Sharon Buchbinder's Blog - Posts Tagged "characters"

Where Do You Get Your Characters?

Authors are often asked “Where do you get your story ideas?” “How do you think of that stuff?” or “Where do you get your characters?” When I worked at a university, I used to reply, “I open my office door and look out into the hallway.” Some of us (ahem) also look at our families for characters.

My mother-in-law, Gertrude, may she rest in peace, was a short (four feet eight inches), feisty New Yorker who often rode the bipolar express. To say she was a challenge at times is an understatement. Between her ups and downs, she taught me some critical life-long skills. Included among these lessons were: how to stand up for myself at a hotel when they gave me the wrong room and refused to give me the right one (wait until a crowd forms, then start yelling), how not to dress (large orange polka dotted blouse and gold lamé pants) and how to make outstanding pot roast.

Today, in honor of the holiday season, I am gifting you with her pot roast recipe (Shhhh! It’s a family secret!) and an excerpt from Desire and Deception, starring Gert. I hope you enjoy both. I am also giving away a free ecopy of Desire and Deception to one lucky commenter!

To read more and to get that Pot Roast Recipe, go to http://bit.ly/ulnFTD
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Published on December 06, 2011 06:12 Tags: characters, desire-and-deception, mother-in-law, pot-roast-recipe, sharon-buchbinder

If Loving Villains is Wrong…I Don’t Want to Write!

Like many women of my generation, I grew up reading Nancy Drew, moved on to Agatha Christie, and then the darker realms of Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz. With Nancy Drew, we had Ned and his roadster for romantic interest. Surprisingly, I found more romance in King and Koontz’s works than in Christie’s. However, I wanted more romance in my reading and my writing. After turning my hand at horror, science fiction, and mystery, I moved under the generous umbrella of romance which could accommodate my fascination with genre crossing.

And villains.

To read more, go to http://bit.ly/1bnEvhQ

And remember, the Blogoversary party continues! Comment on my blog at http://www.sharonbuchbinder.com/blog/
to be eligible to win ebooks from awesome authors!
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Published on December 07, 2013 07:24 Tags: characters, craft, give-aways, villains