Making Characters Real

I like to welcome Joanne Kennedy back to Over Coffee.  Joanne believes in Romancing The West. She's a bonafide denim and lace western girl who writes about hot cowboys.  Her believable stories have towns and critters, romance and love, along with danger and suspense.  She is also a RITA finalist for One Fine Cowboy. 

What draws us to cowboys? Maybe a touch of the rebel, for sure a bit of bad-boy, but there is also the image of tradition, respect, and moral strength. The strength to fight against the odds.  At the core, they're men and women of the land. 

They're almost larger than life, aren't they?

Still, cowboys are everyday people with quirks, foibles, good and bad. If you're writing cowboys or any character you have to make them realistic and three dimensional. After all, you are telling a story about people which your readers will love, hate, like or dislike. Give them personalities they can to relate to.

Joanne chats a bit about her characters, two and four legged, and the world they inhabit.


A compelling plot and great writing draw us into a story—but what we stay for is the characters. Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy; Jane Eyre and Rochester—what’s a romance without great lovers who come alive on the page?

Giving life to characters is the best part of writing. I love creating a small town of my own, peopled by characters who hopefully come alive for the reader. They’re certainly real to me!

I spend a lot of time in my fictional universe, and my characters become like friends—or maybe more like family, because much as I love them, they sometimes drive me crazy. Demanding, difficult, and determined—they’re just like real people!

Teague and Jodi have been with me a long time, waiting for their story to be told and gradually revealing who they are and what they want. By the time I actually sat down to write the book, they’d taken on so much personality that it was all I could do to keep them under control. It wasn’t easy to keep them out of bed, either. These two were definitely made for each other.

The best part about having a new book released is knowing that my characters are out there in the world, living in readers’ minds as well as my own. I’m thrilled when readers love them as much as I do, and reviews that praise them warm me up with the kind of pride you feel when your kid gets a straight-A report card.

And it’s not just the hero and heroine I love. Every one of my books has a whole community of characters, animal as well as human. Here’s a partial roster of the cast of Cowboy Fever:

• Teague Treadwell is possibly my favorite cowboy hero ever. He’s a good man overcoming a rough past, working hard to turn his life around and earn a place in his community and the heart of the town’s golden girl. He’s turned his alcoholic father’s played-out ranch into a first-class roughstock operation, raising bucking horses and bulls and competing in rodeos.
• Jodi Brand is a former Miss Rodeo America who’s been back East modeling and earning a degree in special education. She once promised to return and make her hometown a better place, and she’s keeping that promise by starting a therapy riding program for children with disabilities. She’s also coming back to see Teague, but that’s not something she’s ready to admit to herself.
• Troy Treadwell is Teague’s older brother and Jodi’s inspiration for working with the disabled. He has Down’s Syndrome, but his disability doesn’t define him. Troy wants to live an independent, fulfilling life of his own, but it’s hard for his brother to let him go; it’s taking care of Troy that inspired Teague to turn his life around.
• Courtney Skelton never really had a chance. The daughter of difficult but wealthy parents who bought her everything she wanted but paid little attention to her, she’s spoiled, self-involved, and accustomed to getting whatever she wants. Right now, she wants Teague—and that’s where the trouble starts.
• Cissy is Jodi’s best friend. She married her high school sweetheart only to discover he’s abusive. Now she counts on Teague for protection—but can he keep her safe without risking a return of the rough streak that made him the town bad boy?

And then there are the animals. In my books, they’re almost as important as the people, and a big part of my hero and heroine’s lives.

• Vegas is Teague’s old horse. He plays a part in all Teague’s best childhood memories—and Jodi’s, too. Now nearly blind, he’s ready for a new life as a therapy horse.
• Luna, Teague’s bossy border collie has one goal: getting Teague and Jodi together.
• Beelzebub, a.k.a. Beelzy, is a goat who’s supposed to keep Vegas company, but he spends most of his time dreaming up devilment.
• Honeybucket, Courtney’s teacup Pomeranian is a pocket pet who wants to be a real dog.

That’s just a partial list of the dramatis personae of Cowboy Fever. There’s a small town full of people who help Teague and Jodi’s story spin out, but in the end what matters most is the love they’ve had for each other all along. It’s not easy to leave the past behind, but I think you’ll agree that these two deserve a new future—and they deserve to spend it together.

Animals play a big part in my books.

Do you have a favorite animal hero or heroine from romance? 

COWBOY FEVER

Miss Rodeo Wyoming Jodie Bryce is back from the big city to find that her childhood friend Teague Treadwell’s rugged cowboy charm never looked better. But Teague thinks Jodie’s success lifted her out of his reach, and now he’s got to shed his bad boy image to be worthy of the girl next door. Excerpt.

Buy:  Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Indiebound  Format: paperback and e-book

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After 25 years in the business of selling books, Joanne finally decided to sit down and write one. Five years and a lot of hard work later, came Cowboy Trouble.

A member of Romance Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Joanne Kennedy won first place in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest and second in the Heart of the Rockies contest in 2007. Her first novel, Cowboy Trouble, was released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in March 2010, and will be followed by One Fine Cowboy in September 2010. Two more contemporary western romances are scheduled for release in 2011. Joanne lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming.


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Getting There

Debut author, Joanne Kennedy, is my guest Over Coffee today. Joanne writes romantic suspense with a little bit of humor stirred in to keep it interesting. She lives in Cowboy country so it's no surprise her debut is about those tough and sexy American icons, the cowboy.

Joanne's talks about the need to love what you do. Reaching your goals when you love the work is a joy. When you love your work, climbing the steps isn't a hardship. Each level brings new goals to achieve and even when you *get there* you still have steps to climb.

The road to publication is a long road, paved with rejections and frustration—but I made it. I’m finally “there” – but now that I’ve reached my goal, I’m surprised to find that, in the words of Gertrude Stein, “there is no ‘there’ there.”
When you first start writing, you think to yourself, “If I could just finish this…”

You finish it. Then you hope to win a contest. Then you begin the long process of submission, aiming for goals like getting requests for partial manuscripts, then fulls, then getting offers of representation from agents.

When I signed with my agent, I really thought I was “there.” And I was close—closer than a lot of writers get with their first agent, because I was lucky enough to strike gold the first time out and sign with a really good agent who’s also a fine human being (actually, I think she’s a goddess). But even with her knowledge and contacts, it took over a year, many revisions, and finally a second manuscript, to make a sale.

And now that Cowboy Trouble has hit the stores, there are still goals ahead of goals and more goals. I hope the book sells well. I hope it gets good reviews. And if it does get good reviews, I’ll be worrying about the next book—will it live up to the first?

I can always find something to worry about.

But in some ways, that’s a good thing. No matter how well the book does, I’ll always be reaching for the next milestone. Bestseller lists. Awards. Making a living if I’m lucky, and then a better living.

The striving never ends—and that’s good. Life loses its flavor when you have nothing to aspire to.

But that realization showed me that the ultimate reward writing offers doesn’t lie in any of these achievements. The real reward is in the writing itself—the good days when the words flow freely, the triumphs when I solve a particularly gnarly plot problem, the weird, almost mystical joy of creating a world and characters who inhabit it and make it real, and even the satisfaction of knuckling down and getting the job done on a difficult day.

If you don’t take joy in the simple act of doing what you love, forget the other goals. Because if you think achieving any of them is going to complete your life, you’re wrong.

Whether your talent lies in writing, painting, teaching children, or running a business, you’re lucky if you’ve found what you were meant to do. Doing what you love is a privilege and a joy.

In the all-consuming quest for success, it’s easy to forget the biggest blessing of all: you have a talent that only you can offer. You have a place in the world.

So for all you aspiring writers out there, and everyone else who is always aiming for some elusive goal, take heart. When you sit down at your desk or your piano or your word processor, take a deep breath, and light into the day’s work, you’re already “there.”

What do you love to do? What are your goals, and how would achieving them change your life?

COWBOY TROUBLE

Fleeing her latest love life disaster, big city journalist Libby Brown's transition to rural living isn't going exactly as planned. Her childhood dream has always been to own a chicken farm—but without the constant help of her charming, sexy, cowboy neighbor; she'd never have made it through her first Wyoming season.

Handsome rancher Luke Rawlins is impressed by this sassy, independent city girl. But he yearns to do more than help Libby out with her ranch…he's ready for love, and he wants to go the distance. When the two get embroiled in their tiny town's one and only crime story, Libby discovers that their sizzling hot attraction is going to complicate her life in every way possible…

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Joanne Kennedy has worked in bookstores all her life in positions ranging from bookseller to buyer. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and won first place in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest and second place in the Heart of the Rockies contest in 2007. Joanne lives and writes in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For more information please visit http://joannekennedybooks.com/.

Getting Lucky—Review

~Sia McKye~


Romance/Contemporary
By: Carolyn Brown
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Release: December 2009



BLURB:

ONE HOTHEADED SCHOOLTEACHER WHO DOESN'T TAKE GUFF FROM ANYBODY...

Single mom Julie Donavan is looking for a place to start over. As soon as she meets the absolutely infuriating, oh-so-sexy cowboy next door things quickly go from bad to worse...

ONE STUBBORN COWBOY WHO'S MORE THAN WILLING TO CROSS HORNS...

Single dad "Lucky Griffin" Luckadeau thinks his new neighbor is scheming to steal his ranch out from under him to benefit her own daughter. But when his daughter, Lizzy, decides she wants the new little girl who lives on the feuding property to be her friend, or better yet her sister, the sparks fly.

These two stubborn hotheads, who irritate each other beyond endurance, refuse to admit that it's fate that brought them together. And running from the inevitable is only going to bring a double dose of misery…

"Chalk up another great story by Carolyn Brown! I was immersed…right from the very first page."

Roundtable Reviews

My Thoughts:

There are authors who write good stories and build good characters. Carolyn Brown writes an excellent story and creates characters so alive you think you could sit down and chat with them. Her dialog is snappy with liberal use of humor and Texas speak. Definitely a must read book.

She captured my interest the first page. I couldn't help but laugh when I read Julie's thoughts about Griff and her reactions. And boy howdy, sparks do fly between these two.

I absolutely adore the ladies of the Lackadeau family. Their tart sense of humor and way of looking at things. A strong bunch of ladies with strong opinions but Julie can more than handle them; she sets them back on their butts. With out giving away spoilers, there is a favorite scene (actually one of several I loved) in the book, where Griff's sister has made some assumptions and Julie calls her on it. Then promises to wipe the yard with her. Julie, being a schoolteacher, uses the techniques one uses with little kids, you know, three occurrences and you're in trouble? Through out the book you'll see Julie put up one finger, or two...cracks me up.

"You like my sister?" Julie was amazed.

"Of course. We have a lot in common. She's not trying to take my baby brother for a cheap ride to the altar." Melinda said.

Julie held up two fingers.

"I'm glad I'm going home. I've had to grow three new tongues just to keep from biting mine off to keep you off my back..."

Julie giggled...

There's a lot of good bantering between all the characters and some of the situations Carolyn puts her characters into are real and hilarious.

For sure the course of true love doesn't run true. Both Griff and Julie have some real issues to settle, but you sigh and wish for more when you reach the happily-ever-after and the end.


I have to admit, I've taken a real liking to Alvera, I wonder if she could give me lessons on handling the Clarice's of the world, lol!

Carolyn Brown is firmly on my authors to read list! She writes wonderful contemporary Romances.

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• Getting Lucky is the last book of Carolyn's Lucky series. The first, which I haven't read yet, but I will, is Lucky In Love, the second is One Lucky Cowboy, and this one, Getting Lucky.
  

• All three stories center around three cousins: Beau, Slade and Griffin. They are all hot-headed, sexy-as-hell ranchers who meet their matches in Milli, Jane and Julie, sassy southern women.
  

Carolyn says, "...they are inspired by every cowboy in Texas and every woman who knows her mind and stands up for her rights."

• Carolyn is working on another series for Sourcebooks. The Honky Tonk Series, a four book series, will debut with I Love This Bar in June 2010, followed by Hell Yeah, My Give a Damn’s Busted, and Honky Tonk Christmas. Each book is set in the Honky Tonk, an old beer joint in Mingus, Texas (Population 238) and is filled with quirky characters, hunky cowboys and brassy bar maids.

Check out her website at carolynlbrown.com

© Sia McKye 2009 all rights reserved