A Guest Blog
Many thanks to Dawn Lajeunesse at Mtnwriter77’s Blog for having me as a guest blogger today.
The post is about the creation and development of characters in my book Tenderfoot.
Many thanks to Dawn Lajeunesse at Mtnwriter77’s Blog for having me as a guest blogger today.
The post is about the creation and development of characters in my book Tenderfoot.
For Blinded, my next book about the story of Jules, Andrew, and Nick, there were several goals I wanted to accomplish. One of my main goals was to place the story in a setting that would cause maximum conflict between Andrew and Nick. They had a few confrontations in Tenderfoot and I really wanted to push this and blow their relationship up. It started with “What if Nick and Andrew were stuck together for an extended period of time in a situation where they had to work together?”
I decided to do this because Nick and Andrew have a tense relationship that swings between truce and nuclear war with Jules thrust into the role of referee and mediator. The conflict between them adds surprise and complexity to the story. Plus for me as an author, it’s fun!
When I started planning Blinded, I had an idea of what material I wanted to cover but I needed a setting that would allow me to trap Andrew and Nick in a box. That meant it was time to bounce ideas off of someone, in this case, my coworker John. (Alas, he has moved on. The day job will never be the same.) In our last brain-storming session, we suggested crazy ideas to each other to see what stuck, then shot them down as fast as we could. The rest of the day jobbers can’t help but listen in and offer suggestions once they see how much fun we’re having!
Here’s the list of ideas we considered:
Ultimately, the car won in the form of a road trip. This way Nick and Andrew have the option of getting out but choose not to, even though they really, really want to! <insert evil laugh here> While the road trip thing has been done before, it adds a sense of urgency to their quest that a jail or elevator does not.
If you missed the post on where the gang is headed, check out my personalized map on Google. If you want to know why they are working together, well, you’ll have to read Blinded this Fall!
As an aside, writing exercises with a large number of participants help the afternoon go by with a smile!
Writing requires enough time to string together the ideas that make up a sentence, a paragraph, a page.
This is tough to do between phone calls at work and parenting at home. Somehow I’ve make it work. Sleep has been downgraded to near last on the list. It shows when I greet the alarm clock with a curse, near every morning.
I love my day job. I get to work in a nice building with interesting, friendly people and assist people with a variety of VOIP phone issues. It feels great to hear a customer describe an issue that I know I can assist in resolving. It feels even better when they thank me. Best of all are the moments when all is right with the network and I get that narrow window to throw a sentence or two down.
But I am fighting time. There’s not enough of it. Ever.
After an unexpected two week TENDERFOOT detour, BLINDED has moved forward. Chapter 5 will end soon, 15k words stuck down, and my (everything but) merry band of characters have crossed the Indiana state line.
My fingers are limber. The three day weekend is upon us. I might win this round.
Once upon a time there was a girl named Jules. She was happy. Her family moved from place to place where she had grand adventures with her friends. Then one day, her mother died in a car crash. She was very, very sad.
Soon the time came for her to make her way in the world. Jules decided that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would be a fine place to continue her studies. Jules made new friends. Yet strange things kept happening! Her eyes played tricks on her and she heard things she did not want to hear. Familiar foods tasted weird. Jules didn’t know what to do!
Then Jules met Nick. He was scary and mysterious. Jules got mad at herself for wanting to find out more about him, especially since there was this nice boy named Andrew. Andrew was skilled with a sword. Jules thought that was hot. Between the two of them, Jules felt like she was in over her head!
So Jules ran. While she ran the trails of Battle Park, she thought about Nick. Nick knew something. Jules decided to find out what. She went to see Nick’s band play where the most amazing thing happened. Nick’s music created a magical energy! This both amazed and frightened Jules. During a break, Nick was mean to her. He told a story about being a Troll! Jules didn’t want to believe it but Nick wore the same exact pendant! Why did they have matching pendants? Why did Nick say he knew Jules her whole life? What a liar! Worst of all, he kissed her in front of everybody!
The next day Jules confronted Nick. He told her a fantastical tale about the strange things happening to her. Jules felt a little bit sad that she was never going to be normal like her friends. At least she wasn’t alone anymore. She had Nick now.
And boy did she! Nick would not go away, no matter how much Jules ignored him. But it;s hard to hate someone who takes you on a cool hiking trip to South Mountains State Park. They went swimming and Jules got to see his cave. Nick even taught Jules how to put her shields up so she could have some privacy. She didn’t want him spying on her and Andrew. Jules liked Andrew alot. Maybe too much. They would run together in the mornings. Jules felt hopeful. Love does that.
Then a horrible thing happened. Nick set Andrew up! This made Jules angry. She didn’t like being angry. She was better at being sad and depressed. Anyway, Jules was sooo angry she stopped talking to Nick! But Nick had a plan to get her to talk to him. On Halloween, he dressed up like a fencer and challenged Andrew to a duel. Andrew didn’t even know it was Nick! But Jules did.
So Jules made a really hard decision. She ran away from both of them. And that’s why she was alone when trouble found her…
Many thanks to Misha at My Love Affair With Books for having me as a guest blogger today. The post is about Why I Wrote Tenderfoot.
WHY JULES IS AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
Early in the process of writing TENDERFOOT, Jules’ back story needed to be imagined. Where was she from? What was her life like there? What impact did it have on her character and behavior?
If you’ve read my bio, and I’ll assume you have, you may have noticed a few similarities between Jules’ background and mine. We both lived as Americans abroad in Paris, France, attended international schools teaching American academics, are from families that place a heavy emphasis on travel, and have a world view a bit outside of the mainstream.
Why do Jules and I share this background? There are several reasons. But first, I will define the term “international student” as it is used in the book:
An international student is a child of school age (not post-secondary) who moves with their family from a place they consider “home” to another country.
Here are the reasons why Jules is an international student:
Write about what you know.
The international student experience is relatively unknown.
In the United States, the international student experience usually is thought of as students from other countries coming to America for a school year in high school as opposed to American students leaving the country with their families.
The international student experience is interesting.
The experience of the international student applies to military brats but in a different way.
Parental and societal expectations are different in the international community.
Finally, the most important reason for while Jules is an international student: the development of backstory is enhanced by drawing on rich cultures.
There are three types of cultures intersecting in TENDERFOOT; a public university in the American South, the cultures of France and Sweden, and the world internal students. All of these cultures add to the story.
These rich cultures provide Jules with several personality traits:
I hope you enjoyed my blog about Jules Jennings, international student, the main character and narrator of TENDERFOOT. I invite you to meet her for yourself!
As a reader, I like to be surprised. This was my central thought while writing the blurb, or description for TENDERFOOT.
Yet, as an author, I like to leave clues. And while I won’t be expanding the book’s blurb or openly discuss the plot developments (Ever feel like you’ve seen the movie after you’ve seen the movie’s trailer?), I might pull out the breadcrumbs and put one here, one there.
Why, look! Here are some now…
TENDERFOOT Folklore retold is Paranormal fantasy – Scandinavian. JULES College life dawns, annoying Troll legacy, Andrew is the one. ANDREW New morning sunrise my heart, hand, and sword – Jules has them all. NICK Eighteenth summer, it starts over again – This one will resist.