IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

Do you ever look into the deep green shadows of a primeval forest and wonder what those secret depths hold? Do you like to write about your new and inventive discoveries while sipping a glass of fragrant wine? Do you enjoy the creative process? Then I hope you will stop a spell, enjoy the adventure, and travel with me as we imagine the possibilities...

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Designing Woman

Menoly Anne Arnau, proud Floridian of Minorcan descent, Anthropologist by degree, government employee by day, and sometimes knit-wear designer, learns that not every twig holding mankind’s heritage was in her text books.  In a week, she witnesses a bloody murder on the steps of a church, meets Antoine de Chevalier, Interpol Agent and Les Gens extraordinaire, and becomes embroiled in the midst of an international investigation centered in Tallahassee, Florida’s capitol city.  Through all of her adventures in Les Gens: Into the Night, as she experiences horror, murder, and romance, she wears her knitted designs. 

Menoly is a designing woman.

And that is a good thing.  Knitting makes her happy, and it makes me, the author, happy.  It is also a marketing tool.  (BIG cheesy grin) 

When writing, It is much more interesting to have characters who are as real as people seen on the street, at work, or in the local knit shop.  My folk, and the people in books I remember and enjoy reading about, have loves, hates, homes, friends, acquaintances, families, hobbies, and on and on.  I read Anne McCaffrey said for characters to have a present, they have to have a past,or they will not be grounded.  I agree.  Characters won’t leap off the page unless the author gives them a complete life.  Raison de vivre… a reason to live.  That reason to live gives the author a plethora of opportunities to spread the word about her/his book.

Does your character like to play guitar?  Do you have music the character has written?  Right there, you have a place to advertise.  What about paint?  Share information in watercolor/oil/acrylic groups in your town and on the internet.  An author I know writes about a woman who works with her Sheriff’s Department as an adjunct diver and helps solve crime.  She joined a national diver’s association and attends their conferences selling her books.  Glynn Marsh Alam – sets a fine example on marketing her Luanne Fogarty series.  See?
 
Menoly knits, and not only knits, but designs garments.  I’m making designs for Menoly.  Some will be offered free, some will be for sale on this blog, or, if I can ever get one set up, through a website.  Now, I take designing seriously, having already sold some of my patterns.  I'm not blowing smoke, and nor should you.  Do your research. 

Take your writing and share it with others.  Look in your book to find places and people who will be interested in these wonderful characters you’ve written about.

But most of all – have fun as you breathe life into your characters!

Imagining the possibilities,


Peggy

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