My Characters Talk to Me

Before I write a book, I live with my main characters in my head long enough to get to know them well. They come to me at different times during the night and day to tell me about themselves and show me what's happening to them. Some of the scenes play like a movie in my mind. At other times, a character will just talk to me, giving me information I need to include in the book.

On several occasions, secondary characters come to me after I've written a book and tell me I need to write their story. This happened with Emma in Sown in Dark Soil, and I had to back up to tell her story. Therefore, Cleared for Planting became the first book in the Appalachian Roots series. Then Hawk said I needed to conclude his story, and he comes back in Uprooted by War.  Readers often say they'd like to see another book in a series, but, if I feel the series is over and don't have a character telling me otherwise, I won't try to write another one. However, I'm glad that readers love the characters enough that they want to see more of them, and I understand that.

I planned for Off the Streets to be a standalone, but Gwen's son Brandon, wanted his story told, so I wrote Without a Dream. The same thing happened with the In from the Storms series. I first meant to only write two books. Mountain Storms would tell Aileas's and Ian's story, and Past Storms would tell about Ian's sister, Jeannie. However, Brady, Aileas's stepbrother, convinced me to add his story to make a trilogy, and Dust Storms finished the series.

These characters become so real, some of them return after I've published the books they're in. They tell me more things, even though I can't go back and add them to the novel. However, it's like meeting with a good friend. It's always good to see them again and catch up a little. It sounds a bit crazy, right? Of course, I know this is just my imagination, but that doesn't keep me from appreciating it because it makes my books come to life for me, and hopefully for my readers as well.

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