Reader Question--How Do You Choose a Character?

 by Patricia Bradley

I was talking to a reader recently (my daughter) and I asked if there were any questions she's ever wanted to ask me--related to my writing. Notice how narrow I made that question. 

She'd just finished Obsession and was curious about how I came up with my characters, particularly Sam and Emma. (She couldn't ask an easy question!) I stammered something but knew I had to do better, so here we go...

On rare occasions, a character will come to me full-blown. One such was in my very first published book, Shadows of the Past. I was sitting on my sofa; it was my quiet time and I was reading the devotion for the day when a dark-haired woman in her late twenties popped in my head. She whispered, "Someone is trying to kill me." And then she was gone.

Of course, I had to know why someone was trying to kill her, and that's where that character and that book came from. It wasn't that way with Emma and Sam, although the photo on the cover is exactly how I pictured Emma.

I had pitched a four-book series to my publisher and Obsession was the second book. I knew that a body would be found at Mount Locust, and that's all I knew. 

As I let the story noodle around in my head, a story began to form, usually because I kept asking, what if... What if Emma's brother had gone missing ten years earlier on the night a girl was murdered?  I already knew her name because she was in Standoff and I knew a little bit about her personality. 

What I didn't know was how stubborn she could be. And the reason is...she didn't tell me that when I was writing Standoff. She waited until I was in the middle of Obsession! 

Seriously, I can write charts about my characters, know what their wounds are and the lies they believe about themselves--the lies that keep them from living their dream life. But they don't reveal themselves to me until I start writing their story. I wish they did--it'd be a lot easier.

Sam was the same way. I knew he was hurt because Emma broke it off with him, but I didn't know how bad his relationship was with his dad until he told me about a third of the way through the story. I love those moments!

So, if you've ever wondered how a writer comes up with their characters, that's the way I do it. I can't begin a story until I know my hero, heroine, and villain's names. They simply won't develop.

Leave a comment with a question you've always wanted a writer to answer and I'll enter you in a drawing for Obsession! Be sure to leave your contact information.

Oh, and the Standoff e-book is on sale this week for $1.99! Check it out here! for the Kindle version. For all other sites, you can find the links on my webpage.

The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It's the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it's being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.

John's daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father's murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who's going to keep him safe when he realizes he's falling--hard--for the daughter of the man he failed to save?