Posted on November 7, 2011 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Bonding With Characters by Melissa Foster, Author of Come Back To Me
I am so honored to have award winning author, Melissa Foster guest posting on my blog today. I’ve admired Melissa for a long time, and I’m so blessed to call her friend. Her newest release Come Back To Me, is so beautifully written and such an amazing story of love, hope, courage and strength. It is a must read. Don’t miss this beautiful book, and be sure to check out her first two books, Chasing Amanda and Megan’s Way. Click here to purchase Come Back To Me from Amazon. Also be sure to check out her raving reviews, yes I posted one!
Bonding With Characters, by Melissa Foster
November 2011
You would think that creating a character would be like designing the perfect person. You, the writer, have full control of everything from the looks, personality, and style of this new person to when you will allow them to speak and what you will allow them to say. Given the nature of control that you have over your characters, you would think that liking or hating them would come easily. As an author, I don’t necessarily think that is true.
There are many times when I’m developing a character with one personality in mind, and something happens—the character speaks to me and tells me I’m wrong, and they’re allowed to create themselves, so to speak. This happened with the creation of Alice in COME BACK TO ME. When the story began, Alice was set to be a stoic, conniving woman with no ability to bond with others. I expected her to remain that way throughout the book. She had other ideas.
What happens next in these situations always takes me by surprise. I end up bonding with the characters I thought I would not. They take over more of the story, weaseling their way into the hearts of the author (yeah, that’s me), and when the writing process is over, I find myself thinking about them and their pasts, what made them the way they were.
It would be interesting to create a whole book one each character’s backstory. Yeah, I get a little too bonded to my characters. They never seem to go to sleep!
As a reader, do you put characters away easily or do you bond with them?
 Melissa Foster is the bestselling, award-winning author of three novels, Megan’s Way, Chasing Amanda, and Come Back to Me. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, and the WoMen’s Literary Cafe. Melissa is currently collaborating in the film production of Megan’s Way, and hard at work on her next novel.
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| My Review of Come Back to Me By Melissa FosterHaving read her previous two books, I was excited to sit down with this one, hoping Come Back to Me would draw me in the way that they did.
In no time at all, I was hooked and had a difficult time doing anything else, besides reading. Come Back to Me is a story full of love, loss and a determination that is unbeatable, a faith unwavering and a beautiful ending that you didn’t really see coming.There were definitely some tears that fell during several parts of the story as Ms. Foster brought her characters to life. It was easy to feel the emotions and see the struggles and challenges that they endured. I connected to this book in a way I haven’t connected to a book in some time. The story is a story of the unending love shared between Tess and Beau. There was never a question in how much these two loved each other. It was right there in black and white through the entire story.When Beau heads off to Iraq for a short photography job, Tess tries to talk him out of it, but Beau assures her, he will be safe and this is just the thing that will launch the career he has always wanted. She relents and supports him. During his trip she discovers she is pregnant and cant’t wait to share the news with Beau who is miles away via a video chat so she can see his face. Tragedy strikes, as you suspected it would and Tess keeps her undying faith that Beau will come back to her. There are plenty of interesting twists and turns along the way that will keep you wondering if Tess will remain faithful in her knowing that Beau will return. So does he? Let’s just say the story doesn’t go the way you thought it would, but that isn’t bad, not at all. It was beautifully written and you will need to read the book to find out more. Definitely a fantastic book! The thing I love most about Melissa Foster is her writing style, the way she weaves the words together to create an emotional connection immediately with the characters, the setting, the story. Not only was this book amazing the first time, but I actually read it a second time because I was planning to write this review. I loved it even more the second time, and I didn’t think that was possible. Please be sure to check out her other books, Megan’s Way and Chasing Amanda. You will not be disappointed. |
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November 7, 2011
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Justin Bogdanovitch said:
A nice, revealing Post about character-building, and your own thought process. Thank you Melissa for sharing with Nicole and us. I love it when a rich character stays in my head like you describe: while I’m writing a scene or caught up in a great book because the characters are so darn interesting (yes, and especially, even the conniving ones!).
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November 7, 2011
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Melissa Foster (@Melissa_Foster) said:
Hi Justin, thanks for stopping by and reading the post. I am always amazed at authors who can turn their characters off. I am simply unable to do that and love a book that draws them out long after the last word is read.
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November 7, 2011
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Jan Rider Newman said:
Good post. My best characters are the ones I bond with, the ones who tell me, “No! I’m not going to do or say that. I’m not who you thought I was.” In fact, if I don’t bond with them, they don’t turn out to be very interesting.
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November 7, 2011
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Melissa Foster (@Melissa_Foster) said:
Jan, I laughed at that. Yes, if we don’t behave they don’t behave, lol.
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November 7, 2011
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Brandy Walker said:
Thanks for a great post. I never thought of it as “bonding”, but as a writer, you do bond with characters, and it is a wonderful experience.
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November 7, 2011
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Melissa Foster (@Melissa_Foster) said:
Hi Brandy, I think of characters are real people, so to me, they’re bonds that we build. I’m glad you stopped by for a visit and hope we connect elsewhere, too.
Nicole, thank you for hosting me on your blog today. I’ve really enjoyed it and I look forward to many more collaborations.
Write on!
xo,
M
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November 7, 2011
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zencherry said:
I would love to read a book of your back stories!
Your characters are intrinsically sincere in their responses to events and pull the reader further into their world by their very nature. Tess and Beau’s back story, (read love story), is probably A-1 on my list, but then, I kind of got a crush on those two and their relationship. Yep. You’re that good.
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November 8, 2011
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Norma Budden said:
I most definitely do bond with my characters. That’s why I decided to have open season when it comes to the number of books I intend to publish to my Freedom in Love series. I can foresee it going into, at least, six books but don’t anticipate announcing an end to it any time soon.
One more thing: my characters write their own stories. I plan nothing – just go along for the ride. They continue to overwhelm me with the depth of the their feelings and insights.
I fear I can’t seem to put my characters to bed. I’ve written about 2000 words this evening and could keep going but I do need to go to bed even if my characters crawl in with me.
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November 8, 2011
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Cathy Dreyer said:
I find characters very hard. I really enjoyed this post. Helpful. Cathy x