How to Make
Your Characters Believable
by
S C Cunningham
S C Cunningham
When building a character I
draw from observations of people I know or have closely watched, it’s easier to
write from truth. I enjoy complex
characters that slowly reveal themselves, that are not who they seem, that engage
with the reader and pull at heartstrings or worst fears.
I try to create characters
that the reader would either like to hang out with or see as their worst enemy.
Someone they feel empathy for and understand their choices, right or wrong.
Someone they champion and punch the air shouting “Yessss!” for.
Working on a series allows you
to build characters that hopefully people will fall in love with and can’t wait
to see their next move. In my David
Trilogy, David is a very bad person, but fans often write saying that they
love his character, warts and all, and can’t wait to see what he does next.
They understand and champion David the boy, but fear the man he has become.
They’ve become hooked on him. In The Deal,
book I of The Fallen Angel Series, I
wish for the same character impact.
The Deal starts with the main protagonists, Amy Fox and Jack
Mallan. Amy’s character and the plot were formed on an incident that happened
to me as a child. At 4yrs old I was taken, I survived, another little girl was
taken the following week, she didn’t.
Coming from an Irish catholic
family, I prayed each night to God asking him for a deal. That if I was a good
girl, when I died, would he let me sit on a cloud, invisible, and help catch
the baddies who slip through his fingers?
That incident and how a little
girl reacted to it stayed with me. Like many people I like to look out for the
underdog and dislike injustice. I’ve worked as a Crime Investigator for the
Police and with all the crazy things going on in the world at the moment, the
thought of something looking out for us appeals to me.
I’m not religious, but I do
believe there’s something out there, an energy, maybe quantum physics we don’t understand
yet. So I’ve turned the idea into an action fantasy, a paranormal romance
series. With the lead character Amy based on that little girl and her deal.
We start with career girl Amy
aged 30yrs, God and her deal long forgotten, mysteriously dying, under a London
tube train. Awakening to find herself in an MI5’esque Unit that dishes out
tough karma from the skies, wondering what the hell is going on?
Having formed Amy’s reason and
background story, I pushed her outside her comfort zone and add the following
details to her character; appearance,
defects/flaws (stubborn, demanding, soft hearted), internal dialogue
(muttering to herself, asking why, talking through insecurities and dilemmas),
ambition/ motivation (the end game, revenge), weaknesses (the handsome ex SAS Jack, impatience,
honesty, insecurity), relationships (Jack, parents, best friend Sally), a third
party love triangle (Jack and his evil ex, Mara).
And before you know it I have
a 3D character to build on for the rest of the series. She will make mistakes,
snap, fight back, learn, grow… all the things that make a person. I hope you enjoy her journey with me. Enjoy,
and keep safe.
Siobhan
Introducing…
The
Deal
By
S C Cunningham, Book I of The
Fallen Angel Series
A Paranormal Thriller for those who
dare to believe that there is something else out there...
At the age of
four, Amy was taken…She survived.
A week later,
another little girl was taken…She didn't.
 |
Buy NOW!
|
A Paranormal Thriller for those who
dare to believe that there is something else out there...
At the age of
four, Amy was taken…She survived.
A week later,
another little girl was taken…She didn't.
Angry that a bad man has gotten away with murder, feisty
young Amy Fox makes a deal with God. When she dies, if she’s been a good girl,
would God let her sit on a cloud for a while, invisible, to get bad people who
slip through his fingers?
Her deal and God long forgotten, career girl Amy
mysteriously dies. Her lifeless body is found beneath a London underground
commuter train.
She awakens in the afterlife to discover an international
network of like-minded souls who’ve all made the same deal. A sophisticated
MI5-esque justice machine sits in the skies, protecting, righting wrongs,
tracking criminals, and working within strict rules of play…all against time.
Each country's Unit shares intelligence, surveillance, and
resources to deactivate dangerous situations. The only evidence they leave
behind during their earthly visits is a small white feather sashaying to the
ground.
In a chaotic world, powerful adversaries try to close her
Unit down. A complex SAS vigilante has been assigned to work as her partner,
but with his jealous violent ex-girlfriend on her heels and with her own
vendetta to settle, Amy has never worked so hard in her entire earthly life.
She has to wonder if making a deal with God was a mistake.
About the author:
Author
of The Penance List, Unfinished Business and The Deal,
Siobhan C Cunningham (S C Cunningham) creates Paranormal Romance and
Psychological Crime Thrillers with a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark
humour, and pulsating sex scenes. Having worked in the industries she writes
about, her novels offer a fresh level of sincerity and authority, rare in
fiction.
Abducted
as a child, she survived; and every night for months afterward, she prayed to
God, asking for a deal. This personal journey sparked the fuse behind the
intriguing and riveting fictional world she portrays in The Deal, the
first in The Fallen Angel series. Twenty years later Cunningham crossed paths
with a violent serial attacker, sowing the seed for her mind-bending thriller,
The David Trilogy; The Penance List, Unfinished Business, For My Sins.
An ex-model, British born of Irish roots,
she married a rock musician and has worked in the exciting worlds of music,
film, sports, celebrity management and as a Crime Investigator for the British
Police (Wanted & Absconder Unit, Major Crime Team, Intelligence Analyst,
Investigations Hub).
Her first novel, The Penance List
has been adapted to film screenplay.
She is the proud mother to contemporary
Artist Scarlett Raven and owned by three dogs.
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