Blogging a book: Creating my characters!

Some authors can just start writing without an outline.  They see a blank page as alight with possibilities.

I don’t know how they do it.  I look at a blank page and all I feel is panic.

In short, I need an outline if I plan to write a book.  Otherwise, I end up hopelessly off track, writing myself into a corner.

But even before I can create an outline, I need some characters to act in it!  I write up little summaries of each character, giving me a glance at their personalities, their appearances, how they’ll come to interact with each other over the course of the novel.

So, with no further ado, here are my first drafts of my main characters for the next book!  All names and details are, of course, subject to change.

• April Carpenter – our heroine!  A journalist who’s in desperate need of a story, she’s ecstatic when one falls into her lap.  She has a unique connection with Rob Hendricks, the Wall Street trader being accused of stealing millions, and an exclusive interview with him could be her ticket to the big time.
• Rob Hendricks – our hero!  He’s been accused of insider trading, and has lost his job, apartment, and girlfriend, all in the last couple weeks.  Now living in the Hamptons with his elderly mother, he needs to prove his innocence and try to get his life back.
• Diana Hendricks – Rob’s elderly mother, in her mid-eighties but still sharp as a tack (or so she insists!).  Living out her twilight years in her little cottage in the Hamptons, she’s a well-known figure around town, and not just because she tends to use an old double-barreled shotgun as a walking crutch…
• Gint “Hook” Wilson – an enforcer from the south, nicknamed after his torture implement of choice.  He works for some very nasty people, and when their money goes missing, he’s assigned to go and get it back.

My plot isn’t set in stone yet, but it’s starting to develop a hazy shape.  April’s got to meet Rob, and they’re going to need to fend off Diana, Gint, and others, all while trying to prove Rob’s innocence.  Sounds like a challenge – and a great story!