There's an old expression that says you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I disagree. A book cover should relay to you what to expect in a book. On the cover of my book 'Lost In Magic', you see a couple and some swirls, which I hope says paranormal romance - magic and a happily ever after. It should also promise fleshed out characters. But that's where the old expression falls short - you don't know what the characters will be like.
Characters, and real people, are more than just what you see on the surface, just like I am more than only an author. In these blogs I'll talk about writing, my favourite authors and tropes, other romancelania stuff, and I'll also tell you a bit about me.
We all have hidden talents and experiences that you can't see just by looking at a person. As a new writer, I'm constantly concerned about my characters and if they have enough personality and whether I've made them seem real. In my head, my character Jack, from book one, is a chess player and plays multiple games online at once. I think I put that in one scene, but eventually cut the scene and couldn't find another place to fit it in. I know I'll always be trying to improve my characters and scenes. Twenty books from now, it may be fun (or cringe worthy) to look back at my characters and writing and see how I've improved.
Like Jack, I have a few hidden talents as well... When my eldest daughter was turning two, I wanted to do something for her birthday but I didn't have much money. A trip to the dollar store and a cheap kit for making balloon animals did the trick. I practiced tying balloons for days and eventually mastered flowers, a sword and scabbard, and a few simple animals.
This is a picture of my youngest daughter and me about seven years after the first attempt at balloon tying. Balloon animals became a family favourite activity on cold or rainy days.
My daughter is holding my attempt at a sword and has a scabbard around her waist. The thing on her head was originally a hat until one day my creative husband got both our daughters to pull the hats down over their heads to become 'killer ants'. I don't know if this is PC, but it was fun.
Sometimes we'd play 'killer ants' outside and have the neighbourhood kids involved. Other times, the balloons would come out when we had visitors, like in this picture. Besides being fun, it's a great way to tire out kids before bed.
My tying talent also came in handy for school and girl guide events and decorating the tables for my dad's 80th birthday.
I'm sure I've got a few more hidden talents I can tell you about, but I'll save them for another time.
Until then....
Happy Reading!
KJ
Comments