Secondary characters have many functions in stories. Have you ever had a secondary character surprise you in some way? How? Do you have a favorite secondary character in either your own work or in books you have read?
Great question! There's a story behind the second book in my Minnesota Romances. When I wrote the first book, For the Love of His Life, my desire was to depict a person falling in love not only with a character, but with the place she lived in. I love to camp up at Grand Marais, Minnesota. It's way up on the northern tip of the state, above Duluth, and about a 12-hour drive from my home in the Chicago area. But worth it! I was so unhappy one year when we were heading home, that to keep myself from crying, I began to imagine how wonderful it would be to live up there year-round...and what better way to do that, than by falling in love with a local?
So the character of Raul Roderick, arrogant action movie star, used to getting anything he wants, including all of the coke he can snort, from the groupies who adore him, was born. After his latest arrest, his new producer sends him up to Grand Marais to dry out before he's to star in a bio-pic set up there. The director's cousin, a tall, athletic blonde, who bakes fabulous pies, is assigned to keep him out of trouble. But trouble follows him.
I had an inspiration for a tall, red-headed biker queen to drive with her gang all the way to Grand Marais, so she could insist he have sex with her. Since the actor is already falling in love, he turns her down. You don't do that to a biker queen used to getting any man she wants...especially when her gang is with her! There is a chase scene, the police are called by a younger cousin who is acting as chauffeur, and the bikers are escorted out of town. Then the story continues, and that's it for the biker queen, who is never mentioned again. She's not really a secondary character--more of a big part role.
But when I was writing the end of what reviewer Harley called, "The best book of the year!", I began the epilogue with Ivan, a friend of the couple, wanting to clear up any problems they might encounter as they start their new life together. That includes having his ex-KGB cousin, (who he taught everything he knows to,) convince the drug dealers that the actor is to be left alone from now on. His last chore is to let the biker queen know she's not to ever bother the actor again either. And at that point, the cousin began to whisper to me about how the biker queen wasn't what he expected her to be, and she started yelling at me that I needed to tell her story next.
So I quickly wrote Only One Man Will Do. All of the titles in this series are puns, with double meanings. But as you can imagine, in a romance starring a woman who is used to having sex with all of the men in her gang, it's going to take some serious persuading, that all she needs is one man who doesn't like to share. This is the most erotic book I've ever written, second only to Prescription for Love, my novel that is free on Smashwords. (See link on right column.)
And when my husband read this book, at first he didn't want to finish it, telling me it "had too much sex in it." Whah?? Then when he did read it, he asked me if I modeled the biker queen after myself, before I met him. I told him that was only partially true. She's much bolder and brassier than I ever had the nerve to be. But in telling her story, I got to really like her, and I certainly didn't expect that to happen! Hey, everyone deserves a happy ending, right?
I had no plan to write a third book for this series, but when I wrote the epilogue for the second book, Ivan, the cousin, began to whisper to me that it was time for him to meet the woman of his dreams. Since he was only a supporting character in both of the other books, I thought that was only fair. Her Last Resort tells his story.
I never start out with plans for a series, but the supporting and bit part characters will have their way with me. Sigh...
To see what the other authors in the group think about this subject, head to the next name on the list for the post by our fearless leader who comes up with all of these great topics:
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
Great question! There's a story behind the second book in my Minnesota Romances. When I wrote the first book, For the Love of His Life, my desire was to depict a person falling in love not only with a character, but with the place she lived in. I love to camp up at Grand Marais, Minnesota. It's way up on the northern tip of the state, above Duluth, and about a 12-hour drive from my home in the Chicago area. But worth it! I was so unhappy one year when we were heading home, that to keep myself from crying, I began to imagine how wonderful it would be to live up there year-round...and what better way to do that, than by falling in love with a local?
So the character of Raul Roderick, arrogant action movie star, used to getting anything he wants, including all of the coke he can snort, from the groupies who adore him, was born. After his latest arrest, his new producer sends him up to Grand Marais to dry out before he's to star in a bio-pic set up there. The director's cousin, a tall, athletic blonde, who bakes fabulous pies, is assigned to keep him out of trouble. But trouble follows him.
I had an inspiration for a tall, red-headed biker queen to drive with her gang all the way to Grand Marais, so she could insist he have sex with her. Since the actor is already falling in love, he turns her down. You don't do that to a biker queen used to getting any man she wants...especially when her gang is with her! There is a chase scene, the police are called by a younger cousin who is acting as chauffeur, and the bikers are escorted out of town. Then the story continues, and that's it for the biker queen, who is never mentioned again. She's not really a secondary character--more of a big part role.
But when I was writing the end of what reviewer Harley called, "The best book of the year!", I began the epilogue with Ivan, a friend of the couple, wanting to clear up any problems they might encounter as they start their new life together. That includes having his ex-KGB cousin, (who he taught everything he knows to,) convince the drug dealers that the actor is to be left alone from now on. His last chore is to let the biker queen know she's not to ever bother the actor again either. And at that point, the cousin began to whisper to me about how the biker queen wasn't what he expected her to be, and she started yelling at me that I needed to tell her story next.
So I quickly wrote Only One Man Will Do. All of the titles in this series are puns, with double meanings. But as you can imagine, in a romance starring a woman who is used to having sex with all of the men in her gang, it's going to take some serious persuading, that all she needs is one man who doesn't like to share. This is the most erotic book I've ever written, second only to Prescription for Love, my novel that is free on Smashwords. (See link on right column.)
And when my husband read this book, at first he didn't want to finish it, telling me it "had too much sex in it." Whah?? Then when he did read it, he asked me if I modeled the biker queen after myself, before I met him. I told him that was only partially true. She's much bolder and brassier than I ever had the nerve to be. But in telling her story, I got to really like her, and I certainly didn't expect that to happen! Hey, everyone deserves a happy ending, right?
I had no plan to write a third book for this series, but when I wrote the epilogue for the second book, Ivan, the cousin, began to whisper to me that it was time for him to meet the woman of his dreams. Since he was only a supporting character in both of the other books, I thought that was only fair. Her Last Resort tells his story.
I never start out with plans for a series, but the supporting and bit part characters will have their way with me. Sigh...
To see what the other authors in the group think about this subject, head to the next name on the list for the post by our fearless leader who comes up with all of these great topics:
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
