Now We're Cookin'

Have you ever had a character who is stubborn? You know the type. Wants to remain distant and two-dimensional and oh so elusive. Like recalcitrant children (or maybe just shy) they dodge and deflect when I'm trying to bring out their true feelings, their foibles, that inner dialog/back story that will make me and the reader fall in love with them. I try this turn of phrase or those clothes, a veritable feast of peccadilloes and habits (both bad and good) but nothing is just right. Nothing fits. And so I continue with the monster that is plot and hope to later fill in the proverbial blanks.

Well, I am happy (relieved, thrilled, ecstatic?) to say that my latest heroine, an English woman and an impoverished Earl's daughter has finally fleshed out. It's my current WIP and due in a little over a month - yes, I was beginning to panic and pray a lot! Her name is Lady Kendra Townsend and I've recently learned two things about her. One - she and father used to "encourage" one another by a gentle, spoken reminder of the fruit of the spirit as needed for an occasion. Sometimes I scramble for a new, fresh way to portray my characters as Christians aside from the prayers and Scripture verses. This (I hope) has a light hearted comical effect. When someone irritates her, Kendra (silently) yells the word "patience!" to herself. Or when dealing with pain and heartbreak she remembers her dear father's gentle admonition of "long-suffering" or "love." I do miss her father almost as much as she does - sniff!

And then, just this week in late edits, I learned that she harbors a love for hats. She can't afford many but oh, my, like my love for shoes . . . well, enough said. She loves them big and full of fripperies, feathered and bejeweled. The drooping brim, the shallow crown, straw, felt and fur. The gaudier the better and I just love that about her. (See some gorgeous hats here http://jamiecarie.com/wordpress/?p=664 )

So, if your characters are being shy or just plain giving you fits, keep plotting on! Who knows what you will discover at the ninth hour.

Know what I mean?