So, Jill and Gena started this topic, which was picked up by Rachel… and dang it! I want to play too. Okay, sure, my book isn’t out yet, but I’ve survived a couple rounds of edits and I’m making progress on my second book. That’s enough to start seeing some trends.
1. My lead heroine has a temper. And we’re talking the short-fuse, rip-your-head-off-with-no-regrets kind of temper.
2. Females don’t last long in my books. For some reason, my lead female tends to be …uhhh… territorial. Now, I’m not saying she’s the one killing off the other females, but they just don’t to last long around my lead female.
3. For some reason, my lead character constantly has his/her back to many supporting characters because “out of the corner of my eye” is a favorite phrase. Once it had been pointed out to me by my copyeditor, I became annoyed with it to the point of almost never using it.
4. The following names consistently appear in my books: Ryan, Nathan, Stephen, and James. These are family names and tend to appear when I am creating a character with very specific personality traits.
5. My major characters generally have names that start with “D”, “M”, “J”, or “A.” No matter how many character lists I make or how I try to balance the names, I flock to these names.
6. Guns are rarely if ever used by my main characters. My major players tend to be the hands-on type and definitely don’t mind getting dirty in a fight.
7. Much like Rachel’s list, people die in my books. Lots of people. And the number grows from first draft to final revision. I have one goal of writing an entire book without a body count. Yeah, it’ll be a few years before I get around to that. I first have to find a way to get my characters to curb their violent tendencies.
8. My main characters tend to be romantically challenged. They haven’t a clue as to what a “normal, healthy” relationship is, and wouldn’t know what to do if they accidentally fell into one. In other words, my characters don’t tend to be balanced, well-adjusted people.
9. I don’t write happy endings. I’ve tried and it just never works out. “Reality” just keeps getting in the way. A happy ending is another goal of mine, but I know the happy ending won’t happen in the no-body-count book. Ugh. Shiver. That would be just too happy.
10. And the final sign that I wrote the book … my name is on the front.
5 comments:
I think number 10 gives it away for the most part! Hah! When does your book come out? I wanna read!
This is a great idea for a blog post and it gets to be a trend so why not try it. My heroes always get extreme magical powers that always make things go boom and people go RIP, which sometimes is rest in pieces than rest in peace.
Personally I like number 1 and number 9 to be in large quantity in a book.
Good list.
Hey Jocelynn - glad you could join in the fun. I'll be posting over at my blog who all participated late Tuesday.
I'm glad you like the list. Nightwalker is slated to come out in late July/early August. It's up on Amazon, but it will be a few more months before I can post the cover.
I bet the cover will be as cool as the title and quite frankly I am intrigued. Will have to buy it, when I get some funds. To the TBR pile it goes!
Hi Jocelynn.
I found your blog through Vicki Pettersson and Jeaniene Frost's livejournals. Your "Top Ten Signs..." list is quite unique and I'm now very intrigued by your upcoming novel!
Do you have a book blurb or excerpt available? :)
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