The Frankenstein Method to Building Characters & Series

Karen Docter's in the House Newsletter

Photo by Laårk Boshoff on Unsplash

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Happy Friday, my Favorite VIP Readers!

It’s aliiive! Bwahaha!

I have always loved creating characters out of thin air for my books. I never recognized until recently that my methodology is similar to Dr. Frankenstein building his monster, one critical piece at a time. Nope! No “Abby Normals” permitted.

I saw this at work while writing SHADOW PURSUIT, the prequel to my romantic suspense Thorne’s Thorns series. (To be finished and published soon.) It’s the story about Ross and Evelyn Thorne, how they met, and the danger that threatens their lives and love before they even have a chance to raise the six protective heroes in the series.

When I wrote the first book, KILLING SECRETS, it was supposed to be a one-off novel. I didn’t intend it to lead into a series. I created the characters necessary to support Patrick’s story. The kernel of these characters was sufficient to my needs. Halfway through the book, I fell in love with Patrick’s five foster brothers. By the end of that book, I had a series dancing around my head. One book for each foster brother. Six books in the series.

Then, I decided that I needed to tell Ross and Evelyn’s story, a prequel. I figured it would be a much shorter novella. Not so much! LOL Remember, I just had the kernels of their characters, the base, and the germ of a storyline filled with danger. I didn’t have characters that could live in this story. I had to build them pretty much from scratch.

In recent months, I’ve been picking and choosing the body parts I need to make the story breathe. Some of those parts came from the storyline itself. No wimps need apply in my romantic suspense! They need to survive the dangers. They have to have the traits and personalities that will help them live until the end of the book.

To truly be three-dimensional, though, I had to dig even deeper for both Ross and Evelyn. With each little quirk or trait or personality tweak, they both became living, breathing characters. It surprised me each time I found another part that made them whole. Now, they’re both real people to me.

Don’t get me wrong. They were real characters in KILLING SECRETS as parents to Patrick Thorne and five more rambunctious foster boys. But in writing SHADOW PURSUIT, they became so much more alive. I think I know exactly how Dr. Frankenstein felt when he yelled in that manic voice, “It’s aliiive!”

Some news!

As of today, I will be sending Karen Docter’s in the House out on Fridays. Yep. That’s right. Every Friday. I want to chat with you more and not depend on one day a month to promptly get all of my news to you. I won’t be writing lengthy newsletters each time. Think of it more like a diary entry, things that happened that week, things I’m looking forward to, maybe some random thoughts.

Substack gives me much more latitude, and I want to take advantage of it. I hope to do some personal chats and other things beyond the newsletter in the coming months. I will still run the “3-Things” giveaway each month, but it won’t necessarily be the first Friday (for instance, not today), just whenever I’m inspired by one of those random thoughts.

This Week’s Killer Book Bench & Killer Fixin’s Blogs

Monday: #amateur #sleuth #mystery, WHERE THE BONES LIE by Nick Kolakowski https://wp.me/p4pimt-9HX

Wednesday: #crime #thriller, BITTERFROST by Bryan Gruley https://wp.me/p4pimt-9IE

Friday: #pork #stew COUNTRY PORK STEW WITH CABBAGE from Karen's Kitchen https://wp.me/p4pimt-9Ie

Other News

I’m hosting a takeover at Midnight in the Garden Readers Group on Monday. I hope you’ll stop by to chat and play games with me. https://www.facebook.com/groups/midnightgarden

See you next Friday! Happy Reading!

Karen