Celia Bonaduce | Creating Characters

Characters are a tricky bunch. You make them up…creating personalities by borrowing a foible from this person, a temperament from that, a moral code from a person in a history book. You’re in control –

Until you’re not.

My parents, who were both professional writers, had very different attitudes about characters. My mother has always been inclined to see where a character and story might take her. My father, on the other hand, was adamant that you had to corral your characters or they might run off with the story. I could never understand what he meant until one of my characters in WELCOME TO FAT CHANCE, TEXAS threatened to take my novel where I didn’t want it to go.

The story in Fat Chance, Texas revolves around a lot of people. There is a main protagonist, Dymphna and her potential love-interest, Professor Johnson, but Fat Chance is populated by a bunch of eccentrics, and one of them, a man who calls himself Powderkeg, struck me as so charming (if I do say so myself), that I found myself writing scenes for him that bogged down the story. While it was hard to do, I followed my father’s advice on this one, and firmly kept Powderkeg in his place.

On the other hand, I got within 50 pages of the end of first draft when I suddenly realized the end of my book was all wrong. I was sitting in a tiny hotel room in New York City, furiously writing in order to meet my deadline, when it struck me that a minor character was actually the catalyst for the bad luck that befalls my beloved townspeople. I sat there, stunned. It was as if my villain had been hiding from me from the start. Now that he revealed himself to me, it was up to me to unmask him or remain true to my original storyline. In this case, following my father’s advice – stick to the story – would have been the easier road to take. But I knew my villain had to be exposed. In this case, “Mother knew best”. The rewrite took several more days, but I was really grateful that my bad guy offered himself up in the eleventh hour.

Now I tread very carefully around my characters. I never know what they’ll do next.

About Celia Bonaduce

Currently a Field Producer on HGTV’s House Hunters, Celia Bonaduce's TV credits cover a lot of ground - everything from field-producing ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to writing for many of Nickelodeon’s animated series, including Hey, Arnold and Chalkzone.

An avid reader, entering the world of books has always been a lifelong ambition. The Merchant of Venice Beach, A Venice Beach Romance, was published August 1st, 2013 by eKensington. The dream continues with a brand new series called Fat Chance, Texas, which will be available May 2015.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

About WELCOME TO FAT CHANCE, TEXAS

For champion professional knitter Dymphna Pearl, inheriting part of a sun- blasted ghost town in the Texas hill country isn’t just unexpected, it’s a little daunting. To earn a cash bequest that could change her life, she’ll have to leave California to live in tiny, run-down Fat Chance for six months— with seven strangers. Impossible! Or is it?

Trading her sandals for cowboy boots, Dymphna dives into her new life with equal parts anxiety and excitement. After all, she’s never felt quite at home in Santa Monica anyway. Maybe Fat Chance will be her second chance. But making it habitable is going take more than a lasso and Wild West spirit. With an opinionated buzzard overlooking the proceedings and mismatched strangers learning to become friends, Dymphna wonders if unlocking the secrets of her own heart is the way to strike real gold.