A New Character

One of my Projects: 

I mentioned in my last post that I'm working on a spin-off/sequel to my first novel, After the Dream, waiting to be considered for publication.  That spin-off is called Pigs Fly.  It follows the basic plot points of and employs lines from Shakespeare's Much ado about Nothing.  I hesitate to call it an adaptation, though it may yet be.  Connor, who plays inadvertent matchmaker in After the Dream, is one of the two protagonists here.  He has had miserable courting experiences, culminating in his fiance dying in his arms, and has given up on looking to get married.  He fills the empty spaces by frivolous dating and says he will get married when pigs fly.  Then he meets Robin, a female pilot with a pet pig.  Robin's mentor is Zeke, a black man who was in the Air Force with Robin's late father.  Robin and Zeke have become partners in a business in which they are copilots.

My Style: 

The way I tend to write is a technique I call quilt writing.  It's free flowing, especially while I'm writing scenes.  I get a basic story idea and write bits and pieces as they come to me.  Then I outline and reorganize as the story takes shape in my mind.  The fun thing about this kind of writing is I never know what's going to happen because it's not tightly planned in advance.  Just yesterday, a character I hadn't planned on introduced herself and seems to be interested in her own book.  This is part of the joy of working out characters.  The new character is Birdie, Zeke's adult daughter.

The Unplanned

I realized I didn't know Zeke well, yet I planned on a critical part for him in the book as Robin's father figure. So who is he?  I fleshed him out a bit and realized that he is the father of a thirty-something woman, a woman roughly the same age as my main character.  So with the way their fathers were best friends, she clearly had to grow up with my main character.  So Birdie needs to play a critical part in the book.  Which means I need to make the characters' voices even more distinct for a trio of best friends, Robin, Birdie, and Kristy, Robin's cousin and roommate.  Kristy has been the soft, gentle sort who can sometimes hold her own in banter with bitter and snarky Robin; however, with Birdie showing up, I need to soften Kristy's voice to complement the voice of saucy Birdie.  I need to make all three ladies' voices distinct and their friendship meaningful.  I like stories about female sisterhood and friendship, and yet I don't run into them all that often, especially in romantic fiction.  I don't yet know Birdie well, but what I know, I like.  She's an interesting mix of strong and humble, witty and full of integrity. She needs to be strong enough to help Robin see herself clearly when that is the last thing Robin wants to see. Writing is always an adventure.