear.

Best
Linda Bilodeau
www.lindabilodeau.com
The Wine Seekers is now available on Amazon.com