Welcome Darlene Franklin to Infinite Characters.

Darlene,

This is your first time on the IC.  We thank you for coming. Would you like a beverage? No, you want to get right into the questions.

Vanessa: Tell us a little about yourself:

Darlene: I live in Oklahoma City with my lynx point Siamese cat Talia. Come for a visit and let her greet you at the door!  My son and his family live a short distance away; I love being a grandma!

I am semi-homebound so do very little outside of the four walls of my house. But I’m involved with a wonderful church and have lots of writing friends to keep me company. I read, write, and watch TV. And entertain Talia.

Vanessa: You have time to watch TV.  I am so jealous.  So tell me Darlene,  what is your favorite genre to read?  Westerns  like your new book, Lone Star Trail?

Darlene:  I love reading mystery/suspense, with a heavy leaning toward thriller-type suspense. I also read a lot of historical romance, which is what I write, with a dash of other genres mixed in. Some of my favorite mystery authors (Dick Francis, James Lee Burke to name a couple) are masters of setting; I like to think that has influenced my writing.

Vanessa: As one of the “oh-so-dying to be published”, tell us where you get your ideas. You know, the ones that someone wants to publish:

Darlene: I love talking about this. Ideas come from everywhere, and are usually a combination of several different influences.

First there is a story starter. Something sparks my attention: a town name (how about Hygiene, Colorado?)  A news article (a vintage clothing store is robbed). A movie or TV show (Pearl, a movie about pioneer aviatrix Pearl Carter Scott). A paragraph in a research book (Roma, Texas was the westernmost port of the Rio Grande steamboat trade). A single entry in a timeline (German Verein to Texas in 1846). Something I observe by the side of the road (a single cowboy boot).

The story starter starts an idea rolling around in my head and I’ll look into it a little bit more. In researching about steamboats, I discovered a children’s book about the first female pilot of a steamboat. Then my creative spirit jumps up and down and says “I want to write that story!”

Once I have found the main setting (steamboat and female pilot) I usually think about characters. In romance, I need a hero and a heroine with a distinct tension between them, one that is believable and strong. So for Bride’s Rogue, the “bride” is an uptight Victorian orphan who inherits a steamboat—together with a rather flamboyant purser who handles gambling and other entertainment on board.

Once I have the setting and central conflict in mind, it’s a matter of thinking how I get from point A to happily ever after.

Vanessa: This is Infinite Characters. We love to talk characters around here, partner. Ok, stopping with the Texan accent. I find I get to know my character once they have a name. It sort of defines the character’s attributes for me.  How do you choose names for your characters?

Darlene: I’ve done this a variety of ways. For my first few books, I pretty much picked names out of the air. That worked fine until I discovered I keep using the same names (Gallagher, Sam, Morris, Ben, Knight.)

Then I went to the opposite extreme, got a lovely book of names listed by ethnic background. I came up with some good ones (Natalie Daire and Fabrizio Ricci) but also some clunkers (Audwin Howe).

In writing historical fiction, depending on the era, I look at Social Security registers of the top 100 names from that time period and try to choose from those lists. The problem is that men’s names don’t vary as much over the years.

In Lone Star Trail, I used my naming books for German names (it also has a wonderful feature of the most common surnames by ethnicity). Some names I chose by meaning: my heroine is named “Wande,” which means “Wanderer,” which seemed appropriate for an immigrant. Her mother is “Nadetta,” the “bear” defending her young. Other names I chose because they looked comparatively easy to pronounce (Meino, Drud, Alvie).

Oh, yes, I also keep an alphabet talley of names in a series. Otherwise all the names would start with the same letter and lead to confusion.

Vanessa: I’ve got to try the list thing so Betty Jo, Bobby Jo, and Billy Jo–wait that was Petticoat Junction.  Darlene, how do you get into your characters’ heads?

Darlene: In Lone Star Trail, reviewers have praised the depth of my primary and secondary characters. I am delighted, of course, but also a little puzzled. Because I hear about authors “interviewing” their characters and creating lengthy dossiers on them. I’ve tried that, and it doesn’t work for me.

I do a lot of the preliminary work when I’m plotting, thinking through motivations and goals. But the nuts and bolts of the character don’t come to life until I’m actually writing the story.

Vanessa: You are writing the story. Would you say you are a plotter, a pantster, or something in between?

Darlene: I’m in-between. Since I started writing for Heartsong, which required chapter-by-chapter synopses in their proposals, I got used to writing that way. A good, solid synopsis is still a central part of my writing process.

Having said that. My comment for one chapter in Lone Star Trail says in part “As much as Jud dislikes the German invasion, he can’t help admiring Wande. In spite of the worry Konrad’s silence must be causing her, she is sweet and cheerful, charming all the Morgans—even Jud, if he could open his heart..” That doesn’t include any action. So in writing I have to match the action to the outcome I want to achieve. So my pantster gets to come out and play for a little while.

Vanessa: Do you have any advice for an aspiring time writer? Please we need all the help we can get.

Darlene: Number one for now and for always: Read, read, read and write, write, write.

Number two:   I truly believe that if a writer is willing to work, can accept rejection and learn from feedback, and will persevere past the point any sane person would give up, she or he can make it.

People tell me I am a “gifted” writer. Perhaps. But I’m not a natural writer. I didn’t sit down and sell a book within two years of starting. I have been writing for 20 years by now. I’m proof of that axiom.

Vanessa: Let me add that to the list, “edge of sanity.” Finally, tell how we can buy more Darlene Franklin books.

Darlene: I am blessed to have fifteen books or so in print (with more on the way). I have an author page at Amazon that lists more of them, as well as notes of current releases on my blog (darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com).

Vanessa: Darlene, you are a great sport. Please come back to Infinite Characters, any time you want.

Lone Star Trail:

Lone Star Trail is the first book in a six-book series about the Morgan family, set in Texas in the 1840s. Jud Morgan runs the Running M Ranch near Victoria, Texas; he is immensely proud of his Texas roots. His father died in the war for independence from Mexico and then Comanches captured his youngest sister. He resists the arrival of the German immigrants (the Verein), since their aim is to create a “New Germany” on Texas soil.

Wande Fleischer is one of those German immigrants. Torn from her beloved native land, she faces disappointment on every side when her fiancé abandons her and she loses a sister to illness in the swamps of Carlshafen as soon as they arrive in Texas.

Can these two see past their differences to the love God has for them?

 

 

BIO:

Award-winning author and speaker Darlene Franklin lives near her family in cowboy country—Oklahoma. She recently signed the contract for her twentieth novel. She is also a prolific devotional author with over 200 devotions in print. Visit Darlene’s blogs at www.darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com .