Lori Lyn talks about walking in her character's shoes plus GIVEAWAY

I'm thrilled to welcome Lori Lyn to stop by and chat about a couple of my favorite things: shoes and characters.

AND, TWO lucky visitors will be given an ebook copy of her debut novel, The Archery Contest.

So, what are we waiting for?

(Waving) Hi, Carmen! I’m absolutely thrilled to be invited to join you and your readers. You always have such fun things to chat about – like your blog on swag or your review of Parker’s Passion.

Well, when we discussed me popping on here, I teased we could talk about shoes.

I love shoes, especially heels. Give me a sexy blue sling-back with a 3 ½” heel and I’m one happy girl. Being a short woman (5 foot and almost 1 inch), like Carmen, I can wear high heels. The Capt. (my fella) is about 10 inches taller than me so no worries. Most people don’t realize just how short I am because I am almost always wearing heels.

The year of my currently available book, THE ARCHERY CONTEST, is 1812, the Regency-era. My heroine, Willy, doesn’t have the option to wear an extra couple inches. She’s tiny and her only choices are pretty much no heel, let alone a sexy sling-back. At best, you might have a ½” or thereabouts. Most often women wore the equivalent of a ballet slipper.

Some people would be perfectly content to just have a modest shoe option. I was that way for many years.

But how would someone else feel? Would being only able to select from a couple pairs of shoes be a hardship? Would it make them feel inferior, angry, jealous? Or do they care? Are their priorities different? Or perhaps they are even proud of not caring, and then – why?

I often get asked how I create characters. But I don’t really create them. It’s more like they unveil themselves to me, bit by bit. And even things such as a pair of shoes can reveal something significant about this “person”.

I’m what’s called in the writing industry as a “pantser”, someone who writes by the seat of their pants. In other words, I really don’t plot things out. And while I may not know the direction of the story in detail, I have to know the characters. That means things even as seemingly inconsequential as which shoes they’d wear.

It’s really that you have to know why they would wear those particular shoes.

Now, I might not use that bit of detail in the story, but I have to know it. I have to know how this “person” would react, what choices they might make, what they could say in any given situation. I can, as the author, create the story or situations however it is very hard to “control” a character. Ask any fiction writer.

And to be honest, I really had my hands full with both Alex and Willy, my hero and heroine from my debut release, THE ARCHERY CONTEST. Alex already had a history with me. He appeared first in THE COUNTRY BUTLER which is due out this Fall. Plus he is quite a dynamic character. Of course, Willy is certainly no shrinking violet, herself.

The job of an author is to make characters live and breathe and to create a story just for them. And once we know those characters from birth to now (whenever that “now” is), then we can share their journey with the world.

The Archery Contest is currently available: Visit Kobo, Amazon, or B&N to purchase.

Death by...accessories?

As a suspense author I spent a lot of time planning the demise of some characters. Sometimes it's just because they are bugging me. These tend to be quick and easy. Like being tossed out a window of a high rise, or pushed off a cliff. Maybe even shot pointblank while the gunman saunters off into the sunset. These are probably the easiest for me.

Sometimes I need to figure out an attempt on their life, but something that won't actually do them in. My husband has become fairly used to me asking questions like, "Is it possible to reverse the exaust in the car and the driver wouldn't be aware of it?" and since one of my bosses is a former trauma surgeon I've been known to ask, "If I shot someone right here, would they live? What about here?"

And sometimes I read something in the news or think of something that's so beyond the scope of reality that it could only happen in reality. Today I was getting ready to take the 50lb lap dog out on a walk. He was under my feet, just like usual, when my purse fell off the chair it was sitting in and nearly conked him in the head. And since we'd been out for dinner last night, my purse was full of toys for the kids, the kindle, probably a small boulder or two. You've picked up those purses that are literally 20 pounds or more, so you know what I mean.  And I couldn't help think..."Death by purse?" Which of course took me to various other accessories that could be used in someone's demise.

What do you think? What accessory would be the best?