by Susan Payne
As writers we face many challenges. Many in the publishing business feel that for a romance to be popular the author must focus on only two characters with no more than two others to move the story along. That may be why many of the heroes and heroines are always orphans with few to no living relatives. Or, the relatives are too far away to have any input. Either way, I think it is doing the reader a disservice to believe they cannot keep multiple couples separated. I mean, we do so in our own lives daily.
So, when I was told those dictates, I felt my stories of family units or groups of big noisy friends had no chance of being published. Then I met my editor at The Wild Rose Press and found she liked the interchange between multiple characters within a story. Made it more real. This is not to say that I don’t focus most on a particular couple within the group, but my motto has always been “Love doesn’t occur in a vacuum.” Which means we all have things going on in our lives and we can’t stop and say, “Today I will find my love.” Love can happen at the most incongruent manner, in the most matter of fact way, at the most inopportune times. It will not wait for you to clear your calendar and make room for it in your agenda. Because you never will – there will always be someone or something pulling on your time.
People used to dealing with a lot of other things going on may not recognize love right away but then there are other characters to see that for them. That’s when a group brings with it the somewhat good/bad part of relationships. They can unintentionally interfere or pass on poor information. Become helpers or stumbling blocks. Create interest.
I like to use people from real life to appear in my stories. Their quirks and foibles all intact. I must admit, it is difficult to keep everyone straight. If one uses a certain word or term often, I keep it for only that character. If one uses a “pet” name for someone then it belongs to that character in their interaction with one another. My grandmother used the term “Honeychild” for any of us grandchildren. She was the only one who did and it was part of who she was to me. I find that happening in my stories, as well. Lovers using pet names or certain touches to indicate how special the other is to them. So, among the group, there are ways to keep the two falling in love special to one another.
I also try to keep their names as different from one another as possible. Too many names beginning with the same letter can cause problems for those speed readers who sometimes jump reading names. I try to remind the reader who is saying what but the best way is to give each a voice of their own. Also, continuity of personality. I used to hate having two people so worshipfully in love yet fall apart when they see the other with an old flame. Come on, people! How insecure can you get? I don’t have wimpy characters. My character would walk up to her lover and his past friend and ask to be introduced. Smile and shake hands.
Another thing I do is keep each character true to their origins or let the reader know when they changed position or ideas. I try to keep point of view (POV) to only two except when writing about multiple couples as I did with Three Sisters. There I allowed each sister and each potential spouse a time to be their own personality. To share their worries or hopes or fears with the readers. So that each developed over the course of the story. Each to end with a happy-ever-after of their own.
I hope this has given you some insight into what it takes to write about large families or groups and keep your story from becoming too complicated. I know I look forward to writing similar stories in my future.
Beatrice, Gertrude and Amanda may sound like three witches from a Shakespearean play, but they are three sisters searching to make a family. Three lawmen feel they can be that family if the ladies will only stay put long enough to get to know them.
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EXCERPT:
She would be better off without his attentions, able to do what she was really there to do without the Devil getting in the way.
“Come on, give me a name at least,” he coaxed.
Hoping he would go away if she appeased him, she replied, “Call me Ginger, everybody else does. Ginger Taylor.”
“Hmmm, with those eyes and that hair, I’d think an ‘O’ should go in front of your last name, like O’Riley, or O’Brian,” he said twirling a ginger colored curl around his finger at her left temple.
Ginger smiled and replied, “Anything you say, Marshal, but I have to get back to the floor or Maurice will be yelling for me.”
“Tell Maurice you have a private game upstairs. I can make it well worth your while,” Devil offered watching her reaction.
He didn’t need to wait long. She was up and pushing the door open into the casino before realizing she was going to move.
Calling back, she said, “I don’t work above the main floor. If you want a game upstairs, Marshal, it will have to be solitaire.” She left him standing in a room of laughing men.
