Inspiration for your characters

How do writers come up with the physical and emotional attributes of their characters?  Do we base our visions on movie stars or just random images that we find/collate from social media sites such as Pinterest?  Or is it a combination of both?

These past months I've been working on Book #2 in my School for Sophistication, featuring Lady Caro Ashford and the Dowager Lady Rutherford as the school's tutors.  Although they're not the main characters, they're the ones that carry the thread through the series.  And they both also featured in the Merry Widow series, a previous series.  I enjoyed these two intrepid ladies so much that I knew I had to incorporate them in the second series somehow, and the idea of the school seemed ideal.  Literally, they had taken on a life of their own, as often characters are want to do -- guiding the writer is so many little ways -- "No, not like that, dear.  I want to be more like this;" etc.  The writer starts out with an idea or two, sometimes vague, sometimes quite solid.  But over time, the character grows and detours begin.

So, let's look at the visuals that helped me create the first of the two ladies.  A little background first, though.  Lady Caroline Ashford has been married and widowed three times by the time The Viscount and the Virgin was written, which was not unusual for a well-endowed woman in the early 19th century.  Caro is quite attractive even in her fortieth decade -- witty and still somewhat lusty, a bit like the Wife of Bath, although much more elegant.

Ms. Hampshire as Molly in Monarch of the Glen

First British actress that helped shape Lady Caro is Susan Hampshire.  Ms. Hampshire has been in British movies and television series for quite some time, but still an attractive woman.  My favorite role is her Molly from Monarch of the Glen.  Molly is an intelligent, handsome woman in middle age, with a light, witty attitude toward life; she also can be a schemer.

from the First Churchills (1969)

I think these images convey a bit of how I envisioned Lady Caro.  But there's also a side to Caro that is frivolous, especially when it comes to the menfolk.  She's always falling in love or at least smitten by a handsome, experienced man.  And that's how her vulnerable side developed.  She fears growing old alone.  So, like a bee in a garden, she tends to flit from man to man, although she's also coming to realize that her husbands tend to die on her, so in the first romance of this new series, she's determined not to marry again. 

Brenda Blethyn in Pride & Prejudice (2005)

And so another British actress who inspired a bit of this side of Lady Caro is Brenda Blethyn.  I love Blethyn's talents as an actress -- from Vera, a toughened detective, to the silly but loving Mrs. Bennett of Pride & Prejudice (2005), Blethyn helped shape this aspect of Lady Caro.

Next week I'll post about the Dowager Lady Rutherford, Lady Caro's friend and business partner in The School for Sophistication series.  The dowager is a tough nut and often is a foil to the flirty Lady Caro, but she grows on you.  And in the second novel, Wicked Wagers, she'll play a vital role.  Stay tuned!

It's that time of year --

My wish to my readers and followers -- enjoy the holidays and be safe out there!  

Warm regards,

Claire H.  

Pre-Holiday Sale!

Cover Reveal

Officially releasing Thursday, October 17!

 

This is the first novel in my new regency series -- "The School for Sophistication" -- featuring the intrepid Lady Caro, who featured throughout the Merry Widow series.  Now widowed a third time (God, she can't marry and kill off another innocent man again), she's determined to find an occupation to keep her sanity.  Miss Abigail Prescott of Boston is her first "test" pupil, and Viscount Montford is in for several surprises, most of which involve the violet-eyed redhead from Boston.

 

All links will be posted on Thursday -- preorders available

on Apple iBooks and Barnes & Noble at this time.

Free Romance!

In preparation for my new release coming out in mid-October, I wanted to run this sale so that readers could meet some of my favorite characters from my Merry Widow series who appear in the new series, The School for Sophistication!  

Here's the link to the various vendors for the free ebook:  https://books2read.com/u/3J0ewe

Unfortunately, Amazon does not allow freebies

unless they're in the Select/Unlimited program -- so sorry! 

The first novel is The Viscount and the Virgin and I'm so excited for my hero and heroine -- Commodore Gabriel Montford and Miss Abigail Prescott.  I'll post more information very soon, including the cover reveal and a brief excerpt.

Happy Reading!

Claire H. 

Summer Stress Relief

It's coming up on mid-summer, and you'd think that would be enough to keep me happy.  Alas, that's not so.  Not only have I hit a writing / revising slump for my new series, but life has sent another curve ball whizzing past my head.  Although my children are adults, you never stop worrying, caring -- and when you throw a hospital and doctors into the mix, the strain and anxiety ratchets up 100-fold.  So where does one escape, if only for a half-hour or so? 

Oddly enough, for me it's been cookbooks. 

Now you have to understand something about how I was brought up.  My own mother's idea of a gourmet meal was a TV dinner in front of the television.  The only time of the year when she outdid herself was Thanksgiving, but that's because my grandmother was there by her side, guiding her and sometimes taking over, especially for making the gravy. 

I've always joked around that my favorite recipe was my American Express card, but within the past year I've found so many beautiful cookbooks, memoirs and foodie fiction that it's become my morning routine to sit with my first cups of coffee and read about food, cooking, international cuisine and more.  And for those few hours, I am relatively stress-free. 

I've also found the joy -- the adventure -- of food shopping.  Walk into Trader Joe's or Whole Foods in the middle of winter and your senses are assailed with myriad scents and colors.  Who knew that a simple lemon could smell so wonderful when there's two feet of snow outside? 

Often the writing is wonderful -- sensuous (we romance writers appreciate that aspect), colorful and chock full of good humor.  And the photography is simply amazing.  If I could choose another career, I'd try food styling, I think.  So far, I've accrued about twenty cookbooks and memoirs, plus a few novels over the past ten months or so.

Maybe while I was working full-time and commuting 2.5 hours each day, all this escaped me because I was too damned tired.  Even now with the worry and stress of my child's health, to whip up a green smoothie or sip on an exotic tea blend for a few minutes is enough to take the edge off.

I hope to return to my writing soon, but that may have to wait a bit more.  In the meantime, a refreshing bowl of pasta with lemon and basil pesto is just the thing to bring a momentary smile to my face.  Now if I could only figure out a way to sneak it into the hospital, I'm sure recovery would follow shortly thereafter! 

Here's a partial list of books, mostly the memoirs and novels because I found that these, especially Marlena DeBlasi's A Thousand Days in Venice, eased me into this "final frontier":

Memoirs with recipes:

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl
A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena DeBlasi
A Thousand Days in Tuscany by M. DeBlasi
Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah
My Life in France by Julia Child
Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini
My Table in Venice by Skye McAlpine


Novels about Cooking, Chefs and Food in general:

Pasta Wars by Elisa Lorello
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy Reichert
The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Bread Alone by Judith Hendricks

 

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well,

if one has not dined well.” 

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Free Summer Romance ebooks!