Showing posts with label character development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character development. Show all posts

Monday, January 16, 2012

What do your characters do for a living?

Is it a part of who they are? Or just something they do to pay the bills? That's the question I'm asking myself right now. As I make notes on a new story, I'm trying to figure out what my heroine will do for a living.

Sometimes the main character's job is important to the story. For example if they're a werewolf hunter and they start dating a werewolf, it adds to the conflict. Other times, it's not important to the story, but it is important to who they are as people.

The characters in my stories have done a little bit of everything, so coming up with something new is a bit of a challenge. I don't want them to sound boring. Ha. Ha. But there's nothing wrong with having one "ordinary" aspect to their lives. Especially, considering I write paranormal. A little bit of the ordinary is a good thing.

I try to balance how many characters have fantastical jobs vs how many do something "normal." My characters have been bounty hunters, werewolf hunters, club owners, bar owners, florists, decorators, one was a fiction writer (before that she had other jobs) and one wrote the little blurbs that appear beside pictures in adult magaizines. My latest heroine (Katherine in Frank and The Werewolf Tamer) is a vampire who ends up being hired as a Werewolf Tamer in a theme park.

Oh, plus I've got an upcoming release with Ellora's Cave, Constant Cravings, in which the leading lady is a fortune teller.

After all that, I'm thinking it might be nice for this heroine to do something "normal." Right now I'm toying with a few ideas, but can't settle on anything that suits her personality.

She is outgoing, friendly, tough but not a bitch (LOL). I am TOTALLY open to suggestions.

Is there anything you haven't seen that you think would be interesting for a leading lady to do for a living? It may not play a big part in the story, but it's still important.

Ideas anyone?