#LifeBooksWriting Author Challenge, week 4: Character Inspiration

This is one part of writing I really enjoy, character inspiration! For me, I don't necessarily invent characters, they come to me in a way. I'll be listening to some music or be thinking about something and a character will pop into my brain with a story they want me to tell. The character usually comes to me with a first name, and some times a last name, but often times a part of their story comes before their last name. I also find their physical features often develop after I've come up with with their story is about.

So, for every story I write, I have a character board on Pinterest, you can view them all here: https://www.pinterest.com/bkrivers/

For Raining Down Rules, here are the lead characters (at least as far as I imagined them to look):

Jemma

Jordan:

Vic:

For Raining Down Redemption (coming Aug. 2nd):

Jordan (is the same from above - though we could all use a little more Ryan Guzman)

Reggie:

For Raining Down Release (coming late 2016):

Stacey:

Ace (multiple pics because, yummy!):

New Project in the planning stages

I'm a sucker for matching actors/actresses to characters in my novels because it helps me really hone in on their physical descriptions. It's also fun to imagine those actors/actresses actually playing the characters. So, now that Chasing Forever is in it's editing phase, I'm ready to start planning out my next project! Yay!

Honestly, I don't have much "story" to go on yet, but the characters have been popping into my head lately and I wanted to share them with you.

First, is the leading man in the story. He's quiet and reflective, deeply passionate about his younger brother's success in the world even at the expense of his own possible failures. He's more interested in living in the moment than planning for his own future. He doesn't do relationships, he thinks they're messy and doomed to fail anyway.  At this given moment, he is nameless in this new story, but I'm sure it will come to me soon.

Jai Courtney (Terminator Genesis Jai Courtney, not Divergent Jai Courtney)




The leading lady is in a way opposite of our leading man. She's a planner, scheduler and likes things in a precise way. She's not afraid to go after what she wants when it comes to jobs or schooling.  She expects perfection in everything she does as well as those around her. 

Britt Roberston (The Longest Ride not Tomorrowland)





The younger brother is a senior in high school with excellent grades.  He's smart, amazingly athletic with a full scholarship for soccer.

Phillip Phillips (see, him and Jai Courtney could actually be real brothers)



The friends, what is a novel without it's supporting characters?  Well, these are the people who help our main characters get through the book.

Maia Mitchell


Chris Egan


The brother's girlfriend is clingy and doesn't want him to go off to college and leave her.

Elle Fanning


Alright - that's where I'm at right now with the planning, I have a long way to go, but it's a start.

Character Inspiration

I've been a member of a book club for about six years now and one thing I always enjoy is when one of the gals tells us which actors/actresses she pictured as the main characters of the story we had read that month.  As a writer, I think we all do this with our own novel, it helps us keep our characters in check.  At least that's what I think.

So, when writing my current work in progress, the New Adult novel (NA is characters between the ages of 19-24), I spent a while looking at actors and found who I thought would portray my vision the best.

Here they are:

Teresa Palmer

20-year-old Jemma Bowers,  lives with her cancer-plagued Gran on her 40-acre ranch where she maintains the property and has become a live-in nurse.  Jemma is trying to figure out life and how to get over a traumatic, secret miscarriage that happened when she was seventeen.  She's afraid to let anyone get close to her and vows to steer clear of relationships.  But when she accidentally stumbles upon the rock star she's had a crush on for years after his concert one night, everything in Jemma's life changes.

Ryan Guzman

24-year-old Jordan Capshaw is the lead singer of world famous rock band who has a drug/alcohol problem.  He and his band made it big when he was eighteen and he has since lived a reckless life that included alcohol and drugs wherever he turned.  When Jemma finds him drunk and high, walking barefoot down a dark street, he has no clue how much this spunky yet timid girl will come to mean to him.

Scott Eastwood

 23-year-old Vic Harper is a fireman by day and a farmer by night, or is it the other way around?  He and Jemma meet at a club and hit it off.  Will he be the one to win Jemma's heart?  Or will he come on too strong and scare her away?

Kathy Bates

Gran, the name says it all, right?  Gran is witty, old fashioned with a little leeway and totally loveable once you get through her tough exterior.  She's been diagnosed with cancer and needs the help of Jemma, her grandaughter she's raised since she was four.  Despite the experimental drugs Gran is on, the outlook doesn't look good.  With the sudden arrival of the rocker Jemma has had a crush on since she was fourteen, Gran will have to try to pave the way for Jemma to become self-reliant and self-assured.  But can she do it before the rocker swoops Jemma off her feet?

The name of this New Adult book is still undecided which bothers me.  I like to title my novels sooner rather than later, but I guess something will stand out soon enough.  I'm currently running with Chasing Forever but it sounds a little corny if you ask me.