Valerie Bowman | How a Character Takes on a Life of His Own

When my debut historical romance novel, Secrets of a Wedding Night, was being shopped around New York, I got a phone call. “St. Martin’s Press wants to know what the other stories are about,” my agent said.

Me: Other stories? What other stories?

When you’re an aspiring author, you tend to write one manuscript at a time, hoping that the right story will click with the right editor, eventually. And while you may have vague ideas about the rest of your series, should it come to that, often you’re focused on just that one book. Which is exactly what was going on when I got that phone call from my agent. In fact, I’d already begun writing a completely new book in a completely new series.

My agent asked me to get her the other two stories ideas by the next day. I was confounded. I knew this was a very good thing given the fact that a publishing house like St. Martin’s Press was interested, but at the same time, I didn’t really have a clearly defined idea for the two other books in the trilogy. So I did what any self-respecting author who needs to come up with two stories ideas in less than 24 hours would do. I called my critique partners.

I already knew (based on the ending of that first book) that I intended for any potential second book to be about the little sister of the heroine and the best friend of the hero from book one. Those two obviously needed to get together. So I tossed together a small blurb about him acting as her chaperone while her sister was out of the country on her honeymoon and Secrets of a Runaway Bride was born. By the way, while I was writing it, that book was called Secrets of a Fortnight. Not quite as catchy, huh? The hero ‘abducts’ the heroine for two weeks and keeps her at his country house to keep her out of trouble in town. Hijinks ensue. That was pretty much my entire pitch. Not so difficult.

The third story, however, proved much more elusive. I didn’t even know who I wanted to be the hero or the heroine. I actually had no idea. One of my critique partners, Mary Behre, whose fabulous debut, Spirited, will be released by Berkeley next March, said, “Medford. I love Medford. Write about Medford.”

Medford? Medford was the heroine’s semi-OCD male best friend from book one. He was a viscount, a perfectionist, and a bit of a stuffy bachelor who secretly owned a printing press that printed such scandalous texts as Secrets of a Wedding Night, and Secrets of a Runaway Bride. But I had written Medford as a sort of helper character, a necessary person, but I’d never really thought of him as a hero.

Hmm. Did Lord Medford really have the potential to be a hero on his own?

Because I had no other ideas (and I trust my critique partner’s fantastic instincts) I jotted off a note about how the third book would be based on Lord Medford’s story. Very few specifics. Very few details. And I sent both tiny blurbs to my agent, hoping that would be enough to convince St. Martin’s that my series really had potential as a trilogy.

I’m happy to report that the books sold to St. Martin’s within just a few weeks of that phone call and I was faced with the task of fleshing out Lord Medford’s story. In my edits for the first two books, I played up his character’s interactions with everyone, made him a bit more of a hunk, and very smart if I do say so myself, and in so doing, I fell in love with Medford too. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He always does the right thing, wants to help everyone, and struggles with his own internal demons that make him an unrelenting perfectionist. What’s not to love?

In fact, I based the character of Medford on the character of Jack from the television show LOST. That show was one of my favorites while it was on the air and a big reason for it was the character of Jack played by the amazingly talented Matthew Fox. Jack was driven by one thing. He always wanted to fix everything. So does my Lord Medford.

It was also a bit of a challenge coming up with the perfect heroine for Medford. When I began writing the book, I had paired Medford with the daughter of a rival printing press owner, but I soon scrapped that entire plot and went back to an opening I had written originally, an opening that involved a duchess accused of murder, and Medford’s visit to her cell in the Tower of London.

Medford is probably the character I get the most questions about. I wanted to do right by him. It scared me a little. Could I do this? Could I write a mystery involving a murder? Would Lord Perfect (as Medford is known) be involved in such a scandal? It turns out, he would be, indeed, and I think the result is was just the right story for Medford. I can’t wait to see if fans of the series think I did him justice.

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage has received a coveted STARRED review from Publishers Weekly, a 4.5 star review from RT Book Reviews, and a rare PERFECT 10 from Romance Reviews Today! I’m thrilled to finally share the story with all of you! And to think, it all started with just the barest glimmer of an idea.