Saturday Chocolate Cafe Chat with Laura Frantz

The Writers Alley is starting a new feature on Saturdays with a short and sweet chat from different authors, agents, and editors throughout the writing community. For the next few months we're featuring authors and one of their favorite characters.

Our Chocolate Cafe brings sweet treats of information your way. So enter the sweet aroma of story-crafting topped with tasty character tips, editing chunks, and a swirl or two of agent information.

Cool part to the fun? At the end of 3 months, we'll draw the name of a commenter from our Saturday chats to win a Panera gift card!!

Right off the Alley and into our Chocolate Cafe walks the lovely and eloquent, Laura Frantz.

So Laura, here's a fabulous hot chocolate for you along with homemade crème buffs as we chat. If we're talking about all these wonderful characters you write, who is one of your favorites and what makes him/her so memorable to his love interest? (We'll take any pictures you want to share, btw) ;-)

Here’s my pic of Silas when Eden first saw him, before he asked her to go to town and get him a razor early in Love’s Reckoning, lol. Men in that era did not sport facial hair usually so he’s kind of scruffy-looking and needs to clean up. However, I think he looks heavenly scruffy!

The actor he is modeled after is Tom Mison from FOX’s Sleepy Hollow.

 What made Silas memorable to Eden?  Silas was the only man who had ever stood up to her father, the irascible, surly, demanding Liege Lee. But what really sealed the romantic deal was his wooing her with scripture in all sorts of places – her loom, her boot, her bucket, etc. She fell fast and hard and forever. THE END.  I would sure love for you to add what made YOU fall in love with him in the post!! Personally I wish Eden had told him there’d be no razor-getting as he was just too handsome with the beard, lol...

Oh man, I just loved Silas too, and the picture is such a magnificent match.

 All those little wooings certainly made me fall in love with him too, but especially because he was 'tender'. He saw in her something special.

That's the beautiful part of writing romances. The hero 'sees' something in the heroine (or visa versa) that no one else seems to see - and he/she loves them for it.

Thanks for the visit, Laura.

I'll leave you guys with a quote for today:

The only characters I ever don't like are ones that leave no impression on me. And I don't write characters that leave no impression on me.” 
― Lauren DeStefano

How are your characters leaving an impression on the reader? On other characters in your story?

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Next week on the Alley:

Monday- Pepper talks about writing a Series of Super Heroes, the importance of an all-star cast in developing a series (There just may be some pictures of Avengers...just sayin')

Tuesday - Sherrinda sprinkles her usual wisdom and fun into the post for today.

Wednesday - Mary's doing the math with her post Why Numbers + Words = Publication

Thursday - Krista boldly goes where no AlleyCat has gone before - a chat about the New Adult category, what it is and who's writing it.

Friday - Rachelle Rea guests posts for us today and brings with her a free 50 page critique. Make sure you stop by for your chance to be in the drawing for this great opportunity!

NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CASEY is the guest with the fabulous ladies of Seekerville on Friday. Stop by and check it out!

JULIA's review about publishing trends for 2013 is up on The Library Journal. There's some great information waiting in this review for you.