I tend to fall in love with my secondary characters. Not that I don’t love my heroes and heroines. I do. But my secondaries?
They’re in a class by themselves.
Part of the reason they’re so important to me is that I often model them after people I know, usually students. It’s not a way of saying a student is one of my favorites. They’re all my favorites. I love teaching. Yet a distinct personality or even a name will call to me on a level I can’t explain. Maybe it’s a “writer thing.”
Or I’m simply insane. That’s what my husband has been saying for years…
While I can use humor with a hero or heroine, I can let a secondary go to an extreme. Eccentricity becomes the rules of the day. The peculiar way she dresses. His odd mannerisms. Her unusual way of speaking. Being able to write about all those things and more is turning an author loose on a literary playground. At least for me…
My favorite secondary characters have to be Sheila and Bruiser from the second of my Damaged Heroes stories, Free Falling. Picture a small, demure legal secretary who dresses in Dockers, angora sweaters, and understated jewelry. All of about five-foot tall, she is often mistaken for being a high-schooler. That’s Sheila. Add the personality of an Army drill sergeant, and she becomes the character with the best one-liners I’ve ever written.
Her boyfriend is the stereotype of a Hell’s Angel. All leather and attitude and height that towers over most people. But he looks at Sheila through the eyes of love, and together they make the most mismatched and devoted couple I’ve ever created. Since Bruiser is a private investigator, I’ve decided I might owe him and Sheila their own book one day. A nice cozy mystery perhaps.
That’s the last great thing about secondary characters. You don’t always have to tell them goodbye. Oftentimes, they can reappear to vex or assist other heroes and heroines. Or they can even be elevated to a starring role.
The cool thing about the Ladies Who Lunch series is that all four of my Ladies will be that each Lady is the heroine, but for the other three books, she’s a secondary. Which pleases me more than you can ever know!
For the fans of Jennifer Probst, Ruth Cardello and Jill Shalvis, comes a series about love, friendship, and lunch!
When life gets tough and love is hard to find, four friends take their troubles to lunch. High school teacher Juliana Kelley tells the Ladies Who Lunch that her life needs an overhaul . . . and gets a whole lot more than she wished for.
Juliana has spent thirteen years in the same teaching job. She’s ready to dive into a new career with both feet . . . when a run-in with the hottest man she’s ever seen knocks her head over heels. But with her failed marriage to a fellow teacher fresh on her mind, Jules can’t afford to lose herself in a relationship-no matter how perfect it may seem.
Connor Wilson has hit rock bottom when he loses his career as a top-notch Realtor because of a large gambling debt. Now, in a small town he finds a fresh start-and a gorgeous redhead who sparks new life into him. Together they start a successful real estate company, but when pleasure sneaks into the business, they’ll have to decide what they can let go . . . and what they can’t live without.
Word count: 75,000-85,000
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Genre - Contemporary Romance
Rating – PG-13
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