Back to the CWOW Home Page

an Affiliate of American Christian Fiction Writers

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Writing Characters - The Men in My Life

 

By Shannon Taylor Vannatter
I’ve been happily married for thirty years and have a thirteen year old boy. They are the men in my life. But since I write inspirational romance, there are other men in my life. For my readers to fall in love with the hero, I have to fall for him first. A large part of a lovable hero comes from how they treat the heroine. That part is easy. My heroes treat my heroines the way my husband treats me.

As my writing has evolved, I’ve found an audience for cowboys. But my husband isn’t one, nor do I live where there are a lot of genuine cowboys. I had to learn their lingo and mannerisms as well. The best place to study cowboys that I’ve found is Texas. Especially since my rodeo books are set in Texas. Since we have family there, we visit every few years. And as a rule, I try to only use settings I can actually visit, so I know I’m getting the details right.
For my first cowboy book, I spent a day at the Fort Worth Stockyards, where my rodeo series is set. I researched the rodeo, history, and lifestyle, but I spent a lot of time just watching and listening to cowboys. I also Googled and found a list of cowboy lingo and rodeo slang to help me get into character.

Since we’re talking romance, they have to look good too. I’m a very visual writer. In the beginning, my friends and family saved their magazines and catalogs. I cut out pictures of attractive or interesting looking people and kept them in a large folder. When I started a new book, I’d get out my folder and find a picture to represent my hero and heroine. It depended on the story. If there was an important side character, I found their picture too. And if hero and/or heroine have kids or pets, I had pictures for them also.
For the last ten years or so, I’ve Googled to find my characters. In a way, I miss the old catalog and magazine days. It was more time consuming than Googling, but with the JC Penney catalog and Redbook magazine, I didn’t worry about seeing underdressed men. When I first ventured into internet images, I used Stock Photo. But as my booklist grew, Stock Photo didn’t have enough variety. One day, I Googled male models with green eyes. I found a lot of them, but some of them didn’t wear clothes. And if you Google cowboys, they almost never wear shirts.

I finally figured it out—I Google male model headshots. Sometimes, they don’t wear shirts, but you can only see shoulders. Not that I’m opposed to shirtless men, but it feels odd when I have to send my editor pictures for the cover art and I send her a shirtless cowboy. I’ve only done that once and apologized because it was the only picture I could find that fit the cowboy in my head.
I used to keep all of my character images in my Picture file on my computer. But then I discovered Pinterest, a writer’s best friend. I have boards for all of my books except my first two rodeo titles I wrote before I discovered Pinterest. I have a board where I keep images of future and potential characters and a board of engagement photos for scene inspiration.

Now, as I write books, I create a board with characters and scenes as I go. On my Rodeo Family board, I included a lot the heroine’s clothing since she dreams of being a fashion designer. My book boards have gotten larger and more detailed with each book. And when it comes time to send my editor images for cover art, I have everything together and ready to go on Pinterest. I keep private boards for books not yet released. Shortly before the book releases, I make the board public and share my Pinterest reveal on Facebook, so readers can get a glimpse of the book to come.
I often joke about getting paid to Google men and that it’s part of my job. A few years ago, I was stuck on a character, partly because I couldn’t find a picture to represent the guy in my head. My local writer’s group was planning their first retreat, so I went and once everybody learned about my character problem, several of them helped me Google men. We laughed because our Christian writer’s group was Googling men at our Christian retreat at a church camp.

My husband knows about the cowboys in my life. Often, I’ll be at the computer and he’ll ask what I’m doing. My response—Googling men. He doesn’t bat an eye. In one of my dedications, I thanked my husband for not minding if I dream about cowboys all day.

Answer this question for a chance to win a paper copy of my latest release, Rodeo Family: Do you have any tips for organization in writing or any other area of your life?

To purchase your own copy now, click here. 
 

TORI EATON IS READY TO START OVER 
She's beginning a new chapter in Aubrey, Texas, away from her abusive ex-boyfriend. As she picks up the pieces of her broken life, Tori's surprised at the helping hand the church's new song director, Brant McConnell, offers her, and at the warm emotions he inspires.

Brant is drawn to Tori. And as their friendship grows, so do his feelings for her. But Tori is still hounded by her past, and the walls she's built around her heart are high. Can he convince the wounded beauty that he's exactly the kind of man she needs—and deserves
?

               

Central Arkansas author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom/pastor’s wife. She lives in a town with a population of around 100, if you count a few cows and once climbed a mountain wearing gold wedge-heeled sandals which became known as her hiking boots. Vannatter won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award in the short contemporary category, The 18th Annual Heartsong Awards 3rd Favorite New Author and #1 Contemporary Award.
She has ten published titles and is contracted for five more. Her books are available at: christianbook.com, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, harlequin.com, and barbourbooks.com. Learn more about Shannon and her books at http://shannonvannatter.com  and check out her real life romance blog at http://shannonvannatter.com/blog/.


 

18 comments:

  1. Hi Shannon,
    I'm not published yet, but I adore Pinterest. When I discovered you can create secret boards, I began pinning everything from my heroine and hero to the homes they live in and the secondary characters and the landscape...Pretty much everything. It's so easy to go to and see my pictures and doesn't slow my computer down by adding more pictures to files.

    I enjoyed your post today. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great minds think alike, Jackie :) I have pictures of their houses and yards, barns, trucks, all kinds of stuff. One of my heroes has a rustic cabin. I have pictures of all kinds of deer horn chandeliers, toilet paper holders, salt and pepper shakers. His decor is Bass Pro galore.

      Delete
    2. LOL! Bass Pro decor. That's funny.

      Delete
    3. We visit Texas every year or so to see family and my husband and son can't drive by a Bass Pro or Cabela's without stopping. There are two of each on the way to our destination. We stop at each one every trip. I hang out in the decor and gift section, then end up on a bench watching the huge fish tank. I got inspiration for my hero's cabin on one of those trips.

      Delete
    4. My son's room is bass pro galore too. It's painted hunter green, I made his bedspread and curtains - deer and camo patterned. And he has a mounted wild boar head he killed when he was ten, a fish he caught when he was 8, a turkey tail and feet he killed when he was 11, a mounted deer head my grandfather got years ago, and several mounted antlers and fish we bought at flea markets. My husband doesn't hunt and I was hoping my son wouldn't. I always feel sorry for the deer. But all his friends hunt, so of course he wants to too. I will admit I enjoy the meat.

      Delete
  2. Hi Shannon!

    What a creative and fun post to read! :)

    I enjoyed learning about the "men in your life" and I definitely want to read your books!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Alexis. My editor once needed my cover materials quickly and apologized for requesting for such short timing. I told her about my Pinterest boards and she thought it was a great idea. She called me organized. That made me snort. I'm so unorganized. My Pinterest boards are the only organized things in my life.

      Delete
  3. Welcome Shannon!!! I love, love, love this idea. So much easier to find pix when the scene is fresh in your mind, rather than scrambling after the book is done. BRILLIANT!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tina. Initially, I did the scrambling after the book was done type thing. But as I created more Pinterest boards, I thought it would be a great way to save time and scrambling.

      Delete
  4. Hi, Shannon! Thanks for sharing how to use Pinterest in this way. I'll definitely try it on my next book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Brenda, the only thing about Pinterest, just like any social nework, it can be addicting. I have to pry myself off sometimes. I have a future craft idea board that if I quit everything right now and only did the crafts on the board, I'd never finish a quarter of them.

      Delete
  5. Shannon, remind me to teach you how to crop photos. ;) I love Pinterest and have boards for all kinds of things. One feature I do like is the "secret" or private boards. I think you are allow 3. I put a ton of things in mine called Characters. It is completely unorganized but any time I run across an outfit, model, scenery, or piece of jewelry I might want to use in a story that is where it goes...into my secret box. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Believe it or not, I do know how to crop, Lisa. But that one shirtless cowboy I sent to my editor had some kind of lock on it where I couldn't crop. When I tried, it just made the whole picture smaller. That's the only time I've ever run into that. My character board is public. I have one for clothes too. And weddings. The only ones I keep private are the books that aren't released. And mine is completely unorganized too. Sometime's when I'm writing, I go to my scene inspiration board to help me come up with a fresh setting.

      Delete
  6. no. I need help in that area angelachesnut246@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Angela,
    My Pinterest boards for writing are the only thing in my life that is somewhat organized. The rest of my life is a series of piles. But I know what's in each pile and no one is allowed to touch them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree, Shannon. I do have a semblance of order in my Pinterest boards. I also laughed at your descriptions of Googling men because I ran into the same thing looking for my Biblical characters with beards! Thanks for sharing your ideas. One of my other favorite organizational tools is Scrivener, a favorite of many writers. I love the ability to save links of helpful websites right in your project. I have links to Youtube videos of camels...in caravans, standing, bucking, running, lying down, rolling, eating; maps of ancient Israel, clothing in ancient times, Israelite and Phoenician names, and more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Dana, I've been wanting to look into Scrivener and signed for a class at the last ACFW con, but I also signed up to do paid critiques, so I didn't get to go to the class. It sounds very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for having me, Dana. I enjoyed chatting with everyone.

    ReplyDelete