Have You Ever Fallen in Love with a Character?

Have you ever read--or written about--a character you simply could not let go of? It's happened to me a few times. In fact, I have sequels pending for both Black and Blue Love and Lisa's Kiss. But the character who has enchanted me the most so far is Christa. I first met Christa when she played a starring role in my novel, Second Chance. There the poor girl is, finishing dinner in her favorite restaurant and nursing a broken heart, when her ex-lover sashays in with a group of friends. It turns out that her ex, Keri, has been transferred back to town. Once burned, twice shy, Christa is determined to adopt a hands-off policy but Keri, of course, has other ideas.

When I wrapped up that novel, I assumed Christa's story had been told, but she wasn't finished with me yet. Her life takes another twist when she tragically loses Keri. She's just about ready to give up on love entirely when she encounters Susan, a woman she had dated years earlier while she and Keri were separated.

Much to Christa's surprise, her old feelings for Susan are rekindled. She can see herself in a relationship with Susan, but can Susan ever forgive Christa for choosing Keri over her? For once, Christa can't control the outcome of her relationship. It's Susan's Choice.

That probably would have been the last I heard from Christa if it weren't for NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month. If you've never done it, it takes place in the month of November each year. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. I decided to participate and, for some reason, I decided to write a mystery.

This time, the most logical protagonist was Susan's younger sister, Dorrie. Dorrie reunites with an old college flame, but right after she does, Susan and her family suddenly find themselves facing vandalism and homophobic threats. Who is the culprit?

As you might expect, Christa throws herself into the center of the action, determined to protect Susan at all costs and to save Dorrie from what might be a very Dangerous Reunion.

I haven't heard anything from Christa since completing the trilogy. Perhaps her life has finally calmed down. But I won't be a bit surprised if I sit down at the computer to write someday and hear Christa's voice in my head again. And if I do, I'll be delighted to tell her continuing story.

Which characters have clung to you over the years? Leave a comment about your favorite series of books and let me know!  

Do You Believe in Ghosts? Love's Ghostly Shadow May Change Your Mind!

"There's something I need to tell you about this property," the landlord said as he gave me the keys.

"Oh?" A hundred thousand things that could be wrong with a farmhouse that was nearly a century old flashed through my mind.

"It's--well, some people say it's haunted."

A startled laugh escaped my lips. That had not been one of the items on my list.

Seeing that I wasn't scared off, the landlord managed a smile of his own. "The place was built by two bachelor brothers and some people say they're still around."

"Okay," I said. "Just don't tell my partner. She'll freak."

So, Kathy and I moved into the farmhouse, and I put the landlord's warning out of my mind.

We'd been there about two weeks when Kathy approached me. "There's a terrible draft on the stairs," she said. "Have you noticed?"

No, I really hadn't. I paid attention that night when we went upstairs to bed, but I still didn't feel anything unusual. Kathy, however, shivered and wrapped her robe more tightly around her body.

A week later, our dog got in on the act. He started trotting through the house with his eyes focused on something we couldn't see. He acted as if he were following a beloved master. Sometimes he stood on his hind legs and looked adoringly at thin air.

Then one day Kathy came into the kitchen where I was fixing dinner. "I just saw a ghost," she announced.

We sat at the kitchen table and she told me what had happened. She was upstairs in our bedroom, changing her clothes after work, when she felt someone or something staring at her.

She turned and found herself face to face with a white-haired man. He had a weathered face, partially covered by a long beard, and he wore denim bib overalls. His clothes were worn and tattered. He looked like someone who had spent his life at hard labor.

Kathy stared at him, frozen. He returned her gaze steadily for a moment and then turned away and walked down the hall. She raced to the doorway after him, but in the split second it took her to get into the hallway, he had vanished.

"Were you scared?" I asked.

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "He didn't want to hurt me. I think he just wanted to make sure we were taking care of his home."

We stayed in the farmhouse for several more months. I never experienced any hauntings personally, but the ghost continued to make himself known to Kathy. In fact, they developed quite a cordial relationship.

Years later, when I started writing lesbian romances, I decided to borrow aspects of our paranormal experience for one of my books.

The result was Love's Ghostly Shadow, a novel about a young woman of Arapahoe descent who is in danger of losing touch with both her partner and her heritage. It takes a haunted house with a sometimes less-than-friendly ghost to get her back on track.

Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost? Leave me a message and tell me about it!

Love Knows No Age Group

I don't usually respond to reviews, positive or negative. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and who am I to say they're wrong? But I had to laugh at--and respond to--a review that I recently got on my novel, Sexless?.

In case you haven't read it, Sexless? tells the story of Toni and Elaine, two women in their 60s, experiencing same-sex love for the very first time. Their affair is further complicated by the fact that one of the women, Elaine, has gone through a hysterectomy and a double mastectomy and feels...well...sexless.

Anyway, the reviewer's comment was, "This just doesn't ring true to its age group. Behaviors were very junior high." Oh, she must mean that scene where Toni steals Elaine's little dog to force a confrontation. Or the scene where Elaine, convinced that Toni is cheating on her, stops answering all of Toni's calls and texts. Or the scene where...never mind. You'll see for yourself when you read the book.

When I read the review, I just shook my head. Since when does reaching a certain age guarantee that one will always behave with wisdom and maturity? Watching politicians, many in their 60s and 70s, muck up the entire world should teach us better than that. And anyway, Toni and Elaine are in the throes of their first lesbian romance. They're dealing with passion, uncertainty, jealousy, clueless family members, internalized homophobia, and ageism, to name only a few obstacles. Many of these feelings are completely new to them.

Lost in uncharted territory, they don't always handle themselves with perfect decorum. They make mistakes, and some of those mistakes are pretty junior-high-ish. But then all people in love, not just young people in love, sometimes behave in a cringe-worthy fashion, from making puppy dog eyes at each other in public, to sexting, to slamming down the phone after a heated argument over nothing.

But, just as all people in love are capable of the worst behavior, they are also capable of the best behavior--showing tenderness and compassion, bestowing healing, and helping each other grow and become better human beings. I hope I've managed to convey all of that in Sexless? as well.

So, are Toni and Elaine "untrue to their age group"? That's a matter of opinion, and you all know where I stand. I believe they are very true to their life circumstances, whatever their ages may be.

:::Sticking out tongue::: So there.