Happy New Year! I hope your January is coming along well.
For me, this month has been full of reading and writing. I find these days I’m in such awe of other writers. In January I read three beautifully written fiction novels, highlighted later on in this newsletter, and one non-fiction, Say Nothing, that read like fiction. I find non-fiction books that read like fiction are so compelling because you have the opportunity to dive into a great story, and then have the sobering experience of shaking your head and contemplating: “Wow, that was true. That really happened!”
How are story characters created?
I’m frequently asked about my characters. Where did they come from? Are they based on a real person? Are they a composite of multiple individuals? Or are my characters made up, and so they’re complete fiction?
The answer to this is “all of the above”.
In The Girlfriend Book, which began as a writing exercise and grew into a book, I started with three women I had met and did not know well. This gave me a visual and a sense of how these women moved and spoke. Then as I threw them into conversation and difficult situations, their characters morphed in my imagination as I chose how they might react. In time they became a composite of (1) the women I had only met a few times, (2) others I’d met along the way, and (3) me! Friends have noted they see a bit of me in all three of my characters. To this day I sense these three made up individuals as if they’re real women who I know in my life. I feel like they’re just around the corner.
In The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace, none of the characters are based on someone I have met. But some of them are inspired by characters encountered through watching movies and TV programs.
At Book Clubs when I’m asked about the inspiration for writing my second book, I talk about having grown up in England, loving the grand estates in the countryside, and then imagining two little girls dancing around in party dresses, and then something goes wrong. So, where did those two little girls come from?
Every December the Christmas/holiday movies arrive – in the early years it was Frosty the Snowman and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. Now in our home it’s Elf, Love Actually, Die Hard and The Holiday. And within The Holiday there are two very sweet little girls named Sophie & Olivia. At the end of the movie, they’re dancing in party dresses on New Years Eve. I began writing this novel in February 2021, so they were fresh in my mind from the holidays. But similar to what happened to my characters in The Girlfriend Book, as Sophie & Olivia interacted with each other, with their parents and their cousins, they began to become their own little people. By March 2024 when the book was published, I realized my sister Katy was jumping around inside of Olivia, and there was a lot of me in Sophie – the hazard of writing in first person!
As for some of the other characters in The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace:
Peter – The charming, kind and soft character that Jude Law plays in The Holiday is where I began with Peter. And then he grew up and out, became of Indian descent and developed into a stronger and more assertive person than Jude’s character.
Elizabeth Grace – The very restrained, tight character that Lady Mary plays in Downton Abbey was something I drew on initially for this character. But that was for her manner of speaking and appearance. As her story developed, Elizabeth Grace proved to be very different from Lady Mary. She was more delicate, creative and emotionally complicated.
Lady Bedford – For this outrageous friend of Elizabeth Grace, I drew on some of Catherine Zeta Jones’ character in All That Jazz. I pulled on her boldness, and her way of saying what she’s thinking and not worrying about the consequences.
When developing characters, most authors will spend time upfront developing Character Profiles, which include imagining each character’s physical attributes, personality traits, motivations and backstories.
My process is to first write a few scenes with characters interacting over a situation, and then once I began to “see” the characters in my mind, I set the writing aside and plough into a Character Profile document for each of my main characters. These profiles are three to four pages of open writing that allow me to study the person I’m developing. After the physical appearance of a character is established, I move into “who they are and what made them?” Examples of the type of questions I explore are: What’s the best and worst thing that happened to them as they grew up? Who is a mentor to them in life? What is their biggest fear and why?
In time, I move the characters onto a Master Character Chart, so I can keep things straight. Remembering the age differences between characters, key personality traits, and the colour of each character’s hair and eyes starts to become a challenge when there is a growing crop of made-up people running across the page, disappearing for a few chapters and then popping up again.
Unlike my second novel which has over twenty-five characters, my third novel (no firm title yet), has around eight – three characters telling the story, two additional key individuals and a few minor figures. I’m enjoying spending time with these new characters. They are buzzing around in my mind. To me, they’re as real as you!
Update on Book #3: After helpful feedback from my draft readers (a huge thanks to each of you!), my draft #5 has turned into a better draft #6 and I will be taking my sixth draft into the final course in my Creative Writing Certificate Program at UofT. This course is a one-on-one consultative experience with a teacher, and is held over a number of months. I’ve submitted my request for this final part of the program and am now waiting to be paired with an instructor.
BOOK CLUB
Kim Shannon & Alex Hahn – Thank you for inviting me to your Book Club night. Thanks Kim for popping the champagne & other fine wines, and for serving up dinner too. Afterwards, we curled up in the living room for Q&A and lots of book talk. I enjoyed meeting everyone. Thanks for all your great questions.
INSTAGRAM POSTING
Usually when I post, I’m developing original material. However when these “book related” posts appeared out of the blue, I passed them along and added a comment. Both were videos, and the dancing paper ballerina (made from pages of a book) was precious. Hats off to whoever created this – beautiful!
Curiosity House Books
Thanks to Rina and the staff at Curiosity House Books for the invitation to join them at their Holiday Open House.
It was a snowy night in Creemore as locals dropped in for the 5pm to 8pm “Merry Meet & Mingle”.
Katie Zdybel & Liane Brossard
During the Curiosity House Book event, I had an opportunity to meet & have a lovely conversation with Katie, author of Equipoise – a beautiful collection of short stories. Liane, a long time family friend from the city, was with us too, with her cheerful art on the walls around us. Great to catch up with both her & her husband Mark.
INDIGO – Bay & Bloor
In December, while Christmas shopping with my husband, Richard and daughter, Jacquie, we stopped in at Indigo. It was a special moment to see The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace on the table right at the front door. It became a photo opp moment, and was fun to share this with these two, who both appear in my novel’s Prologue!
Book sold well in Creemore!
At the end of the year, instagram is full of listings of “top” books. It was a surprise to see this post come through (I added the book cover, arrow and party emoji). A big thanks to friends in Creemore who helped to support both me and the local book store. Looks like you helped to make it a bestseller this year at Curiosity House Books! Thank you!
Learning about CANVA
A big thank you to Delane Cooper who coached me in Canva this fall. Over the holidays I spent some time developing story based instagram posts with videos and special effects, and posted this one on New Year’s Eve, where the fireworks exploded and the champagne bubbled – you can find it stored on my instagram grid if you missed it. I’m planning on releasing more like this in Q1.
GWEN @ INDIGO – FEB 8TH
Saturday, February 8th, 2025
Indigo at Bay & Bloor
12pm to 4pm
I will be at the store for an Author signing. If you’re in the area please do drop in!
January Books
I highly recommend all four of these books. A big thanks for the recommendations from family and friends – The Bee Sting (Cath Bradley), Deacon King Kong (Ruth Keilty), The God of the Woods (my husband Richard), and Say Nothing (Richard and my daughter Jacquie).
Are you in a Book Club?
I’m open to attend in person or by Zoom, depending on dates and location. Or I’m happy to answer your questions via email and return them to you in time for your Book Club meeting. Please do enquire. I can be reached at gwen@gwenkharvey.com.
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