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What To Do . . .
 By TellTale Congratulations to Armenia who won Shiloh’s book!So what is a writer to do when the bad guy doesn’t want to be the bad guy? That’s the dilemma I had to face when I was writing the first of the Rafferty brother books, FRAGILE. You see, there was only supposed to be the one book. Luke’s book. Quinn wasn’t going to get a book, because in Luke’s book, Quinn was supposed to be the bad guy. You know… the bad guy, the guy who doesn’t get the girl, the happy ever after. He suffers, we smile. All is good. My problem started about a third of the way through the book…Luke’s book, yes. Quinn? He was suffering, all right. This shouldn’t have been a problem. It was going as planned—he was the bad guy. He wasn’t going to be the happy-go-lucky sort. But I was kind of suffering, too. Because he also wasn’t the bastard I needed him to be to make him the bad guy. Plus, his twin… the hero of the book, Luke, he wasn’t too keen on how I was painting his brother as the bad guy. And the more I tried to make Quinn the bad guy, the harder it was to write the story. Fine, I tell them. Have it your way, but the story isn’t going to work out—there isn’t anybody else who can be the bad guy, and we need a bad guy. It’s a suspense, remember? Yeah, yeah. Well, it turns out… I didn’t know what I was talking about. Quinn couldn’t have been the bad guy, because it turns out he had this core of strength I wasn’t prepared for. Yeah, so he was a little bit crazy there for a while, but a lot of us dance on that thin edge every now and then. He brushed a little closer than some of us, but then he had a darker time than many people. He pulled himself back, got himself together, and both Quinn and Luke turned out to be right. Quinn wasn’t bad guy material. But that didn’t mean I was planning on giving him a book. I wasn’t. I just…wasn’t. Even though I was told people would ask for his book. And uh… yes, that did happen. It wasn’t anything I had planned. And then I had to start making the plans, because the questions about Quinn started coming almost as soon as I finished Quinn’s book. I can do this, I figure. I mean, I figured out how to undo the mess I’d made out of the first book, right? And I conveniently forgot the headaches I had over that book before I finally stopped fighting them, before I stopped fighting the story. So here I am, mapping out this plan for Quinn’s story. He’s what I’d call a tarnished knight and what he needs more than anything else is somebody he can save…makes sense. He’s somewhat damaged already because the one woman he’d actually had feelings for died and he wasn’t able to save her—if I put somebody in his life for him to save, maybe that can get him on the road to healing. Right? Makes sense. So I create this heroine. She’ got a quiet inner strength, but she’s not a fighter. She’s his complete opposite. She’s soft, she’s gentle…and now that I think about it? He would have terrified her. Anyway. I had this perfect plan. And a third of the way through the story? It died on me. Can’t figure out the problem. Banging my head. Then I take a good hard look at the heroine and have one of my soon to be famous HEAD —> DESK moments. She is the problem. It’s not that she’s a bad heroine. She’s actually a pretty good one—she’s got room to grow, room to become a strong heroine. I may yet use her in a book. But she was all wrong for Quinn and because I was trying to make her work? The book was stalling. So there I am, deleting half of what I had written—and at this point, some work had already gone into the blurb…and the fact that I had gone and dumped most of the story? Well, the blurb no longer worked. They had to start from scratch… kind of like I was doing. And the story was due in…oh, three months, I think? Oddly enough, once I dumped the story and started working on this new one? It started moving. I don’t even remember exactly where the idea for this new heroine came from. She was just sort of… there. She was stronger—she had some weaknesses, some vulnerabilities, but she was also a fighter. She might find herself hip-deep in trouble, but she’d also be perfectly capable of getting herself out. And more—she wouldn’t run from Quinn. He has a lot of darkness inside him and some of that is going to haunt him for a while. What he needed was somebody who wouldn’t just understand that darkness—but somebody who could walk with him through the darkness. She can do that. The heroine I’d originally given him? No. No way. She might try, but that kind of darkness…she isn’t ready to face that kind of darkness. This story ended up taking on a lot of twists, a lot of turns, but once I’d figured out who needed to be in the story—and who didn’t—it was amazingly easy to get it written, and I swear, I can almost see the brothers smirking at me, too. Laughing at me. After all, I had to nerve to try to control the story in both books. Quinn’s story is Broken—it’s one of the few stories I didn’t have to beat my head against the wall while trying to think up a title. He’s broken in the beginning of the story, damaged in so many ways. His heroine Sara has damage of her own and getting these two souls together took some doing. But it was worth it. If you’d like to read an excerpt, you can find one here. It’s now available in stores. *** Leave a comment by Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 6:00 a.m. CST to win a copy of Broken. Book will be shipped with Amazon Prime to United States addresses only. Tags: Broken, Fragile, Shiloh Walker 38 Responses to “What To Do . . .”Leave a Comment |
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March 6th, 2010 at 10:44 am
It’s interesting to read about how characters “talk” to the author and influence the outcome of the story. I enjoyed your column. Thanks.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:01 am
It is strange how the story knows where it should go, and makes it very difficult to go any other way. This one sounds like fun!
March 6th, 2010 at 11:40 am
I’m not a writer so your post was fascinating! Love to win/read.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:46 am
I guess they want their stories told the way they want them to be!!! Thanks for an interesting post! :biggrin:
March 6th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I love the sound of Broken and have fallen in love with Quinn already. Glad you couldnt continue to make him bad, especially being Luke’s twin. LOL.
I have Fragile on my tbr – cannot wait to read it and then get to see Quinn get his hea.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Very interesting posts. I’m always curious about the inner minds of authors. ^^
March 6th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
I love the excerpt. Have not read this author before; looks like I have been missing something. Sounds great.
March 6th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Hey, Shiloh! It was that twin thing…double mojo workin’ on you! A story too big for just one hero, and a character with too many layers to just be bad. The titles of the books, “Fragile” and “Broken”, help to build the anticipation of how the wounded heroes heal their hearts and souls and learn to love. You were inspired and on fire when you created those characters!!!
March 6th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Sounds like a great read!
March 6th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Twins always make an interesting read. Quinn sounds great – love the tortured/troubled hero.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I haven’t been able to get my hands on any of your books yet! I hope I win
March 6th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I love reading about “broken” heroes!!
March 6th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I don’t like it when the bad guy really isn’t a bad guy either. It’s kind of sad.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
So glad that Quinn got his own book – can’t wait to read it!
March 6th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Interesting to see how characters and stories develop for the author.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
This post was fascinating! I enjoyed seeing the evolution of a story and how ideas have a life of their own and change the course of a story.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I can’t wait to read how you get these two damaged souls together.
March 6th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
I loved, loved, loved Fragile!!! I can’t wait to read Quinn’s story. I love reading about brothers. I am so glad Quinn got his story, interesting the way you had to go about it!!
March 6th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Shiloh, can’t wait to read this story! I love when your characters take over
March 6th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Great post. Its interesting to see some of how the story developed. Fragile was great and I am really looking forward to Broken.
March 7th, 2010 at 4:06 am
loved fragile
congrats on teh book
whoo :biggrin:
March 7th, 2010 at 8:21 am
I love your writing and am looking forward to reading Broken. I do find it interesting when authors express how their characters tell them where to go and will not let their stories go any other way.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:42 am
I loved the excerpt. Those two books (fragile and Broken) sounds very good. I hope to read them some time soon. Congrats !
March 7th, 2010 at 10:53 am
What a great post!! Good luck on your release. I’m glad I follow you on Twitter, just found out you write con rom. I hadn’t planned on reading this series, until this week. Please enter me, thanks, Sue
March 7th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I love the inner voice that authors give their characters. I am looking forward to reading Broken.
March 7th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Oh, Broken sounds like such a temptation. Two damaged souls brought together and who find happiness…love that.
March 7th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I love reading how so many of you authors hear your characters speak to you and lead you in their story. What a gift you have!!! Congrats on another great story!!!
March 7th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
this sounds so interesting , would love to read
March 7th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Would love to read Broken, I’ve been reading all the great reviews around bloglandia.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
I am so looking forward to reading these books. Would love to win these.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I am so looking forward to reading these books. Would love to win this book.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
I can’t wait til I can read this newest release.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Great post. It is fascinating to read how a character’s story is developed.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:58 am
It was so interesting to see how your story came together. Congratulations!
March 8th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Haven’t read this author before but this latest book sounds really good. I just finished reading a book about twin brothers written by Jo Beverley. In it, the heir to the title was a bit of a weakling and the spare was the strong one. Makes for a very interesting read.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Interesting excerpt!
March 8th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Sounds like a great book. Quinn sounds like an interesting character.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:31 am
Sounds like the brothers certainly kept you on your toes. I am always fascinated by the way characters can change as we write, or reveal themselves more. I’m wrangling a waffling baddie myself. He can be so wonderously rotten, but he keeps hinting there’s more. Personally, I think it’s a ruse to drive me insane.