Characters make or break a story.  Larger than life.  Leaping off the pages.  Spinning around causing chaos.  Crashing into each other.

When I create characters, I keep an ongoing list of quirks, ticks, likes, dislikes and even a few pictures.  I use these items to create back stories.  It’s between the pieces of those items that I often find the real story that unfolds for the book.

I never intended The Mason List to spiral into the story that emerged when I clicked The End.  The back story of Alex took hold and transpired into the end game.  Her quirks and issues squashed everything.  It’s something that happened when I approached every scene with: how would this person with this back story react in such a situation.

With Red Dirt Claws, Wyatt and Emma are just starting to take shape.  I’m compiling those quirks and pictures to get a grasp on how they would react in the setting of the mystery surrounding Wyatt.  So live from the red chair…..characters.

Writing Song of the Day: Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You into the Dark