WRITING LEADING LADIES BY KIRSTEN FULLMER I’m often asked “How do you choose leading ladies for your novels?” I suppose the correct answer would be a combination of “They choose me” and “A lot of hard work”. Let’s break it down and sort out how to create a lead character, be that a woman, a man, or some creature that you, as an author, concoct. I usually have a few ideas thumping around in mind when I create a character. Some of my leading ladies came from a problem I have been dealing with personally, as a vivid experience can prompt you to write. Book two of my Hometown Series, Hometown Girl After All, features Julia who is overcoming a life-threatening illness, because I too had been through such a trial and I wanted to write about it. But sometimes a leading character can spring from something as simple as a trendy topic, such as a decorating style like the junk gypsy movement. Tara, in Hometown Girl at Heart, came about because I was into finding old furniture and reworking it. Once my garage was full of junk, I knew I needed to either buy a bigger house or live vicariously through my writing. Once you have a character in mind, comes the fun of placing them into a setting. This is often the most telling part of the process because you get to decide how your character will respond to the other people and situations in the setting. Sometimes you get lucky and a character comes to life in your mind and respond to circumstances on their own. When this happens, all you have to do is type and try to keep up. But remember that people want to read about something beyond the mundane they experience every day. It can be a trick to keep your character larger than life, yet relatable. This can be accomplished by leaving a chink in the character’s armor, some small fault or vulnerability with which your readers can sympathize.
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