Thursday, May 2, 2019

Terry Shames on Minor Character Magic

RHYS BOWEN: It's amazing how attached we get to minor characters in our series, isn't it? I've had characters who were only intended to have a cameo role but would not go away--Sid and Gus in the Molly Murphy books and the Princess ZouZou in the Royal Spyness books who inserted herself into the story in a major way!

well, today on Jungle Reds we are hosting my good friend Terry Shames who has had interesting encounters with her background characters and is going to tell us about them today.

TERRY SHAMES:
Thank you so much to the “Reds” for hosting me on the occasion of the publication of my eighth book in the Samuel Craddock series.

Today I would like to have a conversation about background characters in our books.



I base my mystery plots on real life events or tales that I craft into stories complete with clues and red herrings. But to me what feels like magic is how background characters participate. When I start a new book, I feel like I walk into town and say, “What has everybody been up to?” And they tell me.  This has not always been the case. I’ve had to grow into it.

I like to read series, because I like to watch characters change over time, sometimes in surprising ways. But I had no idea when I started my first Craddock book whether it would become a series.  I barged into the first book without a thought of how an older protagonist would stretch and grow, much less how minor characters would change over time.

The first three books had a natural arc and they were centered around the protagonist, Samuel Craddock. I wanted  Samuel, an ex-chief of police, to become the chief again. In the third book, Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek, when the town went broke, it gave him the opportunity to step into the role of chief. Craddock didn’t need a salary, so when the town couldn’t afford to pay a police chief, it was natural for him to step in.

By the fourth book, when Samuel’s neighbor, Jenny,  became the focus,  I was beginning to see that the stories of supporting characters were important in their own way. I could keep the series fresh by having minor characters’ lives change—the way real people’s lives change. But I couldn’t depend on “magic.” I had to have a sense of direction.
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But what direction? Sometimes, characters seemed to take off on their own. One character had an affair—and his wife did not take it well. Another left town. One got a new hobby. In one case, I took direction from my readers. Fans asked if Samuel, a widower, was ever going to have a relationship with a new woman. So in book three, I introduced a new character, Ellen Forester, who moved to town to start an art gallery and workshop. She became Samuel’s love interest. They didn’t have much in common, and after the next few  books, I began to grow a little weary of her. Meanwhile, Dru Ann Love asked me to do a “Day in the Life” portrait of Ellen, and to my surprise, at the end of the “interview” Ellen revealed that she had a secret. I didn’t know what the secret was, or how it was going to play out, but I knew it would come out at some point. And did it ever!

By book five I felt the series needed a jolt. I was still okay with Ellen and Samuel’s relationship with his friend Jenny had been thoroughly explored, so what next? More tweaking of minor characters .I decided to give  Samuel a new sidekick, Maria Trevino. It turned to be the perfect foil: Samuel’s wisdom and experience played off against Maria’s idealism and fresh perspective.

Several people were interested to know how Samuel “became” the man we know as an older man. The prequel, An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock, was written to explore Samuel’s past—including his relationships with his destructive family and his wife.

My last book, A Reckoning in the Back Country, was a particularly hard book to write because it was about dog fighting. I had to make the back story really enjoyable and compelling to balance the horrendous main story.  I was tired of Ellen and I wanted Samuel to have a frisky new “main squeeze.” Wendy Gleason showed up at a Thanksgiving feast when Ellen was out of town, and they were off. But what to do about Ellen? Aha! I remembered that she had a secret. The way it played out was so perfect, that it seemed as if I must have known long before what was going to happen. That’s magic at work.


In the book that just came out, I wanted to feature long-time character Loretta Singletary, whom  I think of as a Greek chorus. She provides a lot of knowledge about Jarrett Creek’s citizens that Samuel uses in his investigations. I was also interested in doing a story about on-line dating. Again, here’s where magic seemed to be at work. In the end of the previous book, Loretta had showed up at Samuel’s house with a new hairdo and wearing stylish clothing. At the time, I had no idea why she was doing that. So when I started A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary, I realized that the reason she had been gussied up was to find a new beau. On a dating website!

 Mystery plots unfold against a background of “real life” for ongoing characters. The characters grow, and learn, and try new things, sometimes at their peril. If that didn’t happen, the stories themselves would be stale. For me, it seems to have an element of magic to it. Their growth is not something I plan. It’s something I take advantage of.

How do  other series writers come up with movement for their minor characters? Do you meander along letting characters act much the way real life seems to—without particular intent, letting magic happen? Or are you keenly aware of exactly the direction you want your characters to go?

RHYS:  Terry is on her way to Malice today. Do say hi to her! I wish I could join all of you.










36 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new book, Terry. It’s always a pleasure to read a new book in a series and find out what all the folks are up to in the new story.

    I enjoy background characters . . . they add such a depth to the story being told and they are often lots of fun!

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  2. First, let me just say that Terry's new book, A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary, is a fantastic read. Terry, you are keeping the series fresh, and I think having Samuel find a new and more vibrant love interest in Wendy was a brilliant move in that direction. Of course, I've been in love with Samuel Craddock myself since the very beginning. And, Loretta has been a favorite of mine all along, too. Again, bringing change to Loretta was a stroke of genius, having her try out a more youthful hairstyle and buying new, less frumpy clothes. She deserved a makeover that would bring attention to her not just being a long-time pillar of the community whom everyone took for granted. I apologize profusely, Terry, for not having my review up yet. I usually have it up by the day of publication at least. I've had some health issues come up, which should all be okay, but they have been most worrisome. As a result, the month of April was a disaster for my reading and reviewing and blogging. But, I dearly loved this new book, and you can bet that my review is going to be glowing. Hope you have lots of fun at Malice, my dear friend.

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    1. Kathy, you do more than your share. Thanks for the kind words about Risky Undertaking. It was so much more fun to write than the previous one.

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  3. Welcome Terry! And have a great time at Malice! I love the story of your character announcing that she had a secret. Mine are usually more subtle than that LOL. But I do like to turn to those minor characters to raise the stakes. For instance, thinking about what kind of trouble Lorenzo could be in, which definitely Becomes an incentive for Hayley to solve the case! Or it could be Eric or a step brother or a mother-in-law… Luckily, the possibilities are endless so the series can continue without getting stale

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    1. Lucy, it was a total surprise, and I credit Dru Ann with coming up with the idea of posting a "Day in the Life." It's a great way to get to know a character.

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  4. I love that the supporting cast steps up into the spotlight almost at their own will! Sometimes when I'm working on a new series book, I'll need a character to fill a role. Instead of creating a brand new one (and angsting over exactly the right name and what their secrets are), a minor person from a previous book will step forward and raise her hand, or he'll point at his own chest. Done!

    Funny story about a non-continuing personality. A woman won naming rights to a character in my local foods mysteries in a charity auction. So I stuck in Diana Weaver as one of the farm's customers, and she chats with farmer Cam about canning tomatoes with her daughters. Before the book was over, Diane had become a DEA agent! The real Diane was thrilled with her exciting role, too.

    I can't wait to read the new book, Terry, and to see you today or tomorrow.

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    2. Edith, I did that with a named character, too. The woman loved that character of the wronged woman who showed up with cleavage and a short skirt. Like you, I continued her into the next book.

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    3. I have two people in my town who were also top bidders in charity auctions. They are each a character in 1889 Amesbury, and have continued in subsequent Quaker Midwife Mysteries. They LOVE it and buy books for all their family members.

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    4. Edith, I love how the character became a DEA agent! If you are looking for a name for your Quaker series, I have a name for you. My 3x great grandfather's sister Henrietta Jessup. Jessup is her married name. And yes, she married a Quaker named Jessup.

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  5. Congratulations on your new release!

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    1. Thank you Joan and Margaret. New book time is always exciting.

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  6. Congratulations, Terry, as ever! I love these books and have been reserving this one for my trip to Australia next week so I can read it in one sitting. It's actually making me look forward to the flight -- pretty much a miracle. I'm very early in my series, but I'm definitely a "pantser" when it comes to letting my secondary characters surprise me or throw something up which, then, I have to pay off in the next book. I believe in the magic, too.

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    1. Have a great time in Australia. I was there thirty years ago, and it was an adventure.

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  7. Terry, really enjoy your series, so it's great to know there's a new book. The characters, the setting--I always look forward to visiting with them and seeing what's going on now!

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    1. Thank you, Flora. I hope you like the new one.

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  8. It is so exciting to discover a new (to me) author with a series that sounds like something right down my alley. Looking forward to reading them all!

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  9. Congratulations, Terry, and thanks for the peek behind the magic curtain. I'm always fascinated by this process of characters driving their own stories. It IS magic, there is no other word for it.

    So sad to miss you all at Malice this year. Have fun!

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    1. Karen, I'm already here at Malice. It's foggy out. It's a different kind of fog than the kind we get on the west coast. And yes, I do love the magic of characters popping in on their own.

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  10. Terry, I have "Loretta" in my TBR stack now. It's on the top and I can't wait! Looking forward to seeing more of Wendy too! Enjoy Malice and I'll see you at CCWC in June.

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  11. Thank you, Lydia. Busy month! See you in June.

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  12. Terry, have a wonderful time at Malice! I often see you at Sisters in Crime meetings and it was great to see you at Left Coast Crime. Happy Book birthday! I will need to find that Dru interview with Ellen. Was the interview about two years ago?

    Rhys, I learned the word "meander" from reading Maisie Dobbs. I often look up new words in the dictionary when reading novels.

    Minor characters can have an impact on the story. I wonder if minor characters are like the Greek chorus? I was thinking of the cast of characters in Agatha Christie novels and she includes minor characters with shorter word descriptions.

    Diana

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    1. Diana, hard to believe, but it was actually three years ago that the Ellen "Day in the Life" came out. Clever you regarding the Greek chorus. I often say that Loretta serves the purpose of a Greek chorus.

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  13. Hi Terry! Have a great time at Malice!! You know how much I love your series and how much I'm looking forward to this book!

    I've always said that the minor characters are one of my favorite things about writing. So often I've created them as a means to moving a story forward, and then suddenly they take on a life of their own and want to tell their stories! My Erika Rosenthal in Where Memories Lie was one of those, and Andy Monahan in The Sound of Broken Glass was another. It really does feel like magic.

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    1. Hi Deb, sorry you won't be here at Malice. But ask Kristopher and Dru what I did last night when they asked me if I was going to Dallas!

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    2. Deborah,

      Loved Erika Rosenthal. She is among my favorite characters from your novels.

      Diana

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    3. Deborah, your supporting characters are among the best ever! I love Erika Rosenthal and Andy Monahan has such a compelling story. (The Sound of Broken Glass happened to be the first book of yours that I read and now I am an absolute fanatic.) Getting back to your characters, who does not love Hazel? Melody and Doug are such great individuals with such great back stories of their own. I do believe that these creations are what hooks readers in and keeps them counting the days until the next book is released. Thank you for making me a fan of mysteries!

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  14. Hi Terry! I hope you are having blue skies and strong tailwinds on the way to Malice. I checked NOAA, and it looks like you will have no bad weather on the way back. Enjoy your time in Bethesda, I am waving to you from Tampa.
    I hope you know how much I appreciate your tx of the minor characters in Samuel's world. Everyone has a story to tell, I am so happy that it was Loretta's turn. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be an ARC reader for book 8. As always your masterful ending twist was excellent. p.s. I still don't trust Wendy.

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    1. Forgot to mention, when you reread book 3, knowing the secret, it still made sense. You did not need to retcon the book. Wow!.

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    2. I'm happy to hear all that! Glad you liked the twist at the end. Believe it or not, I knew from the beginning that's the way things were going to happen. Usually I have to wait for the ending to present itself.

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  15. I have to get back to your series! I read the first two books, then got sidetracked. I think they were a recommendation of the Houston Public Library. Anyway, I do enjoy Samuel's character and his relationships with others. After book 2 I was confused as to the general direction of Jarrett Creek. Where again is it in relation to Austin, San Antonio, and what? Waco?

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    1. Pat, that's a great question. There is good reason to be confused. I actually changed its location in the Book 3 because i wanted Samuel to go to the hill country, but didn't want him to have to drive three hours! That's the advantage of writing a fictional town...you can scoot it around.

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    2. Thank you! It is good to know I am not entirely losing it!

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  16. The beauty of a series is all those wonderful background characters that you have waitingin the wings for their moment in the spotlight! I write standalones and so it's one and done. Though I have toyed with taking a minor character from a book and having them take center stage in the next. Have a great time at Malice!

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  17. Small world! I just hugged Terry in the lobby of the Malice hotel! And she is such a brilliant writer… Looking forward to a fabulous weekend, and will try to check in from time to time Xxxxx

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    1. I love to arrive early and start seeing the conference hotel filling up...

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