Today I have Beverly Bateman on my blog, author of A Cruise to Remember, with her guest post about characterization. I loved this post. It cracked me up (especially the sex scene part) because as an author, yes I have been asked that question millions of times, and I love her commentary. So, without further ado, here’s what she has to say! And be sure to check out her book and buy links at the bottom of her post.

Is Your Character Based on you? by Beverly Bateman

How many times have you heard that question? Or what do you base your sex scenes on? (Wink – wink) I always love that one. But that’s okay, if they think my husband is the model for my sex scenes who am I to ruin that image.

But seriously, how do you decide on you characters? Do you base them on someone you know? Or as a reader what do you like to see in a character?

I have used people I know, occasionally. Usually it’s because they’re irritating or have done something that I would like to get even with them for – so I give them small parts in my book and torture them or kill them.
But most of my characters come out of my mind, as do my plots. Being a plot based writer I come up with a plot I love, then I decide what type of heroine would work in that situation. I do a character chart to develop her background.
My hero has to be her opposite so they can accent the positives in each other and bring them to view for my readers. They also need to complement each other to help each other grow and reach their goals. And of course they have to have a strong physical attraction for each other. They may not be prepared to admit it yet, but that’s part of the mystery of love.

In A Cruise to Remember I came up with an amnesia victim who people were trying to kill. Then I had to have a motive for why someone would want to kill her. I slowly worked through who would be the best character to be the heroine in this book.
Ah, and then we had to find a hero worthy of her. I hope I managed both.

My villain should be someone who understands either/or the heroine or the hero. He needs to be their match when to motivation and the plot. He needs to bring out the hero/heroine’s best points and he needs to have a motive that people can relate to, even if they don’t agree with what he does.

The really hard part is to make my character come alive for my reader, make them someone they can relate to and root for. And nope, none of my characters are based on me, or my husband. I know others use characters based on themselves or individuals they know well and it works for them. Every writer uses their own individual technique that’s what makes so many diverse good books.

I’d love to hear your comments on how you develop your characters, or what you think about the character development when you read a book.

BLURB

An amnesia victim, found by the side of the road is befriended by an older woman with early Alzheimer’s. The woman takes the victim, Hallie, with her as a companion on a Caribbean cruise, Eric is an Interpol agent working on breaking up an international jewelry theft ring. He’s undercover as the ship’s doctor on a Caribbean cruise. Sparks fly when Hallie and Eric meet, but as the cruise progresses he’s thinking Hallie might be the thief stealing from the passengers. His reasoning is amnesia and Alzheimer’s make a good cover, and Lillian keeps coming up with pieces of jewelry passengers have dropped or lost. To complicate everything someone is trying to kill Hallie and she has no idea why. Eric. Lillian finds an older cowboy a who she’s interested in and then there’s the sleazy man who keeps hitting on Hallie. As the cruise progresses Hallie gradually starts to regain her memory. Eric decides she’s not a thief but has to find the real one and their romance heats up.

BUY LINKS
Amazon http://amzn.to/LyJLHh
Nook http://bit.ly/1bfHaeQ
Kobo http:// bit.ly/1fGw4z4
iTunes http://bit.ly/1hcBTVM

http://beverleybateman.blogspot.com/